9S2 PORTO RICO 



cleaning being done by the Territorial government. A bureau of labour was established. 

 Other acts control the operation of public service corporations, affect the protection 

 and promotion of industry and commerce, and facilitate the administration of justice. 

 Two new municipal governments were established: Hormigueros, from a part of Maya- 

 guez; and Guaynabo, from 4 wards in Rio Piedras and 6 wards in Bayamon. 



Education. The school enrollment in 1912 was 160,657 (10% more than in 1911, and 6 

 times as much as in the first year of American administration). The total number of school 

 buildings was 1,168. The night schools made the most noteworthy progress, and the attend- 

 ance in 1911 was 75% greater than in 1910, the enrollment being 15,138. Of the pupils 40% 

 were adults. Instruction in agriculture, manual training, cooking, plain sewing and other 

 practical subjects as well as hygiene, physical culture, and military training has been added 

 to the courses of many schools. Pupils in graded schools learn both English, the medium of 

 instruction since 1906, and Spanish. There are good high schools in San Juan, Ponce and 

 Mayaguez. The University of Porto Rico at Rio Piedras had 1,019 students, and the depart- 

 ment of liberal arts was established in 1910-11, making three departments now in operation. 

 The Insular Library at San Juan, created 1903, contains over 15,000 volumes. 



Finance. The treasury receipts increased one-tenth during the fiscal year 1911-12, and 

 amounted in all to 7,816,161 and in spite of increased expenditures the available cash balance 

 increased from 1,214,000 at the beginning of the year to 1,794,555 a t the close (June 30, 

 1912). The tax on alcohol had been raised 2 cents per litre on July I, 1911, The assessed 

 property value, based on a careful revision, was 178,275,000, more than twice as much as 

 in 1905. The total net bonded indebtedness in 1912 was 4,139,760. Bonds for municipal 

 improvements are to be issued. 



Charitable and Penal Institutions. These consist of the insane asylum with 334 patients 

 in 1911 ; the asylum for the blind with an average of 75 inmates for the year; the leper colony 

 on Cabras Island with 25 patients; the girls' charity school with 152 inmates, and the boys' 

 charity school with 250 inmates. In the penal institutions 8,032 prisoners were confined 

 during the year. There are about 50 dispensaries and field hospitals, in which since 1904 a 

 campaign has been carried on against the hookworm plague ( Uncinariasis) , which was 

 introduced with slavery from Africa in the l6th century. Nearly one-third of the population 

 has been treated. Cures are estimated at 40 %. The improvement in the general health of 

 the native workman is marked, and this will be furthered by change of diet. In June 1912 

 the bubonic plague appeared, coming apparently from Trinidad. A careful quarantine was 

 instituted, army surgeons were hurried to the island (June 27) and only sporadic cases were 

 reported after July. In 1911-12 Major Robert E. Noble, U.S.A., in charge of mosquito 

 extermination in the Canal Zone, was in Porto Rico superintending similar work there, and 

 San Juan and its suburbs were largely freed from mosquitoes. 



History. There is a fast growing sentiment in favour of an elective senate in place 

 of the executive council appointed by the President of the United States and consisting 

 of five Porto Ricans and of six Americans, each of the latter being head of an administra- 

 tive department so that administrative and legislative functions are here combined. 

 Admission to American citizenship with full self-government is the demand of a large 

 political party, and on January 17, 1912 the house of delegates voted against American 

 citizenship, except with full self-government. The passage (March 15, 1912) by the Fed- 

 eral House of Representatives of a bill for the admission to the United States of sugar 

 from any source duty free (which did not become a law) aroused much uneasiness in 

 the island. In February 1911 the five native members of the council protested against 

 the removal of restrictions upon land-holdings by corporations, suspecting a move to 

 strengthen the "sugar trust." The Unionists in November 1911 defeated the Re- 

 publicans, electing all members of the house of delegates. 



In April 1911 there was a cigar makers' strike near San Juan, and the men "out" 

 refused to make any terms until the liberation from custody of a score of anarchists who 

 were arrested for complicity in the assassination of a foreman. 



The governor since November 7, 1909, has been George Radcliffe Colton (b. 1865), 

 who served in 1899-1905 in the Philippine Customs, was then in charge of the Dominican 

 Customs receivership, and in 1907-09 was insular collector of customs in the Philippines. 

 The executive council includes: M. Drew Carrel, secretary; Allan H. Richardson, treas- 

 urer; J. W. Bonner, auditor; Wolcott H. Pitkin, Jr., attorney-general; Edward M. 

 Nainter, commissioner of education; John A. Wilson, commissioner of interior; and 

 five native members, Jose C. Barbosa, Luis Sanchez Morales, Martin Travieso, Jr., 

 Rafael del Valle and Juan Vias Ochoteco. 



