The Harrison times., 1917-06-09

you ana ne VIII greet you with an
apOlogetic smile, but you will get no
further Occasionally chauffeur will
talk what he imagines is English but
your mind will not be enriched by
what he tells you. Some of the clerks
in the stores speak English, but that
is for commercial purposes only. The
stranger touring the island will find
himself handicapped at every turn un-
less he speaks Spanish.
Where Soft voweIs Obtain.
The American who has lived for any
length of time in the island has taught
himself Spanish. He sees the need of
it in his business. The Porto Rican
who could profit to the same extent
were he to learn English has not yet
| discovered that he could turn the
same trick Occasionally there are ex-
ceptiOns to the general rule and when
we find the exception we find q fel-
low making good. After struggling
against the overwhelming odds of a
current of soft voweled Spanish, il is
blessed relief to find someone who
can speak United States and one is
willing to give up handsomely just to
hear the language, and in most cases
| the giving is good.
If the foregoing has enlightened the
readers of this paper as to the char
acter and kind of peoples who are now
to become United States citizens your
correspondent is delighted. If, how
ever, after reading the foregoing, you
have to admit you know no more
about them than before, you will be
in the same class with your correspon-
dent. More than this you will be in
the same general class with most of
the Americans who have inhabited
Porto Rico since the occupation No
one claims to understand the native
Conquest of territory would be fun if
it were not for the people. We Amer
leans have happy faculty of Judging
the amount Of revenue to be squeezed
out of a proposition When we occu-
pied Porto Rico we were not long in
sizing up the money making possibili-
ties. We went in and made good.
Sugar, tobacco, cocOanuts, coffee,
grape fruit and oranges. We have de-
velOped mineral possessions, guano
fields and veins of coal. We have
floated irrigation projects, water sup
plies, trolley roads, electric lights and
all modern necessities. While this
has been going on the man on the
ground who knew all about the soil
and its resources long before the Am
erican occupation has merely looked
on.
Tropic Philosophy.
He has politely stepped aside and
watched us work our heads off, and
he don't understand yet why we do it.
The Filipino once said to his mission
ary "As understand it, you want me
to accept your faith, cram my head
with education, in order to fit myself
for life in which | may win wealth
and honor and retire to a restful old
age" The missionary agreed that he
had the right idea Then" said the
Filipino, "why go to all that trouble? I?
| have nothing to do now" And this
is the philosophy of the Porto Rican
He points out that even the honey
bee rests from labor in Porto Rico
There are flowers the year round, so
why worry? He finds the American
interesting and amusing, but he is not
stimulated in any way to emulate his
example, and possibly this is the san
est philosophy. Who knows? Any
how, the longer one remains in the
tropics, the nearer one comes to un-
derstanding his point Of view.
L. D. MacWETHY.