Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-03-05
PORTO RICO AS TT rs
RANDOM JoTTINes OF AN AMERI-
CAN TRAVELLER.
Chances for Settlers or Investors
Sugar Cane, Coffee Fruit and To-
bacco-A Study of the lnhabitants-
The Spanish Language.

bacco-A Study of the Inhabitants-
The Spanish Language.
l have seen nothing prettier on the
whole island than the road from Rio
Piedras to San Juan. 1t is lined with
a wide variety of handsome tropical
trees, fronting picturesque cottages.
Flower gardens are plentiful, and oc-
casionally one is laid out with some
skill and taste. These evidences of cul-
ture are indeed rare and no American
can visit the island without a feeling
Of disappointment at the lack of out
ward as well as inward home attract
ions.
San Juan, Ponce, MayagueZ, Aqua
dilla and Arecibo are all seaports and
are really the only places of much CON
sequence on the island. Arecibo Is
some fifty miles west from San Juan.
The journey may be made by rail, nj
though ii is about as bad a railroad
as | ever saw. The train conductors,
however, were always considerate
enough to delay the ears four or five
minutes at the various stations, in or
der to give me such time as l needed
to explore them, or to buy drink OF
cocoanut milk from the peripatetic
vender. Arecibo has some extremely
picturesque environs. Five or six miles
east of the town is Il vertical rock that
rises some $50 feet. About half way to
its summit is an entrance which leads
into grotto that has number Of
caverns. arches, stalactites and other
curiosities. 1t may be added that this
with the hot sulphur springs about
five miles from Coamo on the military
road in the southern part of the isl
and, are really worth visit from ev-
cry American tourist. The hotel ac-
commodations at the springs are the
best that can be found on the island,
Aguadilla, at the extreme northwest
ern portion Of the island, is extremely
picturesque, and Mayaguez has to my
mind better opportunities for invest
ment than either San Juan OF Ponce.
Chance for Investment.
But what chance does Porto Rico
offer to settlers or investors? The all
difficulties because facts there are elu-
sive as will-o'wisps and as slippery
a eels. This may account for the fine
imagination and deft diction shown in
so much that has been written about
the island. To depend upon the native
for information is to become bewil-
dered by elaborate contradiction. The
n, .,,;n lN, IL 60,
that the rainy season begins and ends
at periods varying according to the
number of natives he consults. Super
fetal candor will assure him that So
cial life is a stream of unpolluted in
nocence and that its bestiality can be
parallelled only by the worst days OF
imperial Rome; that life and property
are fairly secure, and that viliainy
and outlawry stalk broadcast over the
land. 1t is reported that before the
Spaniards evacuated San Juan they
released several hundreds of the worst
types of riminals-murderers and
brigands-from the island prison. send
ing them out broadcast through the
country to resume their vocations of
murder and rapine. Whilst this report
is confirmed by our own soldiers, |
have Travelled all over the island alone,
night and day, without molestation,
or witnessing any crime fragrant or
otherwise.
Thus when | turn to the prospects
for labor and for capital, to the chanc-
eS for the incoming investor and the
worker, | soon learn to be guided only
by facts acquired by observation,
though not until it had cost me some
thing in time and Spanish pesos. For
illustration, it has been reported with
a good deal of sincerity that there are
good placer gold mines up in the noun
aims back Of Rio Grande; that the wo
men make six or seven dollars week
panning ii out from the beds of the
streams. Soldiers at Caguas told me
they had seen the dust in possession
of their comrades at Fajardo, but
when l arrived at that town the gold
had somehow flown back to Caguas
But yet the claim was still that there
was plenty of gold in the mountains
"Mucho oro," said the native; plenty
of gold dust" said the American sol
der A twenty mile journey, however,
a careful sitting of the story, and
much more exhaustive sitting of the
sand in the beds of the creeks, dem.
onstrated to my mind that there is
only here and there a gold color in
the locality. Possibly we may yet hear
of rich Porto Rican gold mine com
panies, however, cash capital one unit
and ciphers ad lib.
Coffee Culture.
But let us take less speculative or
terprises-coffee raising, for example.
Undeveloped coffee land can be pur-
chased for twenty dollars per acre.
provided a native does the buying.
Americans will be charged twice that
sum. -Four years of hard work are re
quired before any return whatever
can be secured. Unless already wood
ed, trees must be planted to shade the
coffee shrub, and the curcoa tree,
which brings a profit in itself, is best