Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1917-07-13

Ing English, the OTIlclal ldHgudS0
Results so far are scarcely percept-
ible. The children take readily to
books but so far as the language is
concerned they lapse into Spanish
as soon as the school door is closed
behind them. Officially, English is
spoken, but one cannot go far on
that. Ask a policeman to direct you
and he will greet you with an apol-
ogetic smile but you will get no fur
Their. Occasionally a 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 unless he speaks Span
ish.
Where Soft VoweIs Obtain
The American who has lived for
any length of time on 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 Eng
fish has not yet discovered that he
could turn the same trick. Occasion
ally there are exceptions to the gen
eral rule and when we find the eX-
ception we find a fellow making
good. After struggling against the
overwhelming odds of a current OF
soft voweled Spanish, it is a 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 CIV
ing is good.
If the foregoing has enlightened
the readers of this paper as to- the
character and kind of peoples who
are now to become United States
citizens your correspondent is de-
lighted. If however, after reading
the foregoing, you have to admit you
know no more about them than be-
fore, you will be in the same class
with your correspondent. 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
Americans have happy faculty OF
judging the amount of revenue to
be squeezed out of proposition.
When we occupied Porto Rico we
were not long in sizing up the mon
ey making possibilities. We went In
and made good. Sugar, tobacco, CO.
coanuts, coffee, grape fruit and
oranges. We have developed mineral
possessions, guano fields and veins
of coal. We have floated irrigation
projects, water supplies, trolley
roads, electric lights, and all mod
ern necessities. While this has been
going on the man on the ground
who knew all about the soil and it's
resources long before the American
occupation has 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 the
missionary, CAS- l understand it, you
want me to accept your faith, cram
my head with education, in order to
fit myself for a life in which l 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? l have nothing
to do now" And this is the phil
osophy 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 in
teresting and amusing, but he is not
stimulated in any way to emulate
his example, and possibly his is the
sanest 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.