Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-29
AIDING PoR10 RICANS
Relieving Distress Caused by the
Hurricane.
GEN. DAVIS REPORTS ON MEASURES
Why ItHas Been Necessary to Con-
tinue Assistance so Long.
A FFICULT ROBLEM

The War Department has received most
| interesting report from Gen. Davis, the
commanding general of our forces in Porto
Rico, concerning the conditions that have
| grown out of the efforts of the United
States to relieve the suffering and desti-
| tuition among the people of that island
| caused by the hurricane of the Sth of last
| August.
| The census about being concluded will,
| for the first time in twenty years, give to
| the world correct idea of the economic
| conditions prevailing upon that Island.
| census was taken in 1897, but the results
| were never published or even tabulated in
| full. The enumera ton of 1887 gave the
| total number of inhabitants as SOC. 100, of
which number but 96,S61, l. per cent,
| could read and write, and, while it is prob
| able that this percentage will be shown to
| have slightly increased, this number may
approximately represent the people of the
| island who are not dependent upon man
| ual labor for their livelihood. There has
always been superabundance of labor in
| Porto Rico; not one of the West Indian
| islands except Barbados is SO denSely pop
| ulated, but labor has been increasing for
the last generation much more rapidly than
| the capacity of the island to employ it,
| and the consequence has been poor wages,
| an average compensation being but twenty
| to thirty cents day. AS consequence,
\ suffering and hunger afford no new eX-
| perience to the native Porto Rican, who
| for generations has been underfed and con-
SeGuently impoverished both in blood and
fortune.
Had Nothing Saved Up.
| EITHER from natural improvidence or the
miserable wages paid in the island,' says
an army officer who was sent out imme-
dately after the hurricane of 1899 to re-
port upon the conditions of the districts
about Arecibo, Increased as such con-
dition of shiftessness is by an eternally'
mild climate, the laborer here never has
| had any reserve capital other than his
small stock of growing food. The margin
OF safety against starvation is. therefore,
| a narrow one. Any check in the work
| food supply preciptates suffering and hun
ger. The recent war. followed by a change
| in government and a reduction in prices
received abroad for island products ard
the loss of certain markets, with no COM
pensating gain, naturally resulted in
lack of confidence in the pursuit of agri-
cultural labors. The propretors in 1899.
therefore. planted much less than usual
and sold less than usual. The confidence
of this class was also impaired by the semi
political attack upon the Spanish proprie-
tors in September and October, 1898, when
| many houses We're burned and fields rob
bed of their crops and cattle stolen. The
peon class received much less than its
usual amount of labor. and for some time
prior to the August hurricane had been
living on short rations, generally made up
the platano and the asuacote, together
with rice. and beans To this is to
be added the fact that the natives were
unable to pay their taxes regularly. if at
all which naturally resulted in leaving the
treasures of the various districts without
funds.
Destruction Caused by the Hurricane.
These conditions greatly intensified
when on the sth of August, 1899, a hurri-
| cane swept over the island from east to
| west and practically checked all of the in
| dustries of consequence. Proprietors who
! had stored their products los them, to-
! gether with buildings and valuable machin-
| cry: the sugar planters who occupied the
| lowlands were ruined, the coffee crop in
berry was shaken down and lost, and many
| of the fruit trees, upon which the poor de-
| pended principally for sustenance, were
| broken and destroyed. A large percentage
| of the huts of The poor We're leveled to the
| ground and those on the lowlands We're
| swept away with their occupants. The re-
| suit of this disaster was the loss of about
| 1850 lives, the destruction of sugar mills.
| dwellings. roads. bridges and growing
crops including fully two-thirds of the cof-
fee crop Of the year; over 100000 people
| were reduced to absolute restitution. with
out homes or food or means to obtain food,
| and at the same time the avenues of COM
munication We're destroyed SO that many
| of the destitute were reached with the
greatest difficulties.
Prompt Response to Appeal.
An immediate appeal to the people of the
United States met with prompt and Wig
orous response Relief committees were
! organized in our principal cities, and their
| work was systematized by a central relief
| committee with its headquarters in New
| York. One thousand tons of food were sent
| to the island for distribution during each
week until the middle of October. when it
| was reduced to 500 tons. Whenever the
quantities of food furnished by private
charity were insufficient to maintain the
| regular supply the deficiency was made up
\ by the War Department. The amount of
money and supplies collected in the United
! States from private sources amounted to
| about S!'O.Nn, 70 which was added 81 ,OOOOOO
| out of the special emergency fund.- of the
| War Department. In fact the Secretary of
| War is still forwarding to the people of
| Porto Rico large quantities of subsistence
| supplies. the same being paid for out Of
the appropriation made by Congress in
joint resolution of March -, 1899, for re-
| funding customs revenue. The average
quantity of food supplies that have been
received from the United States up to June
| l, from all sources. aggregate - BIO, .i
| pounds. of which = 329 G62 pounds are now
| in store at San Juan.
| Distribution of Aid
Gen. Davis reports that the aid thus
| given the people of Porto Rico by the peo-
| pie of the United States has been dis
| tributed among three general classes: l.
| The coffee planters, whose losses were so
| great ana whose remaining resources were
| 50 limited that they were unable to secure
means of replanting and cultivating their
| fields. =. The people who suffered directly
| from the hurricane. 3. The pauperS who
were incapable from lack of energy. of
| self-support. The aggregate of these
| classes has reached nearly 200,G0O, and it is
| the opinion of Gen. Davis that in all prob
| ability this number will not be greatly re-
| duced until nature has restored its lost re-
| sources In the opinion of the more intel
| ligent natives things would have reached
| their normal basis by the LIST of January
| last. but owing to the reports that seemed
| to have obtained generally throughout the
| island that the United States would sup
| ply food. rebuild houses and give them all
| the necessities of life, these expectations
| failed to realize. In fact, it seems mpos-
| sible to make the greater number of these
| beneficiaries understand that the aid af-
| forded by the United States was only in
| tended to be temporary and to tide them
! over for the few months necessary to en-
l lille them from q ST