The Hawaiian gazette., 1901-06-21
pnR1n RlcAN LABuR

tho island IL s5s.2i3 OF these 300 iH2
are urban dweiiers and 1ta.t5l live In
the country. The effective working
population II computed by Or Ames 20
be G0i al lie estimates that at least
half ~ these are wage. earncrs. class
distinctions, the line between the capit-
\ ailst and the laborer. are much more
marked than In the United states, but
the lack Of incentive, stimulus and OPP
portunity II held TO be the principal
cause of the low condition " the labor
ing men There is more or loss skilled
labor and the ordinary trades are all
represented, but the fact which most
improsscs the observer Is the super
abundance Of the lowest grade OF un-
skilled labor Even planters living
within easy reach OF the railroads, or
Of the sea find 1t cheaper to transport
their coffee tobacco and other products
to the ports on the heads of poems than
to use either the railroad, bun carts or
boats. The ordinary laborer's wage un-
der Spanish rule was thirty cents a day
The Americans have undertaken to
raise IL TO fifty. but not with great sue
cess thus far.
/ DR.. Anes has compiled a table of
wage rates for various occupations.
Bakers get 81 to $3.50 for a day Of
twelve to fifteen hours, blaCksmiths.
81. 20 to 80 fo,' day OF eight to ten
hours. brickmakers Sl20 to 81 for a
day of ten to twelve hours, carpenters.
81 to $3.50 for ten to twelve hours
/ These are fair samples of the skilled
trades. 1t is stated, however that
where the wage goes above Sl.20 it Is
for unusually skilled labor In the
unsklled lines, coffee pickers and clean
ers get from twenty to sixty cents a
day; ordinary laborers, thirty cents to
Sl.20; gardeners. fifty to ninety cents
wood choppers, thirty to sixty cents;
cane cutters, thirty to fifty cents; ser
wants, $3.50 to 81 per month. In com
pairing these Wage-ratcs with those of
the United States, it should be kept in
mind that the conditions which they
most nearly resemble, so far as un-
skilled labor is concerned, arc not those
of the North, but of the negroes of the
South. While lower than the ordinary
prevailing wages in the South, they are
not so much lower as to make the con
trast surprising.
| There is, however, less for the labor
er to buy than in any part Of this coun-
| try. His wants. outside of bare sub
]
his income is generally required to
meet the necessities of bare subsist-
ence-food shelter, fuel for cooking and
clothing. of which he wears only the
cheapest and not much of it. The Porto
Ricans love to Congregate in villages,
where their huts bear some resemblance
to those of an African kraal, and com
mand a rental of sixty cents to $3.50
n Art;e
for two and three times this sum. and
the best dwellings with gardens attach
ed are secured for $50 to 800 year The
most pitiful condition in the life of
Porto Rican laborer relates to sickness
and death. Medical skill In the country
is not good and hospitals are few. Deli
cacieS are generally beyond the reach
of the poor. The percentage of mortal
ity among women and children is fear
full. One is painfully impressed, wheth-
err in the streets of city or town or in
the hill country, by the number of hu-
man wrecks, the many beggars, and the
sunken-eyed. pallid. anaemic men, wo-
men and children. Extreme poverty,
inanition and decrepitude are found
and though the island is one of great
resources and has a good record for
thrift, there is reason to believe that
from the earliest days of the Spanish
occupation this condition of things as
to the laboring classes has been only
too prevalent, and at times worse, in
some respects, than now.
Perhaps the most striking contrast
between the Porto Rican and the Am
erican Is seen in the burial If the
dead Often extreme poverty permits
only winding sheet for the corpse,
which Is carried to the grave suspended
from a pole borne on the shoulders of
two men. And II has not even the priv
ilege OF an undisturbed grave, the
bones being commonly eXhumed after
a short time and placed in the ossuary
or bone crypt, which is a revolving feat
ure of every cemetery. "Ore may assert
without fear of contradiction" says DR..
Ames. that the relative cost of sick
ness and burial. man for man, in the
same grade of wage winners In the
United States and in Porto Rico would
be. as to sikness. as Is TO l, ana in re-
gard to burials, as 20 to l, or even more.
In the United States no expense is
spared in either. In Porto Rico none
Is incurred that It is possible to avoid.
The living must be first considered"
The most agreeable reading in the re-
port is the description OF improve
ments under American rule. New
sugar enterprises are being started,
abandoned lands brought under cult
walton, and there are hopeful siGns Of
future prosperity, though the progress
thus far has been slow. The exchange
OF the insular coinage for that OF the
United States has worked n hardship
on the poor, The price Of articles Of
common consumption remains the same
In gold that It formerly was In de-
based currency, while wages have not
advanced correspondingly, Ultimately
the change undoubtedly VIII benefit
the island, but II appears to have been
made too soon,
In commenting upon the above the
Buffalo Express says
THE difference between Porto Rico
ana other lands which the United
states has annexed az earlier periods ~