Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-03-05

III TlpellS AT Sucn varying perlOuS InaI
several pickings are required. The best
coffee shrubs are about six feet high,
and the branches spread widely.
Sugar-cane plantations can he start
ed in far less time, but while coffee
is largely grown on the hillsides and
clear to their tops, bottom lands are
the best for cane, and these are not
so easy to secure in Porto Rico. Cane
requires but little cultivation, and it
grows ten years in this country with
out replanting. The cost of extracting
the sugar from the stalk Is about
twenty dollars on the gross product
Of over three hundred dollars per acre
1t may be added that in Louisiana.
sugar cane must be replanted every
three years. The cost Of machinery
for extraction-the engines, the boil
erS, the vats and the crushers-is
heavy, but the grower of small means
can take his cane to the mill very
much as the farmer in the States used
TO take his corn, the miller returning
the finished product after deducting
toll. Good sugar cane land is easily
WI III Ohe uDtlltu dtIC
is usually held at far higher value.
Tobacco land Is worth quite as much
as cane land, and no better tobacco
can be grown on earth than on the isl
and. For the man of small means
fruit raising offers far greater attrac-
tion than anything else he can engage
in. Fine oranges grow abundantly
wi attIfi fl,a nj
enced grower who introduces the Cal
ifornia navel fruit ON the island will
make a fortune. Land suitable for
fruit can be had at comparatively
low figure, and with low freight rates
and line of steamers making the dis
tance from San Juan to New York in
three days, there can be no competi-
ton from other sources of supply.
Native Stores.
The general merchant will do well
to keep away from the island at pres
ent. Almost every other house on the
military road from Ponce to San Juap
is Il general store, and while the prin.
cipal article of traffic is rum, they all
carry supply of such goods as are
of common use and the consumptive
capacity of the average native is at
present woefully limited. 1t is notice
able that the average native buys his
sugar, coffee, rice, and indeed, most
of his groceries, by the single penny's
worth.
The country needs railway system
to assist in its development and fu-
ture prosperity, but it will require "A
Jim Hill or Vanderbilt, with the pa
tience of Job, to wait for it's success.
full operation. A good deal has been
said about railroad around the isl
and. The present status of Porto Ri
can railways Is this: In 1878 a report
was presented to the minister Of the
colonies embodying a study made by
the engineer and head Of public works,
with the view of constructing rail
road which should start from the capt.
tai, and passing through all the chief
towns near or on the coast, return to
the point Of departure, thus encircllpg
the island. The provincial authorities
finally let out the contract and gave
the exclusive franchise to a French
company for ninety-nine years and
the guaranteed interest Of eight per
cent on the cost Of construction. The
company promised to complete the
line in six years, but it did not carry
out its contract nor has the island
treasurer paid its promised eight per
cent interest. At present there are
one hundred and twenty seven miles
of completed railroad under this con-
tract and considerably more partly
constructed. The roadbed is fairly
good, but the running stock is Of ex-
tremely inferior quality. and the rails
in many places are well consumed or
made badly defective by the damp eli
mate. Coal for fuel is imported from
the United States. The speed Of trains
is twelve or fourteen miles per hour.
There are first, second and third class
cars, and the fare is five, three, and
two cents respectively, Spanish mon
ey, per kilometer. A fleet of light draft
fast steamers around the island would
prove far more remunerative at pres
ent than the railroad but the time is
coming when the latter, with spurs to
the smaller towns and in the hands Of
American operators, will pay hand
somely.
Military Road and the People.
The construction Of railroad across
the island from Ponce to San Juan
would be an engineering feat quite as
difficult as that of crossing the Alps
or the Rockies. Twenty miles back
from the coast on either side are sue
cessions or networks of sierras and
hills of varying height, some of them
rising almost perpendicularly. The mil
itary road switches back and forth
for miles at angles so sharp that the
pedestrian can often save time and eff
fort as well as distance, by climbing
on his hands and knees from one turn
to the other, a distance OF not more
than fifty feet.
After careful observation and study
| am unable to see anything to adj
mire mental, moral or physical, in the
average Porto Rican native. 1t must