The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-10-18

count for about two-nfths of the total population, and show a decided tendency to increase, while the full-blooded ne- gro is, through a process of absorption and by reason of physical shortcomings disappearing. It Is not improbable that the mulattoes will eventually form the dominant element in the native popua- tion. They are not subject to any handicap on account of their descent in a country where no prejudice Is enter tained against the blacks and where no ''color line" exists. With the exception of a handful of educated whites the mulattoes are the only people in Porto Rico who display any inclination to bet ter themselves, and they possess more than others the qualities necessary to success The gibaro-the white peas ant-is not to be reckoned with.
 Under the Spanlards the facilities for education were very limited, and Porto Rico labors under the unenviable dis tinction of having greater degree of illiteracy than any other West Indian island and this despite the larger pro- portion of the white population. More than so per cent. of the inhabitants are unable to read or write. It may be ex- pected that the mulattoes will be the chief benefciarles of the educational system under American rule, for the gi- baro can conceive of no future for his children more desirable than the happy go-lucky existence of their father, in which educational attachments find no place whatever. Whatever process of social evolution takes place in Porto Rico in the future must be worked out without the influence of immigration, for the island Is already fully populated. Although it would be in many respects an ideal field for the small American farmer or planter, there Is no room for him. There Is already a population of 264 to the square mile, and the greater part of it Is rural. The center of popu- lation and the center of area are both within five six miles of the town of Barros, in the southeastern district of the Department of Arecibo. There is, however, an ample field in Porto Rico for capitalists, large and small, or, rather, there will be when the absurd restrictions against corporate enterprise are removed. The Porto Rlcans as a community are poor. According to the last census the entire wealth of the island was estimated at $l50,O00, ,000, with an offset of about $T0,000, 900 of mortgage and other indebtedness leaving per capita wealth of about $50. The development and prosperity of the coun- try must be dependent upon American capital, and would doubtless have de- rived Il great impetus from that source ere this but for the mistaken policy that prohibited its introduction. The leg islators whose paternal protection of the fanced interests of the Porto Ricans led them to amend all effectiveness out of the Foraker Act have proved them selves the worst enemies of our needy colony.
 The early Spanish colonlsts were sol diers and adventurers-men whose knowl edge was limited to the art of arms, with, perhaps, a smattering of navigation. Gold was the magnet that drew them across seas from their distant fatherland. In ques. of the precious metal, they were willing to face all manner of danger and to undergo the most severe hardships; but they had no stomach for the tame pursuits of husbandry. II was not until later time that they learnt to appreci- ate the slower but more sure road to wealth by way of the plantation and the farm. With the diminution of the abo- rignes urgent need arose for tillers of the soil The lack of agricultural labor CTS often brought the colonists into the most critical straits. Living in land which, with little aid from man, pro- duced foodstuffs ip abundance. they de- pended largely upon supply ships, and when these, prevented by contrary winds or captured by enemies. failed them, the Spaniards were reduced to the verge of starvation. To relieve this condition emil gration from the nroyinces of the mother