The Cairo bulletin., 1913-05-26
ENGLISH NOT POPULAR
PORTO RlcANs EXPRESS PREFER
ENcE FOR SPANISH TONGUE.
House of Delegates Has Put Itself on
Record In the Matter in Way
That There Can Sc No Mis-
understanding.

letters and kilograms from San
, Juan, Porto Rico, indicate that among
the most important Of the problems in
that island possession with which
President Wilson soon will have to
deal and in which he will be interest
ca both as chief executive and as an
educator, is the fight now being made
by the Unionist party there to force
the teaching of the English language
into the background Of the education
al system Of the island, says the New
York World.
The Porto Rico house of delegates,
which is solidly Porto Rican in mem.
bership, has just passed unanimously
bill which reads:
1T is hereby ordered that the Span
ish language be exclusively used in
the graded schools OF Porto Rico in all
recitaMons and exercises; provided,
however, that the English language
be taught as a preferred subject in all
grades"
In most OF the schools the second
clause would be necessarily inopera-
tive because of the fact that the ma
jority Of the native teachers-and they
are greatly in the majority in the
lisland do not understand the English
language and hence cannot teach IT,.
| And even ii they could, the deypting
of limited period OF each day would
accomplish little, especially as most
Of the children do not care to learn
English. Proof of this dissemination
is shown In the fact that outside Of
their classes the pupils rarely make
even an attempt to speak English
Defending the measure against 9
storm of criticism by Americans In
Porto Rico, Antonio Barcelo, president
Of the unionist party. has issued 2
public statement attacking those who
oppose the bill Senior Barcelo is the
personal representative Of Luis Munos
Rivers, delegate from Porto Rico to
Washington He says in part;
"The whole country is defending
through us the language Of our native
land. Perhaps You will find some new
Porto Rieans willing to forget what
they are. and even the language Of
their mothers. They will flatter in
the best English imaginable; they will
speak of how contented they live UNI
der this regime.
1.-THE lower house was never SO true
| to itself and to the people it repre-
sented as when 1t approved on that
happy occasion the bill referred to.
/ The action Of the house is full of sig
nificance. It means that Porto Rico
wants to be Porto Rican; it means
| that the language Of our forefathers
must be kept in all its purity, never
| to disappear. We want our children
to learn. but in the language they
/ learned to say their first prayer to
God; in which they understood the
first loving words of their mothers.
We are defending the language Of our
| homes. We love our country. small
and weak as it is; here We were born,
and death will find us here. There is
not q single sincere Porto Rican who
has failed to approve Of our action
i The country has learned of it with ap.
plause and gladness.
There are other potent reasons for
our action, which only blind man
will fail to zee, The purpose Of our
schools is not to teach English, but To
1 diffuse learning; their object is 10 de
velop the mental faculties Of our chill
drcn to cultivate their intelligence
and educate their character Ian
guage is tbs only means to reach thai
end"