Evening star., 1940-02-18
BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.


Hospitable Puerto Rico makes a
point OF meeting strangers and
punctuating its friendly welcome
with armfuls Of flowers. At the pier
to greet us on our visit there were
DR.. Kenneth A. Bartlett and Mrs.
Bartlett, Guillermo Estenes and r.
]. Richardson.
DR.. Bartlett is acting director Of,
the United States agricultural sta
ton at Mayaguez-in the absence
OF DR.. Apperton Lee, the distin-
guished tropical plant expert, who
Is making goodwill tour OF South
America for the State Department
IN connection with improvement OF
trade relations. DR.. Bartlett and his
wife had left the experimental sta
ton 100 miles away at am. to
board the Coamo when she steamed
into the pier at $50 and greet DR..
A. K. Balls of Washington, who
journeyed to Puerto Rico to study
the advancement Of its vanilla bean
industry.
Mr. Estenes is assistant director
OF the Puerto Rico Reconstruction
Administration and Mr.. Richardson
is connected with the Information
Institute Of Tourism for the Puerto
Rican Government. Both are old
friends Of Mrs. Horace M. Towner,
regent Of Mount Vernon, whose late
husband once was Governor of
Puerto Rico.
Recall Graduation DAYS,
They conveyed their good wishes
with great armfuls of fragrant rose
buds. SO arranged that they could be
held like graduation bouquets. The
result was, as Mrs. Balls and self
consciously made our way down the
gangplank, we felt for the moment
as II we were recapturing something
OF the commencement auras Of our
respective alma matters, Sweet Briar
College and George Washington
University.
All about us were palms, vivid
tropical plants and flowers and a
strange array of United States Army
trucks, khaki-clad soldiers, Puerto
Rican policemen in blue uniforms
and peddlers of lottery tickets. The
semi-monthly lottery drawing was
on.
DR.. Bartlett interrupted our Jour-
ney to Mayaguez long enough to
permit US to see the drawing in
operation. Two alert little lads
who looked as If they should have
been in school reached for the lucky
numbers as the two spinning, ball
like cages released them. With
dramatic gestures and accents, they
called out the lucky ones.
The drawing continues until all of
the balls in the smaller cage are
released. Meanwhile, news of the
drawing Is flashed upon bulletin
boards outside, much after the
fashion Of baseball scores outside of
our newspaper Offices. Enterprising
merchants and wineshops also have
scoreboard showings for their Gus
toners.
Curving Roads.
Most Puerto Rican roads are de-
void Of signs. so one either knows
the way or one doesn't. The truism.
"a straight line is the shortest dis
tance between two points," is evil
dently unknown to the countrys
road builders, for its highways are
filled with sharp curves. There is
. law requiring every driver to
sound his horn before he approaches
q curve. A surprising number Of
trafiic policemen seem to be lust
around curves to see that this law
is enforced. The result is Puerto
Ricans literally drive with their
horns. When two auto drivers ap-
proach a bridge or an intersection
from opposite directions, the one
who "outhorns" the other gets the
right of way.
One Of the most densely popu-
lated areas in the world. Puerto
Rico's school population increases
faster than SUFFICIENT schools can
be financed. Some families have IL,
Is and even 20 children. The re-
suit is that grown-ups, and chill
dren, too, do tremendous amount
OF roaming on highways. As q
young Puerto Rican aptly described
the situation, I'm most places peo-
pie avoid the automobiles; here the
motorists have to learn to avoid
people" Collisions are surprising
ly few, too.
Oranges and other fruits are plen-
tiful and sell very cheaply. The
Puerto Rican fashion of eating an