The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-04-02
BIRMINGHAM MAN TELLS CLUB ABOUT
 PORTO RICAN TRIP
R. c. Foster Gives Interesting Account of People and Conditions in AntiI-
 lean Island

What is declared by the members to have been the most interesting meeting of the year was held by tho spanish American club in the rooms of the Hllman hotel Thursday night. when R. C. Foster gave an excep- uoually forceful account of his ex- perienees in Porto Rico
 As member of the firm and sales manager of the Stockham Pipe Fit tings company he has given great deal of study to foreign trade. and some months ago made a complete study ana trip over the Island for the purpose of obtaining first-hsnd information as to conditions in all lines of trade. It was for the purpose Of informing the club that he gave an outline of the trip
 Prefaclng his remarks by stating that the system of passport identifi- cation is excellent-so much so that an attache of their office in Porto Rico was able to identify him as he walked down the gang plank of his steamer and conduct him to the of flee He launched into full de- scription of the island.
 The area is about equal to that of New Jersey, Porto Rico being about 30 miles wide and ll0 miles long. Broken by mountains in this area the peculiar phenomena is en- countred of too much rain on the north side, or rather, an abundant rainfall, and it is found necessary to rrigate on the south side. This is explained by the trade winds said Mir. Foster, which condense the va DOTS and cause the cool nights
 The sugar houses and machinery are modern in every particular and l produce enormous quantities Of sugar. It is to this trade that a good deal of steel products go"
 Some idea of the rapid growth of American trade may be found in the table below which was furnished Mir Foster by the governor generals of flee in san Juan.
 Bought from the United States In 1 1900. S6,952,1l4; 19f4 $32,66S.36S 1920. sa0,724,259; 1921, ss7O74,s99.
 Bought from foreign. countries in 1900, S5.637 ,3ati 1914, s3,s3s,41e 1920. s5.e64.275; 1921, ss.405,304
 From this table 1t can be seen that there has been a phenomenal growth in the trade with America with but a moderate increase with other coun- tries.
 or the goods sold, iron and steel products top the list, running in ex- cess of sl2.0o0,O0 which is the item in which Birmingham is most inter- ested.
 Mir Foster gave an outline of the sugar crop, submitting figures show Ing that in 1919 the crop was in ex- cess of 4o6 900 tons, and in 1921 ran to 465.S75 tons. An incident was re- lated of how a big concern profited by the preferential tariff on sugar. They shipped in the raw cane from Santo Domingo and worked it up in the centrals of Porto Rico, whence exportation could be made with a saving of 1 cent and more per pound,
 in touching on the coffee crop, it was said that virtually all Porto Rican coffee goes to the island of Cuba. It is of such fine quality that 1t does not compete in the New York markets with that of Brazil.
 They have an excellent lot of Rota rians in Porto Rico. At Ponce MT. Foster was introduced by the toast master as hailing from the city where President Harding made his now ia nous speech covering the colored race. The Rotarians instantly knew he was from Birmingham, because 1t was said that Rotarians there. as elsewhere throughout the world, keep up with events.
 The educational facilities are keep ing pace with the times and the little school huts dot the mountains wher- ever enough children can be found to warrant a teacher. The universities are we'll attended and in all both languages are taught, English and Spanish. At every little schoolhouse flag raising exercises are partici- pated in each school day. On one occasion MT. Foster was passing along a road and found the highway was barred by two little girls with flags. It was explained to him that they were holding Red Cross cele- bration, to which MT. Foster con trlbuted to the great pleasure of the little girls.
 In theory, the island Is dry; in practice, the people are adapting themselves to the use of the grea { American soft drinks and it is said that in this field there may be some achievement if there should be no modification of existing law.
 Insurance people will be interested in knowing that in Porto Rico 1t is considered a badge of honor to belong to a fire company-the personnel is recruits from the best families who work for the nominal sum of s1 per year. Fire houses are usually con- structed near some church. The equipment is more modern than one would expect.
 ,-In Porto Rico. as in other tropical countries, yellow fever is unknown, thanks to an Alabamian. Attention is being paid to preventing diseases and modern methods of fighting tu- berculosis are being introduced Due to climatic changes this disease is found in some degree
 It is understood that Mir. Foster contemplates trip into Mexico soon and that on his return he will ad- dress the club on conditions exist ing in that republic. BILL SYKES.