Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1909-04-04
PORTO R|CO'S GAIN UNDER UNCLE SAM Present Rule Shows Great CT Strides Than in 400
 Years Under Spain
PROGRESS IN FIGURES
Anniversary Date Finds Lethar9y In. der Spanish Misrule Shaken
 Off Completely.

kodU Judu, 1tlCOp Apiu Ten years of American rule have done more for Porto Rico than four cen- turies of Spanish administration, ac. cording to figures compiled here on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the ceding of the island to the United State by the Treaty of Paris, in 1899. Statements of exports and local con merce for the period show with what leaps and bounds this prosperous corner of Uncle San's domain has begun to forge ahead now that the spanish lethargy ha@ been thorouhly achievements of the military and civil governments disc!oses a record uf which Americans may we'll be proud
 Ten years ago the exports from Porto Rico to the United States were valued at S2,414,35G Tn the fiscal year ending June 30, 1908, they were $2o,S9l ,26i, or over ten times that amount. The new figures show a probable further increase for 1909 In 1908, less than s300O,006 worth of sugar waG exported. Today the total is over S14,000,00O. In coffee, which used to be the leading staple, the in- crease Is also marked although sugar now holds the first place. Tn every case the new prosperity, which has made these figures possible, is credit ed to the insular goy1rn1ne mt and the sound basis upon which affairs in the island have for the first time been put.
 Go wherever you will, throughout the island, and you will not lack evi- dence of the quiet but tirelcss and effective work of the American ad- ministration. Four hundred and thir- ty-five miles Of macadamized roads, in sple ndid repair, now make com munication easy between San Juan and Ponce, and the cities on the west coast. Two-thirds of this has been built since the occupation. The rail- road around the island, projected by the Spanish, but allowed to hang fire year by year, is now an accomplished fact. Big harbor improvements have been made in San Juan and Ponce and more than thousand public schools have taken up the work of educating the Porto Rican children and sometimes their parents.
 In nothing has the efficient work of the insular government been more clearly shown than in the way in which the public finances of the is- land have been rforganized. rf For slipshod and corrupt methods of tax ation under the Spanish regime have been substituted sound fiscal methods, and the result has been a sudden growth of prosperity in the agricul- tural districts, which furnish the base of teh islands wealth. The net public debt is now less than 8 3,O00,- OOO or less than l2 per cent of the assessed valuation. The bulk of this money has been spent in public i'm provements, which have brought their indirect return many times over. Fur ther work of this character recently led the governmert to issue $3,OOO,- 900 of i per cent bonds, which were promptly taken by a syndicate in the United States of yrh;ch Iauraroo Turner & Co.,, of New York, A. c. Edwards & Sons, of St. Louis, and the Western Trust and Savings Bank, Of Chicago, are the principal mem bers. This assures funds for the fur ther development of the system of harbors and public highways. which the United States engineers, who superintend all suth work, have