The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-09-08

garbage carried away. Dogs no longe
fatten on the principal streets, and tn
vital statistics are eloquent OF reform
not only in visibly clean streets. bu
also in the beginnings of a thorough
sewerage system. and the introduction
of aoueduct water in place of the old
time disease breeding cisterns, poten
but less evident causes of improve.
ment.
| Three years ago ice was a luxury
now every town of Importance on the
| island has it's EGGPLANT, and many pri-
vate enterprises, such as the large
American sugar centrals. manage their
| own refrigeration with ice made on the
| premises. Delivery is made in San
Juan by regulation American ice-wag-
ons drawn by yokes of native bulls.
AL night the streets are brilliantly
illuminated by electric arc lamps. and
nearly all the Porto Rican houses in
the three chief cities use electricity for
lighting purposes. Near the new Amer
lean electric plant and power station,
on the Playa road in Ponce, stand the
remains of the old Spanish gas COM
pany's buildings. The American place
is effulgent by night, a high-power
lamp in front lights UP spotless new
white walls, clean ground and an or
derby interior of machinery, stabbed
cars and bright offices. About the doors
stand native employees neatly dressed
in the conpany's khaki uniform
TELEPHONES.
At both San Juan and Ponce good To-
cal telephone lines are in operation,
and the Spanish central responds
Hello" The Spanish-speaking popu-
lation have been quick to appreciate
this convenience, as the names in the
directory books, hung beside the instru-
ments, show. Each company is con-
stantly extending its lines, but as yet
no movement has been made towards
the introduction of an insular long-dis-
lance service. Since the Bureau of In
sular Telegraph received the telegraph
system from the Signal Corps in Feb
ruary, 1901. the number of offices has
been increased from ten to forty, and
so prompt and efficient has the service
become that it is used confidently by
Porto Rican business men all over the
island, who never made any customary
instruments of the Spaniards.
In view of the many American en-
terprises. successful and unsuccessful,
launched on the island, and the steadily
increasing tide of American travel to
Porto Rico, it is remarkable that no
capital has gone to the establishment
of a good American hotel. The nearest
to an American establish
ment of the kind is the recently
finished Colonial Cafe in the Plaza at
the capital, and the American saloon,
richly equipped with Jim Corbett's old
bar furniture, near the Marina. Bv
night this place gives a touch of
Broadway to the Spanish street. flash
ing overhead, in red, white, and blue
lights, constantly chang
ing inducements to enter. If Porto
Rico is ever to become established as
for good hotels must be met: the num-
Der of visitors during the past season
was twice that in any former year: the
hotel accommodations-in the mere
matter of room-proved totally made
Cuate.
In the country the signs Of transition
are as plain as in the towns. At
Guanica and Aguirre, sixty miles apart,
in the long southern coast-strip of rich
cane SavannaS, are situated the two
great sugar centrals of the American
companies. Enormous gray sheds of
painted corrugated iron, covering nine
roller-mills and complete plants of the
newest evaporating and condensing
machinery, topped by their six or eight
black tunnels, they make a striking
contrast to the old muScovado mills of
the Spanish time, nestled here and
there among the cane, a solitary red
brick chimney marking the situation of
the antiuuated structure.
The enormous material Improvement
of conditions in Porto Rico under the
American regime is now well known,
in a general way, through the recent
publication at Washington of ex1ort
and import statistics From these fig
ures we learn that our shipments to the
island have multiplied eight times since
1898, while within the same period
Porto Rico exports to the United States
have increased from s2,415,000 to s12,-
100000. But figures, although convinc-
ing, often need analysis, and these
statistics about Porto Rico will be
made more eniightening by a brief but
careful examination of the conditions
which underlie them.
SUGAR AND TOBACCO.
The American occupation has revo-
lutionized the methods Of sugar and
tobacco production in Porto Rico, yet
it is fact that the total output of
sugar for the present year, los, 900 tons,
an increase of fifty per cent. over the
previous year, is more than $4,000 tons
short of the largest crop produced
by the Spaniards in 1879 This ap-
parent inconsistency in favor of the
banner years prior to 1898 is, however
easily accounted for by the larger area
at that time under cultivation. as well
as by unusual conditions in those years
After the war the crop fell off heavily
no more land was taken up. and land
already in cultivation was not proper
! ~ harvested by reason of the loss OF
the Spanish market, the disturbance
| created by the change of currency, and
| a general uncertainty as to just what
! the United States Government intend
! to do. Three years ago only $4,000
! tons were exported, and thae was a
/ general expression of dissatisfaction
! by the Porto Rican growers. some OF
whom allowed their lands to po ar