Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-05-23
Porto Rican Conditions as Described
by MIR. V. S. Clark.
NATIVESSATISFIED WITHPRESENT Law
Three, Classes of People to Be
Found There.
INFLUENCE OF PLANTERS

| lnSular board or education In Porto RICO
under the military government Of that
| island by the United States. Mr.. Clark
called upon Mr.. mcfarland to pay his re-
| spects and to personally thank the Commits
sioners for the loan to the Porto Rican
board Of education some months ago of
| about 5000 school desks belonging to the
| District, which had been superseded here
by more modern school furniture. To a re-
porter of The Star Mr.. Clark talked of edu-
| cational and other Porto Rico matters.
| I'VE found" said Mr.. Clark. practically
| no school buildings in Porto Rico. and no
school furniture to speak of. The 5000
| desks loaned us by the Commissioners of
| the District were, you may imagine,
quite an unusual sight to the Porto Rican
school children These desks were trans
ported to the island by the quartermaster's
| department of the army. and sufficed to
seat about 10 per cent of all the school chill
| scholars. which represent only about one
| seventh of the children of the island COM
| potent to become pupils in the public
| schools. These desks were, in fact the
first school furniture, outside of soap boxes
and rough pine seats. the children had ever
seen.
Graded School in Ponce.
I'm Ponce" continued Mr.. Clark, I'VE
| have graded school. with American teach
ers, which school compares very favorably
United States. There are 300 children en-
| rolled In this school, and about 700 other
children are waiting an opportunity to at
| tend it. The children in the schools Of
| Porto Rico are quite bright. The instruc-
| ton Is In English. Of course, and despite
| the necessity of the children acquiring Eng
| l1sh, they make as much, il not more. prog
| ress than those in the municipal schools,
| where they are instructed by Spanish or
| native teachers. These native teachers.
tod r,,IO 1,.I-
knack or talent for teaching found in the
American teachers. Then. too, the dis
| cipline of the native teachers is rather lax,
especially so as to requiring punctual at
tendance on the part Of their pupils and a
strict observance Of school rules.
The prospective revenues of the island"
| MIR. Clark regretted to say. will not per-
nit an increase of the present allowance of
$780, 600 annually for the support and main
teHance of the public schools in Porto Ri
| co. This allowance. by the way. is only suf-
| fcient to provide for the education of about
one-seventh of the children of the island of
| the school age. As the schools are now
constituted. each teacher instructs about
| fifty pupils. In my opinion. it would take
a: least S1,50OOOO year to provide for the
| common school education of all the children
| of the island. Were all the native teachers
| in Porto Rico employed they would have to
| be supplemented by at least five hundred
American instructors. and the latter could,
OF course, only be attracted to the island
| by higher salaries than now paid there.
OF Mutual BENEFIT.
at is really wonderful remarked Mr.
| Clark, Sin what a short time the American
teachers in the Porto Rican schools acquire
| the Spanish language from their pupils and
| the children English from their teachers.
We will probably have to pursue in Porto
| Rico about the same course as has been
pursued in India in school matters: Have
| the instruction in the primary schools in
q Of he
| tcis and the more advanced schools provide
| instruction in English only. If the Foraker
| bill had provided for civil service examina-
tons in the English language for all those
| natives desiring appointment to positions n
| the island, it would have helped very ma
| terially the efforts of the educators there
| for then 1t would have been a great :ncen-
tive tor the natives to acquire English. and
would have resulted in the more rapid cs-
Enlistment of English schools The Porto
Ricans, by the way, are quite adept at i'm
itatinS, but rather slow, l fear, in adopting
instruction given in any other way.
There are" explained Mr.. Clark three
classes of people in Porto Rico: The COM
| mon people. who are. of course, the poorer
classes: the politicians, and the planters
and business men. The politicians amount
to thorn in the flesh, and do not as
rule, represent any important interests. The
planters. and those Of their class compose
the really influential element of the native
population. They are practical sensible
business men, and from them are expected
to come the real rulers of the island The
politicians are concentrated in a few towns
mostly in San Juan.
Newspapers in the United States" said
Mr.. Clark. ARE supposed to represent pub
lie opinion. This. however, is not the case
in Porto Rico, except in few instances
The two leading newspapers of Porto Rico
published in the Spanish language are the
Correspondence of San Juan and the DEM
| ocracia of Ponce. The leading newspaper
of the island published in English is the
Sar Juan News. These are the leading
| newspapers of the island and, 1 believe
represent public opinion to a very large
| extent. There are other newspapers there,
but they are run by and SOLELY as a rule,
| in the interests of their proprietcrs, who
are for the most part politicians. These
sheets of the politicians have very limit
cd circulation, generally a complimentary
circulation. and are. 1 have said. pub
| lished solely to further the ends of their
proprietors.
Satisfied With Present Law.
1.-The people Of Porto Rico" continued
| Mr.. Clark. ARE, think. pretty well salts
fled with the present law. There will prob
ably be revenue difficulties until the people
have had experience with deficits for it
| must be remembered that they are prac-
tically unacquainted with the American
system Of taxation, and have to learn
| much in that direction. For instance. the
idea of paying taxes for the support and
maintenance of the island government and
it's Institutions is extremely new and novel
to Porto Ricans. who have heretofore, I'M
der Spanish rule, been required to pay all
manner of taxes for the support and MAIN
tenance of the mother country and her in
situations. A direct tax will be. 1 repeat,
quite new and novel experience to Porto
Ricans, and there will probably be not a
little difficulty in collecting 1t from them at
first. But, as I say. they will learn quite
quickly. and will soon appreciate the equity
and business Of such a tax. AS an example
Of the laxity in such matters under the old
rule, 1 know Of a town Of 10000 people
where less than 200 paid direct taxes.
Presence of Troops Irritating.
1.-The people of Porto Rico" declared Mr..
Clark, ARE naturally lawabiding, and would
much prefer to go about unarmed there on
a dark night than in some localities in New
York or Chicago The presence of Ameri-
can soldiers in the city of San Juan tends.
however, to create and maintain among the
lower classes a feeling of resentment, and
l believe that much good would be done by
removing the barracks of the troops to the
suburban sections of the city. Although
there is little resentment among the better
classes Of the Porto Ricans against Amer
leans and American rule. you will see less
American flags in Porto Rico than you Will
see in Cuba. This is due, l believe, more
to the fact that in Porto Rico there is