Evening star., 1938-05-29

fruits and vegetables. It also embraces
continuation of the efforts to resettle thou
sands of Puerto Ricans onto reclaimed or
purchased farm lands in the hope that they
can grow enough food to feed themselves
and have surplus to market comparatively
at the proposed canneries or on the MAIN
land United States market.
The diffculty with these plans arises,
first, from the fact that the proposed new
industries, even If they were to materialize
as permanent and profitable additions to
the island, would employ at best only a
few thousand people, greatly insufficient
number; secondly. the people who are to
be ''resettled" onto farm lands are not, for
the most part, and never have been. farm
ers, and there is no reason to believe they
ever could become interested or skillful
enough to grow food crops which even the
most expert specialists can grow only with
difficulty in Puerto Rico. The cooperative
idea may be reasonably successful in time,
although the Puerto Rican jibaros are by
no means prepared for it, but the problem
requires a much faster solution In 10
years, when some P. r. R. A. plans may
have materialized, the population will have
grown by another 25O,OO0 to 35O,OOO who
will have to be provided for in some way.
Thinking Puerto Ricans, of whom there
are goodly number, reason that the p r.
r. A. or some other branch of the Federal
Government must reappraise the situation
and find better solution than has been
proposed so far. A way must be found to
provide work or sustenance, not only for
the present surplus of population, but for
the many thousands who are added as each
year passes.
Living Standards Climb.
A study of Puerto Rico shows that the
people there have done q splendid job of
raising their living standards during the 40
years they have spent under the American
flag. In public education sanitation. high
way construction, agricultural production
and research and other ways the island
has leaped far ahead of its other Caribbean
neighbors
Nearly 10 times as many children are
enrolled in public schools now as in 1898,
the death rate has been halved, and the
food supply has been increased, both that
grown locally and that shipped in from
the outside. Needing its available good
lands for cash crops, such as sugar, which
yield high return per acre, the island
buys more than half its total food supply
from farms in continental United States,
ranking third to Canada and the United
Kingdom as buyer of farm surpluses here.
In all, the island spends s27, 100000 year
for rice, wheat flour. lard, pork, dairy
products and other mainland foods, and its
purchases of all goods combined exceed
$90000,000 year.
At present the island exists mostly on
income from the sale of its sugar cane to-
bacco, fruits and coffee all OF which totals
about $85,00O,O0O. There also is a needle
work industry which has been bringing in
an income of about sl0,OOO,O0O a year, and
there are various small industries which
provide living for few thousand add-
tional people.
AS matters now stand there is no reason
to believe that any of the existing indus
tries will be able to expand to any important
extent. Sugar is controlled by the quota
system, fruits by domestic and foreign
competition, and tobocco by the decline in
consumption of high-priced cigars here Oh
the mainland, Puerto Ricos tobacco being
mainly suitable only for cigars. The islands
coffee market in foreign countries was lost
when production declined after the hurri-
canes, and no one expects it to be re-
gained. The cost of production is too high
to enable Puerto Rican coffee to compete
on the mainland market Aside from the
disappointing rehabilitation in the coffee
and grapefruit industries, the P. r. R. A.
and the Interior Department have made
little effort to aid in expansion of the other
major crops.
Crop Program Needs Thought
Thus, until some way can be found to
remove the obstacles in the way of the
existing industries. the island must depend
on new crops and new industries. And that
is where the P. r. R. A., the insular govern
ment, and others interested in aiding the
Islands have stumbled to date. New crops
must be those which are suited to the
islands climate and soil conditions and
those for which there is a market in the
United States or elsewhere. Puerto Rico's
climate is decidedly tropical 1t can grow
and Is now trying to grow vanilla, ouiaine.
certain perfumes, sea-island cotton, sisal.
tropical fruits and winter vegetables, but
no one has yet demonstrated whether the
cost of production is low enough or whether
the products will meet the exacting demands
OF available markets There may some day
be an income Of as much as $4,000 900 or
$lO,000,000 from some of these crops. but
no substantial income can be counted on
from those sources at this time.
AS for new industries, Puerto Rico is
handicapped severely by the shortage of
raw materials. There are on the island
no fuel no petroleum, no timber and no
iron with which to manufacture goods.
The distance-from mainland United States
markets makes the Importation of raw ma
terials costly and means that the island is
limited largely to the manufacture of goods
in which the cost of labor represents q
high percentage of the finished cost of the
goods. Toy making, glass manufacture,
pottery and other new lines have been pro-
posed, along with gem cutting, hairpet
manufacture and other new small busi.
nesses recently established there. But
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