The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-01-30

grades, and in their ability to furnish
light, heat and power to many small
towns along the route. The scarcity
of fuel is everywhere felt, and nc
doubt in the future electricity will be
used, not only for domestic purposes
but in supplying the great sugar mil Is
which run day and night, with light
and also power, and also IN furnishing
power for the working of the moderr
machinery, which almost every coffee
planter desires to introduce, but dares
bot introduce 40 long as his power
must be supplied by steam boi ers
which need fuel-fuel which grows
more scarce and valuable every day
Possibly it is compressed air which
after all, shall solve the problem of 8
maximum of power at a minimum OF
cost. At any rate, there seems TO he
good field for the investment of capi.
tai along these lines in Puerto Rico
ICE PLANTS DAIRY AND POULTRY
FARMS AND CATTLE RAISING.
Ice plants offers another inducement
for the business man, especially if run
in connection with cold-storage rooms
for cooling and preserving beef, which
must now be killed in the morning
and eaten before night. Cattle are
numerous, fat aud healthy all over the
island, and may be raised very cheaply
and with very little attention, ~ they
never need housing, and have an
abundance ofgreen food all the year
round, but there is no beef exported, as
facilities for preserving are so rare as
to be almost unknown. In connection
with these ice plants dairy farming is
another industry which has u future
1t certainly has no present. Cream
is unknown on the island, because
milk is never cool enough for the
cream to rise, and consequently the
Puerto Ricans eat questionable canned
butter a. from 60 cents to ST. pound,
annually importing this to the extent
of 365, 900 pounds, and if ever they
drink fresh milk it Is at breakfast
and because Of the fact that the milk
man drives the COW from door to door
and milks her according to the demands
of each customer. Cream, fresh butter
and cheese, (Which is annuity imported
to the amount of a million and @
quarter pounds would find ready
market at prices, for the present at
least, much higher than those of
America. Poultry raising offers at
present also great inducements, the
poultry culture of the island being
confined to the breeding of gamecocks.
Miserable little chickens bring so cents
each and fresh eggs sell for from S tc
10 cents each for the reason that they
become uneatable forty-eight hours
after they are laid, which brings up
the necessity for ice plants again.
In 1895 the Puerto Ricans imported,
mostly from Great Britain, Germany
and Spain, over 74,0O0,000 pounds OF
rice, which, added to the homegrown
product, (for rice of an inferior kind
is grown rather extensively brings
the consumption of this cereal up to
and over one hundred pounds annual
ly per capita and would seem to indi.
cate new market for Carolina rice
when cheap. rapid communication
shall be established between Charleston
and Puerto Rico.
SMALL INDUSTRIES.
There are many minor industries,
such as the culture of the bay tree,
which grows luxuriantly on the island,
and the making Of bayrum, and the
essential oil of the bay tree; straw hat
making and straw planting; rope
making from vegetable fibre, tortoise
shell cutting, fan making, can manu-
facture, basket weaving, besides brick
tagging and tile making, which offer
good openings for the investment of
capital.
It will be seen that in natural re-
sources Puerto Rico is rich, indeed,
but in manufacturing power and intel.
ligent manipulation of raw material
wofully deficient. This is just what the
enterprising American is best able to
supply, and he will here find q wide
field for his ingenuity and thrift. The
United States by reason Of the abund-
ant supply of cheap fuel will be able
to furnish Puerto Rico with all COM
modities manufactured from raw ma
terials not found on the island at less
cost than she can fabricate them her
self, and it may even be discovered
that many of the raw products of the
island-where they are not perishable,
may be more economically en- hanced
in value in America. New facilities
for transportation between Puerto
Rico and Atlantic ports will open all
these new avenues to American capt.
tai and enterprise, and also many
more which are as yet entirely un-
developed and even unknown.
PUERTO RICO AND THE EXPOSITION
AT CHARLESTON.
All these possibilities of the future
are to be clearly set forth at the South
Carolina Interstate and West Indian
Exposition to be held at Charleston
next year. Charleston is one of the
nearest and most convenient ports to
Puerto Rico, and expects before long
to have direct lines Of steamships run.
ming to that island. But it is not
Charleston alone which is interested
in all these productions and needs
which shall in the future create a
vigorous demands and supply between
the markets of Puerto Rico and of the
United States. The entire country
and each citizen of each State has an
interest in the development of trade
with this territory, which has recently
been acquired. In no better nor
more thorough way can the capitalist
or the intelligent man of affairs be.
come acquainted with the industrial
possibilities which have been thus out.
lined than by an examination of the
exhibit from Puerto Rico which is to
be made at the Exposition to be held
at Charleston next year. and which is
expected to be the most complete
has ever been made.
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