The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-05-17

on a subject OF local interest:
What constitutes prosperity in Porto
Rico threatens to become a burning
question. At least the movement In
the island to protest against official |
reports of prosperity and activity of |
the Porto Rican commission in the |
United States in keeping up the agita- |
ton would indicate as much. Ordinar- |
lily it would seem that a people ought !
to know whether they are getting along |
fairly well or not, yet it has happened |
sometimes in this country during po- |
itical campaigns that the existence OF
prosperity was denied by those who
were themselves enjoying it in the full
est measure. The condition is not ex-
actly the same in Porto Rico, yet there
is a similarity.
The million inhabitants of the island
are not as well off as the mass of the
population in the United States and
there is, a political campaign coming
on which is directed against certain
| legislation. The campaign is legitimate
| enough in it way, but in Strengthening
it undue stress may be laid upon a
widespread poverty which is an inner
itance from the Spanish rule, and
which the United States cannot cure
| in two or three years. What the Am
erican officials. claim is that conditions
| nave improved and are improving.
DUE TO ECONOMICS.
|
| Governor Allen lay unfair stress on the
| Industrial depression, it is possible that
| the American officials conscious of the
| good government which is. given the
| inha bitants of the island. and of the
| immense Improvement ever Spanish
rule, unduly emphasize this efficient
administration to the exclusion of eco
homie conditions. The truth about
| Porto Rico is that the trouble rs due
TO economic causes, and the most eff
| cient and honest administration at the
! hands of, energetic American officials
|cannot reach the root at once.
| The real factor in the Improvement
lof the Inhabitants is the Department
! of Agriculture. BY means of expert
| mental stations and other measures the
| department. can show the people of the
| island heW to develop their agricul-
! tural resources so as to obtain a larger
1 degree afesustenanoe, but like all Span
| ish peoples ii will find them slow IN
4 responding Ito these" lessons--mueh
| slower than American farmers. Its
| work must be gradual. and the recog-
milton of>what is doing is likely to be
a grudging one. But patience and per
severance will accomplish results even
| in this unfruitful soil After a time
! general farming and the raising of su
| gar coffee and tobacco in Porto Rico
wilt be conducted on systematic prin-
ciples: and when that is dene the great
mass of "the population, which is an
agricultural one, will be enabled TO
live in greater comfort.
A year ago, while travelling over the
island in company with an American
whohad studied the resources carefully.
the fact 'of the over population was
painfully impressed on me. This man
said that permanent relief would only
come from two sources. One was emf
grafton and the other was in estab-
lishirg something akin TO poor farms
| as tley would be understood in the
United States, but rather agricultural
sta atoms at which the icons could be
taught to raise vegetables and grains
for their4own subsistence.
Every efe who has visited Porto Ri
!. co notes the marked absence of any
. thing like garden cultivation. Not one
hut in a hundred of those occupied
by the poems is surrounded by a gar
J den. The big planters have raised
these products in areas specially. giver
over to that purpose. or have bought
| the neceSsaries of life. of which rice
!: is the chief one, aud resold them to
} the agricultural lab"r-rs Their claim
. is that this is measure OF economy
PoSsiblyrthat is so from the planter
standpoint; but il works 10 the harm
!. of the pHon in leaving him absolutely
dependent on artificial sources or sup
) ply. When the poems are taught To
raise the articles which they consume
and which their soil is capable of pro-
ducing, they win have taken the first
step in improving their own condition
RELIEF a TEMPORARY ONE
The relief from emigration is tenn
porary one, yet its value is unques-
tionable. The present population is too
dense for the capacity of the people TO
sustain, though the resources of the
island itself might sustain d million
inhabitants in fair degree of comfort
as comfort is understood in the tropics.
In a highly developed civilization
probably the island would get along
i without serious inconvenience, but the
! industrial civilization of Porto Rico has
not been highly developed. In five
years probably the Agricultural De-
partment will have made visible prog
ress in teaching the people how to
utilize more fuHv their natural re-
sources, and after that steady i'm
provement may be looked for But this
improvement can hardly more than
keep pace with the growth of the pop
ulation, and on that account emigra-
tion movements should not be discour-
aged. Whoever has seen the swarm
ing inhabitants in any of the interior
villages can hardly fail to be impress
ed that there are too many of them
for the land which is to be cultivated.
They swarm not like ants or bees, but
more like flies.
| A little relief has been given by the
emigration within the last year TO Gu
ba and Hawaii. In spite OF the local
opposition the best thing for Porto
Rico would be to have this emigration
take on large proportions. Hawaii, it
is stated. can provide on Its sugar
| plantations. for 10000 or 1900 Porto
| Rican laborers. Cuba can gradually
absorb a larger number. though not
much encouragement is given there for
the Porto Rican laborer, preference be-
ing shown the natives of Spain. The
mine owners in Santiago during the
1 Ire, 4-r-0 l.
ducements to Porto Rico laborers, and
have persuaded many of them to go
from San Juan and Ponce to Santi-
! ago, but the difficulty is to keep them
employed in the mines. When the cane
planting season comes they go to the
| plantations. This helms the Cuban