LARES, FORMERLY A BUSY CENTER OF THE COFFEE INDUSTRY Under the Spaniards coffee was Porto Rico's principal product, but its export valuation has dropped from $12,222,599 in 1897 to $4,693,004 in the last fiscal year the most favorable ground for the growth of the cocoanut palm. Passing rich as it is, this country has never been developed. Spain did little toward the exploitation of its resources and even prohibited the prosecution of some of its most promising industries. Cattle grazed over large areas of land that might have been set in cane or tobacco, because there was lack of capital for the cultivation of the former, and the exportation of the latter was restricted. Coffee was the mainstay of the island trade and it was mostly carried to the coast on pack animals over difficult trails. There was but one highway of any considerable length and that was a splendid gauge track along the coast, aggregating about 130 miles in length. One town, Mayaguez, boasted a street tramway. It was equipped with square curtained cars that looked like medieval bedsteads on wheels, drawn by reluctant, raw-boned ponies. The population was, as a matter of course, in the same state of stagnation as the country. the country. San Juan, "La Capital,' as the Porto Ricans fondly call it, should by all the laws of hygiene have been a perpetual plague spot, for every established condition made for disease. some mysteriously providential agencies secured for it a tolerable degree of healthfulness. Into the eighty acres of the in But A STREET IN COAMO SPRINGS conditions than do the Italians of Soho, or the Chinese of Mott Street. The average number of inhabitants to a house in San Juan was twelve, but there were many ground floors that harbored twice as many, in apartments that had no inlet for light or air, save the door, and no furniture but a few mats on which to lie, a small charcoal stove and a kettle. The cooking was done in the patio, which was also the drying-ground for clothes and the general lounging place. We have done much toward improving these fearful conditions, although the relief of the congestion which is fifty per cent greater than in Havana - presents a formidable problem. The accumulated filth of centuries has been cleared out of the city, water supply and sewerage have been provided, and ordinary sanitary conveniences installed. In time we shall either thin out the buildings or the inhabitants of San Juan, intramuros. Many of the patio dwellers will be induced to move out to the suburbs and modern tenements will be built for others. The condition of the masses in the TOBACCO CULTURE UNDER CHEESE-CLOTH SCREENS Around Caguas, the center of the tobacco district, hundreds of acres are found under one cover From stereograph, copyright, by Underwood & Underwood, New York COLUMBUS SQUARE, SAN JUAN AND THE BAY country districts was better only in so far as they were slightly less crowded and confined, and consumption was not so rife among them. But they lived in the most miserable shacks, their only furniture a few simple utensils, a hammock or two, and perhaps a mat. Tens of thousands never sat upon a chair, nor at a table, nor knew other bed than the bare floor. Three-fourths of Porto Rico's million never had covering to their feet, nor more than the scantiest clothing, while their children of both sexes went totally naked until seven or eight years of age. In attending to the victims of the hurricane of 1899, the medical officers were per cent of the adult laboring population was affected by the disease, which saps the energies and shortens the life of the sufferer. The insular authorities are engaged in no more important work than their fight against this terrible affliction, for the eradication of the "hook-worm" means the regeneration of the Porto Rican and the upgrowth of a sturdy population in the place of their listless and thin-blooded forbears. There has been constantly increasing successful treatment under the direction of a special commission. In 1904, about five thousand persons were time, and with its passing we shall cease to have justification for characterizing the Porto Ricans as lazy and shiftless. Thirty cents for twelve hours' work was the highest wage the Porto Rican laborer could ever hope for and that was often payable in tin checks on the planter's store. Moreover, there were upward of ninety holidays in the year, not to mention periods of idleness occasioned by industrial conditions. More than half the adult population, and a large proportion of these were whites, did not handle as much as $5 in the course of a year. It must be admitted that the people |