Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-20
Some Alienation in
Porto RicO's Disaster
To the Editor of The Star:

To the Editor of The Star:
without wishing to seem inapprecia-
tive of the seriousness of the disaster
which has befallen the Island of Porto
Rico, the experience of five years resi-
dence in that island leads me to see
certain ameliorating circumstances in
connection with the catastrophe, which
those unfamiliar with tropical condi-
tons might not see on the face of the
returns Hurricanes of similar char
acter, although possibly seldom if ever
as severe as this one. have come at in
tervals of from 10 to Is years since the
islands discovery by Columbus. These
have been definitely recorded. Each is
referred to by the saint day on which
it occurred San Ciriaco, the last of any
great magnitude, occurred in 1898,
few months after the American occu-
patton of the island. The comforting
thing about them is that the sugar
crop. the principal wealth of the island
depends upon these storms for its con-
tinuance, as truly as do the crops of
the Nile Valley upon the annual over
flow of that river.
Sugar is only grown upon the low
lying lands skirting the mountainous
interior of the island, and the tor
mentas," as they are called, are the
After each, there is gradual decrease
in the value of the crop till some
benefcent saint intervenes and again
brings bounty. The next five years will
much more than make up for the pres
ent sugar loss
With the other crops the condition is
different. for they are all grown on the
high lands, which are robbed rather
than donated to by the tropical storms
The present citrus fruit crop is proba
bly, ruined. The coffee crop may also
be ruined and If the shade trees under
which coffee is grown in Porto Rico are
felled it will prove a veritable calamity
to the coffee growers, as it takes years
to replace them. Much of the tobacco
crop can probably be saved. But the
most comforting thing of all to me is
the ease with which the poorer classes
throughout the interior of the island
will replace their lost shelter.
Current newspaper reports are to the
effect that 100000 inhabitants of the
islands are houseless. Granting that
this may be an overestimate, it is surely
serious situation Yet it is but a
minor problem compared with what it
would be for us or for any people out
of the tropics. The huts of the noun
tain peoples (jibaroS) are of such a
character that they can for the most
part be replaced so as to furnish the
necessary shelter by their own occu-
pants and with little or no cost, except
that of their own labor I presume a
large majority of those dehoused by
last weeks storm belong to this class
and / will wager that reconstruction OF
this class of dwellings is so per cent
complete at this writing. Personally. l
doubt if the more stable manposteria
type of residence has suffered seriously.
Some S150,O00 worth of schoolhouses
of this type were built under my gen.
eral direction and 1 have confidence
that they are still standing.
The food problem, too, seems to me
to have some encouraging features.
One of the staples is a group OF root
plants which can hardly have been
damaged by the storm. Another is the
platano an diversified banana, which is
eaten cooked only. Even though the
| plants are down, the fruit would be
good for some time and would tide over
| to a considerable extent till the food
ships now en- route arrive.
Conditions on the island are surely
bad enough and nothing should be left
| undone at this end to alleviate the suf-
fering. Yet there Is little silver to
each black cloud.
EDWIN @. DEXTER,
Former Commissioner of Education
for Porto Rico.