White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1931-04-30

prepared by the National Geographic
Society. Washington. D. CD
NORTO RICO'S problems prob
- lens that have flowed strangely
4 enough in large part from i'm
proved sanitation and health
and the consequent rapid increase in
population-have come more plainly
into the view of the American people
as result Of President Hoover's trip
to the island. The area of Porto Rico
Is only once and half that of Della
ware, but into Its 3,435 square miles
are crowded more than a million and
half people nearly seven times the
population Of Delaware. This gives the
island a population density Of ap-
proximately $50 to the square mile.
With more laborers than there Is
work to be done, unemployment Is a
perennial evil, and job Is like an
heirloom, to be handed down from
generation to generation whenever
possible.
Usually the plantation laborer and
his entire family go barefoot because
there are no funds with which to buy
shoes. The young boys in the rural
districts commonly run about with less
than the proverbial fig leaf to clothe
them and suffer not at all, thanks to
the glorious climate.
Food, perforce, is both simple and
scarce. Rice and beans, with little
bit of salt cod, appear on the table
when the wage earners are employed;
but these are imported and cost
money, so they disappear when the
job ends. Then bananas, sweet pota-
toes, and native vegetables raised on
their small patches Of ground must
tide the families over until another
period of employment begins.
The United States Department of
Agriculture Is trying to induce the
natives to raise Belgian hares. The
rapidity with which these animals
breed, the quickness with which they
attain maturity, and the ease with
which their food requirements are
met in tropical environment make
them poor mans cattle par excellence.
Hare raising would solve the jibaro's
meat problem as perhaps no other
industry could.
If one examines the census returns,
the conclusion will likely be drawn
that Porto Rico has high percentage
Of home owners; but very large pro-
portion of these homes are merely
matched shacks costing, perhaps, $25
each.
Plantation owners are glad to have
natives build the shacks on their es-
tates, as constant supply Of cheap
labor is thus provided. There are
few mortgages as such buildings are
not worth mortgaging.
The thatch, made of rough grass
or palm leaves, is sometimes used for
side walls as well as for the roof,
though more frequently the walls are
made Of royal-palm bark. Flattened
tin cans and discarded corrugated met
al sheets are also utilized.
Homemade Utensils.
Dishes and utensils are largely
homemade. Gourds and discarded
tin cans are substituted for the pots
and pans of continental kitchens.
Hammocks and floor pallets take the
place of beds and chairs.
The rural, laboring native is known
as "iibaro," which literally means "es-
cane from civilization" Good natured
reconciled to a hard lot and pre-
Let fyf1 Of TN
and Spaniard, he combines the care
free ideals Of the redskin and the
impetuous temperament Of the Span
lard.
The jibaro inherits his name from
the distant past. After Columbus dis
covered the island and Ponce de Leon
awakened it, gold fever brought
MANY adventures, who impressed the
Indians into service. Those natives
who could escape fled to the interior,
oway from their slave-driving mas
ters.
Some of the pioneering Spaniards
made homes for themselves with ma
tive women. by whom they had numer-
ous children. These all too often were
turned adrift.
Furthermore, in the past Spain sent
TO the island many petty offenders,
who sooner or later we're released to
wander inland from the civilization
| that fringed the coast.
Out of diverse types and races has
been bred the jibaro. He is no longer
an escape from civilization" A ben
eyolent government is trying to do all
1t can to improve his lot, to carry to
him whatever 1t can of the blessings
of health. education and happiness.
One of the potent factors in the de-
yelopment of Porto Rico has been