Omaha daily bee., 1912-01-14

ing. At the last tournament twenty-one
school bands contested. Among the in
strument players were children only
5 years old"
How were your Fairgrounds estab-
lished?'
They are comparatively a new thing
on the island. We had only one in 1893
but at that time Dr. Henry S. Curtis
secretary Of the American Fairgrounds
/, association. came to Porto Rico and lee
tured on the Fairgrounds Of the world
and especially of the United States. That
started the movement and the towns took
II up. In certain cases private indlvid-
uals granted land. and in others the
grounds were bought by the school
boards. In some towns the school chill
dren gave entertainments to obtain the
money to buy the apparatus, and now
tens OF thousands Of school children are
exercising their muscles as never before. -
what kind Of apparatus do they user
Much the same as that of the United
States. The San Juan Fairgrounds are
equipped with kindergarten tents, giant
strides, swings, see-saws. rope ladders
and jumping standards They have
climbing ropes. climbing poles and climb
ing spars. They have bean bags, quoits
and base bali outfits. In the smaller
towns the equipment is much less, and
sometimes 1t is limited only to base
ball outfit. Base bali is the most popu-
lar game In Porto Rico, and every school
has Its club"
school Savings Banks.
Il understand that you have school
savings banks?"
Yes. we have a regular school banking
system with more than 5000 depositors.
They now have ss,00O or $1,000 of saw
ings in such banks, the average amount
being less than 81. The child can deposit
as little as / cent at time. The
teacher gives a card or slip on which
record is made. and when the child
has as much as s. he can transfer his
account to one of the savings banks OF
the island. In these schooi banks the
supervisor receives each week the depos-
its made by the children through the
teachers. These banks are very popular
and the custom is teaching economy and
thrift"
Have these banks anything to do with
the Postoffice department.
No. They were first organized about
two years ago, some time before our
postal savings banks were begun. Al
ready about 70oAof the children deposit
ors have started individual accounts in
the national or city banks Of the towns
in which they live. As 1t Is now, on the
average. after two years only. We have
about one child in every eighteen who
is carrying an account in the school
savings bank. This means must for the
IGtuIe Of Porto Rico"
The conversation here turned to the
subject of school libraries, and DR.. Dexter
told me that the government is anxious
TO increase this educational feature, and
that arrangements have been made with
the steamship companies to carry free
from New York to San Juan any books
that may be donated. He said:
Il brought up the subject at the peace
conference at Mohonk last year and
dSkEu AUE uDNaklOiS- AAAth We nave
received 400Oo volumes and have estab-
lished 24s libraries. We have also travel
ing libraries. consisting of boxes holding
about fifty books each. These boxes are
made Of lot of soldiers kits that were
sold at auction at San Juan a couple of
years ago. l bought them, put shelves
In each kit and painted the words Porto
Rican School Library on its outside.
When finished each held about fifty OF
sixty books, and was Of such shape and
size that 1t could be carried on horse
back over the rough trails Of the island.
We sent them from school to school in
out-of-the-way districts. and We find
them greedy read. The stationary Il
braries are widely patronized. These are
kept open after dark, and the people come
/ in and read"
The University of Porto Rico. DR.. Dex-
ter tells me, is at the top OF the educa,