Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-01-19
THE PORTO RICANS
CONTINUED from Eleventh Page)

| geous, have been so large that It could pay
| its heavy bills for foreign goods. meet
| enormous interest charges on its working
capital and have generally a profit left, 1t
| is of the utmost Importance to the future
| of Porto Rico that its industries should be
| Increased. Whenever coffee, sugar and to-
bacco crops are destroyed by hurricanes,
4 which visit the island three or four times
century, or bring small returns on account
of low prices, the masses are in danger OF
| starvation; not quick, direct starvation.
| which is hardly possible in land where
| natural fruits are so abundant. but starva-
| ton of the slow kind, which gradually saps
| the strength, weakens the will power and
| prepares the way for disease. The cry or
| labor is for more work. particularly in the
| cities The starting of new industries is an
| economical necessity. an6 it should be the
| policy of the United States to encourage IL.
| The prosperity of the island must be built
| on this basis. When labor is respected and
| we'll employed the masses become larger
| consumers, and all classes of business are
| benefited. Spain never encouraged the
Porto Ricans to establish any industry in
| the island which would unfavorably AFFECT
| those of the peninsula For this reason its
| resources have never been developed
Agricultural Conditions.
| Agriculture is the chief, almost the only.
/; source of industrial wealth in Porto Ri
| CO. Most of the lands-even the mountains
are susceptible TO cultivation or use for
pasturage. One may see on the military
| road near Cayey tobacco field covering
| the whole side of a mountain from the base
| to the summit. The proportion OF land I'M
der actual cultivation is difficult TO deter
mine. 1t is not known certainly how much
| there is, as the area of the island has not
| been definitely ascertained nor the surface
| occupied by water and by sites of cities and
towns. The returns of the provincial board
| of taxation made in 1896 for rural estates
| may, however, be taken as basis for an
| estimate Those returns indicated that 4a,-
| 97:S acres Were devoted to cane. coffee, to-
| haHrn Taking ~
| miles. equal to 2,4Go, 400 acres as represent
| ing the area of Porto Rico, it would fol-
| low that little less than one-cighth OF
| the entire surface was under cultivation in
/ 1896 OF pasture lands there were 1l1d 262
| acres and of forests and other similar areas
63t ,631, making a total for rural property
of 206Ss66 acres. This would only leave
| 3g1 ,o34 acres for city and town sites, streams
| and lakes, roads. etc. The common esti-
| mate of Porto Ricans is that only one-tenth
| of the cultivable lands are in actual cult
| walton al any one time. Partial returns Of
the bureau of agriculture at San Juan for
| 1899 show that in forty-five municipal dis
| tricts eighty-one of two hundred and eighty
| nine sugar cane plantations are not in cul-
| tivation. The acreage devoted to the sew
erai crops, particularly to sugar cane and
| tobacco. varies from year to year. The tax
| returns indicate 6O953 rural estates and
o,753 owners.
Banking and Currency.
| There is great need of banking system
| for Porto Rico which shall allow of the
| establishment of banks in the chief cities
and towns of the island The Spanish bank
ing law permits the free establishment of
! nGte-issuing banks, provided they are su-
! rervised by a governor appointed by the
| government. the limit of circulating notes
| being fixed at three times the amount of
| the pafd-up capital Our national banks
| could not meet the urgent demand of the
| agriculturists for longtime loans on mort
| cages on real estate. but they would be of
| incalcuable benefit to the merchants and
| business men. They could issue notes and
| thus increase the circulating medium; they
/ could lend on collaterals for short terras;
| they would bring banking facilities into
| every considerable community, and bust
| ness transactions would be largely by check
| instead of by shipments of silver. The con-
| d-tions of the agrioulturists are peculiar
| and they unite in saying that loans for Pc
| RODS of from twenty to thirty or forty
years are absolutely necessary. The AgTi-
| cultural Bank met their needs in so far as
| 1t had ability; but its scale Of business was
| far too limited, and but few could get &C
com modal lions from it. They suggest the
| establishment of similar banks in other
| cities, or. failing in that. large increase
| in the capital of the existing bank, tee
| guarantee of its securities by the govera-
| ment. and their recognition in the STOCK
markets of the United States.
Capacity for SeIf-GOvernment.
Mr.. Carroll asserts that the people are
CAPABLE of self-government. He says:
| They are quick in intellectual apprehen-
sion and have little trouble, either the old
or the young, in learning to read when
| there is an object to be gained in doing 50:
| local ENLIGHTENMENT may taken in
| dicating some degree of capacity for self
government, the people Of Porto Rico GER
| tainly have the desire. They may be poor,
| but they are proud and sensitive, ana
would be bitterly disappointed If they
| found that they had been delivered from
I CIV -nlya 70 h.a mt a l.
| telage which proclaimed their inferiority
Apart from such qualifications as general
education and experience constitute, the
| commissioner has no hesitation in Affirming
| that the people have good claims to be con-
| sidered capable of self-government. Edu-
| cation and experience, although too high
| value can hardly be set upon them, do not
| necessarily make good citizens Men may
I be we'll educated and yet be bad morally
Moral conduct is the first and most indiS-
| pensable qualification for good citizenship.
| The ignorant and the vicious are often
spoken of as though always in one class
| In some measure they are; but so are the
intelligent and the vicious. Education is
not the invariable line which separates good
| citizens from bad, but active moral sense.
| The answering loyalty of Porto Rico to
| the crown of Spain, as demonstrated by the
| confidence and trust of the United States.
| The people were obedient under circum-
stances which provoked revolt after revolt
| in other Spanish colonies The habit OK
1
Their respect for law is another notable
| characteristic. They are not turbulent or
| violent. Riots are almost unknown in the
| island: so is organized resistance to law;
| brigandage 1ourished only for brief period
after the war, and its object was revenge
rather than rapine.
They are not a criminal people. The more
violent crimes are by no means common.
Burglary is almost unknown. There are
many cases of homicide, but the number in
proportion to population is not as large as
| in the United States. Thievery is the most
| common crime, and petty cases make up
| large part of this list of offenses. The
people as a whole are moral, law-abding
class. mild in disposition, easy to govern,
and possess the possibilities of developing a
/ high type of citizenship. The fact that so
many of them enter into marital relations
without the sanction of state or church is.
| of course. serious reflection upon their
| social morality. Half or more of their chill
| dren are iliegitimate. From this stigma
| they cannot escape. But too much to their
discredit may be easily inferred from this
| scandalous state of affairs. Their apparent
defiance of social. civil and ecclesiastical