Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1900-07-14
FUTURE OF PORTO RICO
Governor Allen Enthusiastic
Over Its Vast Opportunities.
AT IDEAL PLACE FOR ONES HOME.
Sugar. Not Coffee, to BE the Great
Crop of the Future-MiIes of virgin
Soil In Sugar Belts waiting For
Mun-Tobacco the Poor Mans Crop.
Outlook For Oranges.

Mun-Tobacco the Poor Mans Crop.
Outlook For Oranges.
The Hon. Charles III. Allen. civil gov
ernor of Porto Rico, arrived at New
York recently on the United States
auxiliary cruiser Mayfower, Com
mander Duncan Kennedy. The May
flower dropped anchor off Tompkins-
7 Vile Governor Allen was put ashore
and went Immediately to the Hotel
Manhattan where Mrs. Allen was
waiting for him.
! Governor Allen is a self contained,
long headed New England manufac-
7 turer. About his own work on the is
/ land and upon the political situation
i he viii say little or nothing. In fact,
/ his remarks on these two subjects may
be summed up in the following answer
+ to a question put to him by New
/ York Sun reporter the other evening:
! "Of my own work others must speak.
! As to the political situation in Porto
i Rico, it speaks for itself" OF the nat
! ural resources Of the island, of the
/ territory as place to make ones home
in, of It's material prosperity and the
possibilities of its development, Gov
ernor Allen spoke unreservedly and
I enthusiastically. Among other things
he said;
"Porto Rico as a place to live in Is
ideal. Its climate is healthy and de-
lightful. The summer time in that lit
tie island Is something to live for and,
{ ri 10 en- of hi no To
of when far away from it. In the
cities it is hot, but what American city
isn't hot in summer? In the noun
talns. which are within easy reach Of
the important cities one needs to sleep
under blankets TO be comfortable. and
a night in the mountains will give in
vigoration enough for two or three
days hard work in town.
speaking commercially, business is
booming in Porto Rico-that is to say,
it's booming as much as somewhat
limited capital win permit. Hereto
fore the principal crop of Porto Rico
has been coffee. but this has been, as it
must continue to be. the rich mans
crop since it is impossible to grow cof-
fee without capital. Up to this year
coffee has furnished about siX-tenths
of the revenue of the island 1t will
furnish nothing like that amount this
year owing to the hurricane. While
that did lot of damage to the coffee
bushes, stripping them of ieaves and
berries, it acted as n great pruner,
stripping from the bushes a great
amount of dead wood which should
have been cut away years ago. The re-
suit of this pruning by the winds has
been that the coffee bushes have taken
a new lease of life, and they are grow
ing more luXuriantly than ever Next
year there will be a famous crop
But coffee win not again be the
great crop in Porto Rico Since the
Americans have occupied the islands
the Porto Ricans have found that they
can get out Of old beaten paths and
not get lost and they can do things
that their fathers never dreamed of
doing and yet not die of nervous pros
tration AS a result they are now
giving more attention than ever before
to the cultivation of sugar and tobacco.
And sugar is to be the great Porto
Riean crop of the future. 1t didn't
take our friends long to appreciate the
advantage of growing sugar under the
new tariff law. When they found chat
they could make about $37 a ton in
gold by growing sugar under the new
tariff. they concluded that it would
be fine idea to grow sugar.
There are two sugar belts on the is
land. one along the southern shore and
one along the northern shore. Each
belt is about 100 miles long and five
miles wide. have no idea how many
acres either of these belts contains but
| do know that there are thousands
and thousands of acres which a spade
has never yet touched. AS our people
learn more about that island, its eli
mate and its possibilities, they will take
their capital down there to invest it in
sugar plantations. and sugar viii be-
come the great crop Of the island.
Then, too the cultivation of tobacco
has been undertaken on much larger
scale than ever before. This is the
poor mans crop. 1t requires little or
no capital to grow tobacco. The plant
requires no cultivation. Just give it
chance. and it will attend to its own
/ business and grow just as If the fu-
ture Of the island depended on its
/ growth. y native can plant an acre of
tobacco and make a living from his
product. And let me tell you, it's good
/ tobacco, and the cigars made from it
are mighty good cigars. They are Just
as good as any cigars have ever been
able to get in Cuba. 70 be sure, the
price of the cigars and the tobacco has
gone up somewhat since we have been
IN occupation, but you can still get a
we'll made cigar of the finest tobacco
Tor about cents. American money.
But there is still another crop which
IS being developed down there, and
that is oranges. You know an orange
crop in Porto Rico is never ruined by
frosts. Wen, several Florida men who
have had sad experience with frosts in
the Indian river country and elsewhere