The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-04

PORTO RICO'S INDUSTRIES
COffee-Raising the Chief-Its Possi-
bilitics-Sugar and Tobacco.

! concentrating tne CISf-lts IOssl-
biIities-Sugar and Tobacco.
From the New York Evening Post.
Washington, Feb. 24.-"Porto Rico is ca
pable of producing one-half the coffee
consumed by the United States" says o.
F. Cook, who was, in charge of the ex-
petition recently sent out by the depart
ment of agriculture to investigate plant
and crop conditions on that island. While
not willing to anticipate his official report
which is almost finished Mr. Cook con-
scented to give your correspondent state
ment of the result of his observa tions
VIII CHI may have bearing on the present
discussion in Congress. He is not favor
ably impressed with the islands agricul-
tural Methods the only industry conduct
ed on modern lines is susar-raising. Por-
| to Rico is interesting, not so much for
what 1t is as for what 1t may be, and the
| impetus for growth must come from with
out. If the island ever becomes so rich and
prosperous a 5 to menace any Of this coun-
try's industries, 1t will be after Americans
/ have gone there and developed it's re-
sources. All his observations, however in
cline Mr.. Cook to believe that free trade
can in no way inJurC our interests
The principal crop is coffee, which is
grown on the high lands. The greatest
amount was raised in 1898, and was val
ued at 100000 pesos, or about $40 600
at that time. The quality is good but the
flavor Us unlike that of the product Of
Brazil where most of our coffee comes
from. In fact, much of the coffee sold in
this country as Mocha or Java really
comes from Porto Rico through Europe
Before the Spanish war large amounts
were shipped to Barcelona and Cadiz and
found their way into France and Italy as
well as Spain. American officers on the
sand have come, to prefer the native to
the Brazilian product The great obstacle
to it's development is the ignorance of the
natives, who take practically no care of
the plants but let them grow almost wild
in the midst of many other kinds of vege
taticn. With intelligent treatment Porto
Rico could produce three times as much
coffee as now. The chief difficulty with
it's introduction here will lie in the fact
that our great coffee-dealers have their
grades and prices carefully arranged. and
as these might be seriously affected by
the Porto Rican product they will keep
it out as long as they can.
The sugar industry, while not generally
prosperous, is in better condition than in
Jamaica. The soil has been used for cane
growing for a century, and is almost ex-
hausted. The smaller farmers are aban-
doning this crop, and it is only where
large factories exist that it is kept up.
Practically only the fringe of land border
ing on the sea is available for cane; and
though under free trade the production
would increase, the necessarily small area
W ouid keep that increase insignificant.
A bout s.. 600 900 worth of the product is
now exported every year, all of 1t going
TO the United States; but that is only one>
twentieth of our annual consumption.
Nearly 4,000 acres are devoted to tobac'
co, and about $1,000, 900 is the value of the
amount annually exported. The practice
has been to ship it, all to Cuba, to be
mixed there with the native product ana
sold with it as Cuban tobacco. Now, OF
course, little goes there. Some very
poor stuff has for years been exported to
Germany. But no more tobacco is raised
on the island than in Connecticut, and
the quality is not now first rate.
The most f1ourishing of all industries IS
cattle-raising. All the beef consumed on
the island is raised there, and none is ex-
ported. The other meats are imported.
The Porto Rican cattle are not milk pro
ducers; hence thefe is a very large mar
ket for all our dairy products. Among
other things raised on the island is
rough lemon, used in lemonade, but not
acid enough to be marke Bile The sour
orange grows fairly, we'll, but it is moi
pleasant to the taste. The sweet orange
is probably as good as that grown in
Jamaica, but no care is taken in, its. cul,
tivation. Possibly Il might be made a
valuable crop. Banana trees are used
largely to shade coffee plants, and the
fruit is not highly relished and none Of
it is shipped away. There are many root
crops, but none are marketable. Th4
grass is seldom allowed to dry, and the
hay for our army mules and horses hts
TO be imported. Fruit in the market ~
worth about the same as in this country
he Am G rs,f
Gus and perplexing. No matter how it is
solved there will be much dissatisfaction
although, on the whole, the natives have
borne their ills with cIommendable pa
thence. AS is well known, there are no
land or personal taxes. The stranger is
impressed by finding a custom house in
every village, where persons bringing pro-
duce in from the surrounding county,
have TO pay an octroi tax. Gen Henry
set out to abolish this tax, but il is still
preserved in few places. The only other
tax is the municipal license which every
shopkeeper and vendor must pay but this
is small and cannot support a municipality
Even IL all the customs under the PAYNE
bill are placed In separate treasury Mr.
Cook thinks that the amount will be in
sufficient to put the island on an American
basis of prosperity and civilization. For
educational purposes alone, he says, Porto
Rico needs at once $30000 900 OF ST. 900 O00
The present system Of ration distribution
while necessary In many cases, should be
discontinued as soon as possible, as II is
demoralizing. Complaint have been re-
peatedly made by sugar planters that they
cannot get help because 50 many men re-
fuse TO work as long as they can obtain
free rations Much Of the land is neg
elected I'm spite of the density of popu-
iation. A fine field exists for the produc-
ton of many things which we now import
from abroad, besides coffee. Among these
are bananas manages. cacao, vanilla.
ginger, etc.
For Good Reasons.-Miss Askew-So