The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1899-01-23
PORTO RIcOS SCHOOLS
WOful Lack Of Educational Facih-
ties on the Island.
THE WORK OF RECONSTRUCTION,

THE WORK OF RECONSTRUCTION
Declares Captain Gardner, I'm an Inter.
esting Report, Must BE Done by Men
of Disintere@ted Motives-Mauy Big
Country Districts without schools.
Washington, Jan. 23.-"If Porto Rico
Is to become a credit to the United
states" says Captain Augustus =.
Gardner, assistant adjutant general OF
volunteers. in an interesting report to
Assistant Secretary Of War Meikeljohn
upon the educational and other affairs
Of the Island of Porto Rico. land not
continual thorn in her side. 1t Is as
certain as the rising OF the sun that
the work OF reconstruction must be
done by men OF disinterested motives"
In considering, says Captain Gardner.
the various elements which go to make
up the social system Of Porto Rico. the
most worthy Of a detailed examination
Is the method of education. II Is on
this branch that the fruits which II Is
hoped may be gathered in the future
must all ripen
What purports to be a census OF the
island is taken every ten years. But
emily. was that of 1887 In this the
population was given at SO6, sos, Of
whom III. $50. or 16 per cent, could
neither read nor write. A comparison
Of these figures with those Of a So
called rectihcation of the census for
1888 reveals gross bunder some
where, as according to the returns for
that year 23S .294, or over twice as many
people as four years later could neither
read nor write
For the city of Ponce there is an ex-
cellent census for the year 1897. we'll
compiled and to all appearances ac-
curate. According to that the city
jurisdiction covers a population Of 49,-
600. The Brcentage who could read
and write was 29.37-1O0. Captain Gard
ner believes this percentage is very
much too high.
Captain Gardner says il Is safe to
estimate the number Of schools in the
island at 900 at the outside, of which
less than 40 are private or religious
schools. In the larger townships there
is one school to about every 1000 in
nabitants. But education is laid on a
great deal thinner in many parts of
the island, large country districts be-
ing without schools entirely, notwith-
standing a compulsory school attend
ance law. As each township pays for
its own schools it is impossible to es-
innate the amount spent on eduCa-
tion annually in the island. But the
states contribution amounts to about
5000 pesos per year, out of which is
supported certain institutions
Summarizing the situation as a
whole there exists on the island a
fairly good skeleton on which to con-
struct school system The difficulty
arises from the scarcity of competent
and reliable teachers. In the nature
of things, for the present but little
progress can be made by American
teachers sent to the island. Their
sphere Of usefulness will not include
Porto Rico until such time as a knowl-
edge of the English language has be-
gun to permeate all classes.
With regard to the religious Ques-
tion Captain Gardner says it does not
appear that the inhabitants of the
island have ever taken their religion
with any degree of seriousness, prob
ably owing to the fact that the church
is regarded as one of the means by
which Spain undertook to maintain her
sovereignty over the island and to pro-
vide for the maintenance of such of
her clergy as could not be supported
at home. Altogether the clerical es-
tablishment maintains about 240 priests
and assistants, the sum total of whose
salaries amounts to about 1850 900 pesos
annually, The salaries of all these
priests, which have heretofore been
paid by the state, have now been cut
off, a state OF affairs which seems to
be viewed with perfect equanimity by
all except the priesthood itself.
That the population of Porto Rico
as whole has serious grounds Of COM
plant on account of excessive taxation
is not proved. But that this taxation
was so distributed and administered as
to seriously interfere with the small,
and especially with the native merch-
ants or planters, cannot be doubted.
The total amount raised by national
taxation has been of late years rather
more than 4,500 900 pesos, a sum equal
to a little over four and half pesos
per Inhabitants. To Americans, who
are accustomed to a national taxation
Of some 81 per capita, the Porto Rican
figures seem exceedingly small Con-
trary to the belief which has been
strenuously engendered the fact is that
out of this 45O0 900 pesos but $50 900 go
directly to Spain in the form of PEN
sions AS in all governments, the ex-
penses are largely for salaries, and the
Indignation of the Porto Ricans is vast
that these salaries are for the most
part paid to citizens of Spanish birth.
Concluding the report says: THE re-
organization of all these various ele-
ments in the Porto Rican social sys-
TEN is an undertaking of enormous
difficulty. If the best men are not put
to this understanding, but the island
is allowed to become a political play
thing, the Porto Rican will be worse
off than he was under Spain"
Bueklen's Arnica salve.