Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-04-27

been put under cultivation by Boston capi-
talists and others affiliated with them. This
means that a newi source of employment
has been opened up and work given to field
hands or agricultural laborers. 1 do not
know whether the sugar crop this year is
going to be 100000 tons. as Governor AL
len estimates, or t0,0o0 tons, as the MEM
bers of the Porto Rkan commission claim
but it is larger than in past years and
as some of the land 9put under cultivation
will not yield until next season, it is fair to
assume that the crop will be larger next
year, and this means employment for a
larger number of people
Personally 1 could count score of
Americans who have gone to Porto Rico to
engage in raising fruits or in coffee grow
ing. All of them hare been land buyers
Though the coffeeIindustry has not fully
recovered from theea irricane and though
the worlds coffee eE1p continues to fix the
price of the Porto Rico berry, as it always
Will do, the industry has been promising
enough to encourage the American invest
ors There Is room in the island for 5000
small capitalists from the Unit ed States to
engage in general farming but the Porto
Ricans have expected that the 5000 would
come in all together and bring their capt.
tai with them That has not happened and
is not going to happen, but a few hundred
Americans of this class settling in Porto
Rico each year will help to ameiorate the
conditions.
The complaint that since the legislature
granted franchises the parties who re-
ceived these franchises have not utilized
them Is perhaps true, but 1t has only been
a few months. and enterprises of this kind
are not carried to completion usually wit h.
In so short period. 1t Is also true that
some of the parties who got the franchises
have not yet secured the capital necessary
to utilize IT. Ne their privileges; Most of them
favorable opportunity to interest invests
ors. They find one difficulty in the fact
mat SO large measure Of prosperity pre-
walls in the United States that moneyed
men are not seeking opportunities to 20
outside. When the boom subsidies a little
there will be better chance It is also
true that european investors are less timid
IN Porto Rico than Americans The French
company which owns the railway running
partly along the coast, 1t is reported will
avail itself of the concessions recsntiv
granted and spend $1,000 600 in completing
its line. e
Bonds of Municipalities.
The failure OF American capitalists to
improve the opportunity to make mun,cina1
loans in Porto Rico is also a source Of
complaint, but in this matter as in others
the capitalist is not moved by sentimental
considerations. In time the bonds of Some
Of the Porto Rico municipalities will be
good investments. Many of them need To-
cal improvements. which they now have
the full legal authority to secure by going
into debt. and where they have felt the
American contact they are ready to do So
In the municipalities In which the Spanish
business element prepOnderates these NIL
nictpal investors viii be SAFE for the SDan-
ish merchant in Porto Rico, as In Cuba.
pays his debts. When it comes to the
municipality or the state he has the same
idea as in his individual dealings But it
will be a year or so before the political
and industrial conditions in Porto Rico are
settled on the basis to encourage American
capitalists to take UP the matter of mu-
1t is to be regretted that there should
be any attempt to ALLEVIATE the Spanisl,
planters and commercial classes from the
American administration. They are sub
stantfal element and their cooperation Is
desirable. But under the Spanish rule the
government was administered so exclusive
ly for their benefit that it was hard for
them to realize that the policy of the
of all the people, and that the very large
number of natives who previously had no
share in the government We're hereafter
to be considered and their interests con-
suited.
The Spanish business element understood
only being with the government, or else
taking no part whatever in public affairs
They did not even. appreciate what it
meant by legitimate opposition. If they
could not control the administration in
their own interest they wanted no respon-
sibility This was one cause of the pecu-
liar attitude taken In the elections when
the federal party refused to go to the
polls. Munoz Riveras the leader Of that
party. had been the, representative of the
Spanish autonomist party. General Brooke
recognized his position. and Munoz Rivera
was identified with the first American ad-
ministration. When a broader basis was
laid and he and his followers were not
allowed an absolute monopoly they took
refuge after the Spanish method in alb
staining from any share in public affairs.
This IS not good way to secure results.
business nlanterS
now are complaining of the Holander tax
law. Whether there is too much theory in
that law or not cannot be fairly judged
at distance. but If some of its provisions
bear too heavily on the property owners
they have the same remedy that would be
had in the United States. It's most OBJ
roxious provisions, as set forth by them,
cannot be enforced before the beginning
of 1902. In the meantime legislature is
to be chosen which can amend and modify
that law. The path opened to the Spanish
classes and to all classes seems to be to
test the issue at the polls.
CHARLES NJ PEPPER