722 



PORTO RICO. 



that of Spanish exports to Porto Rico as $8,572.- 

 549. The exports of merchandise from the United 

 States to Porto Rico were valued at $1,833,544, 

 and of imports to Porto Rico into the United 

 States at $2,296,653, of which 98 per cent, repre- 

 sented molasses and sugar. The imports from 

 Great Britain in 1895 were $1.765,574; from the 

 British West Indies, $1,709,117; from Germany, 

 $1,368,595: from France, $251,984; from Cuba, 

 $808.283. The exports to Cuba were $3,610,936; 

 to France, $1,376,087; to Germany, $1,181,396; to 

 Great Britain, $1,144,555; to the British West 

 Indies, $521,649. When the disturbances in Cuba 

 and the Spanish interdicts cut off the supply of 

 the Havana leaf for export a stimulus was given 

 to the raising of tobacco in Porto Rico as a 

 substitute. The tobacco grown on the island is 

 inferior and variable in quality, the cultivation 

 and curing being carelessly attended to. but some 

 plantations produce a quality approaching that 

 of the best Havana. The coffee crop of 1896 was 

 valued at $13,379,000; the product of sugar and 

 molasses at $5,000,000. The export of coffee in 

 1897 was about 55,000,000 pounds. The quality 

 of Porto Rican tobacco is held in high estima- 

 tion in Europe. France has taken the finer grades 

 and Spain the poorer, but the bulk of the crop 

 has usually gone to Cuba. The prices have been 

 too high for much exportation to the United 

 States. The sugar cane can not be grown as 

 easily now as in former times, before the soil 

 was partially exhausted, when the rattoons sprang 

 up without replanting for six or seven years in 

 succession, and the yearly crop of sugar reached 

 8,000 pounds an acre. Now the stocks will rattoon 

 for four or five consecutive years, but there is 

 little land that produces more than 4,000 pounds 

 an acre, and the average is not much over 2,000 

 pounds. The value of the commerce of the island 

 and its distribution, according to the Spanish of- 

 ficial reports, are shown in the following table: 



The export of coffee was valued at $12,223,000; 

 sugar, $4,412,000; tobacco, $1,194,000; cattle 

 $221,000. 



Navigation. There were 1,077 vessels, of 

 1,079,236 tons, entered at the ports of Porto 

 Rico during 1895, of which 150, of 296,424 tons 

 arrived from Spain; 190, of 182,165 tons, from 

 Cuba; 171, of 180,772 tons, from the United 

 States; 109, of 135,349 tons, from England- 50 

 of 79,495 tons, from Germany; 44, of 55,908 tons, 



fe^ 1 ?*^ 061 16 ' Of 49 ' 997 tons > from the B "tish 

 West Indies; 25, of 36,089 tons, from Venezuela; 

 59, of 20,103 tons, from Santo Domingo; 16, of 

 12,751 tons, from Belgium; and 45, of 11,140 tons, 

 from the Danish West Indies. The total number 

 of vessels cleared was 1,070, of 900,379 tons of 

 which 262, of 358,427 tons, cleared for Cuba- 284 

 of 201,051 tons, for the United States; 121 of 

 126,662 tons, for Spain; 48, of 65,926 tons, for 

 prance; 151, of 44,285 tons, for the British West 

 Indies; 47, of 24,528 tons, for the Danish West 



? 9i e8 -ki 2 *' f 3 , 2 ' 7 t t0n8 ' f r German y; and 60, 

 of 21,594 tons, for Santo Domingo. 



Communications. There were 137 miles of 



railroads in operation in 1898 and 170 miles were- 

 not yet completed. The telegraphs had a length 

 of 470 miles. Transportation away from the 

 railroads and the made highways, which have a 

 total length of 150 miles, is carried on by means 

 of pack horses and mules. 



American Administration. Gen. John R. 

 Brooke, who as president of the Evacuation Com- 

 mission took over the administration from the 

 Spanish captain general when the Spanish gar- 

 rison was withdrawn, found in office the Insular 

 Cabinet selected by Capt.-Gen. Mavin, to be re- 

 sponsible to the elective Legislative Assembly that 

 was to have assembled in February, 1898, under 

 the autonomous Constitution granted to Porto 

 Rico by the Spanish Government in November,. 

 1897. Owing to the lx>ginning of the war be- 



. tween Spain and the United States, the autono- 

 mous Government was never organized. Nothing 

 was done toward it beyond proclaiming the Con- 

 stitution and appointing the six secretaries coin- 

 posing the Cabinet. Gen. Brooke, who supposed 

 that their selection was made through an ex- 

 pression of the will of the people, confirmed them 

 in office. For economical reasons their number 

 was reduced to four, and before the complete 

 occupancy of the American troops two of these 

 resigned and others were appointed in their places. 

 Gen. Brooke had taken the Insular Cabinet ;i- a 

 guide to conform the military rule to the de- 

 sires and customs of the people, and to allow the 

 existing laws to operate undisturbed as far a- 

 they were compatible with American principles 

 of justice. He announced that all the laws of 

 the land not contrary to the Constitution of the 

 United States would* be enforced. Although the 

 island was divided into military district-, over 

 which the officers of the army ha*d full authority. 

 the machinery of the municipalities and the courts 

 was not arrested nor altered. 



When (Jen. Guy V. Henry entered upon his 

 duties as Governor General the Insular Cabinet 

 stood as follows: Secretary of State and President 

 of the Council. Luis Mil flog Rivera : >e,-n-tary of 

 Finance, Cayetano Coll y Toste ; Secretary of Jus- 

 tice, Juan Hernandez Lopez: Secretary of Fo 

 mento, or Public Works and Education, Salvador 

 Carbonell. After two months of trial (Jen. Henry,, 

 on Feb. 6, abolished the Insular Cabinet, which 

 Gen. Brooke had consulted only as a body, re- 

 quiring a unanimous decision regarding the -u-- 

 pension of any law, the appointment of officials, 

 or other matter on which he asked advice, al- 

 though he did not always follow the recommenda- 

 tions of the Council. Gen. Henry substituted for 

 the collective Council of Secretaries heads of the 

 Departments of State, Finance, Justice, and the 

 Interior. Friction had arisen over the temporary 

 substitution of American officers to take charge 

 of education and public works and in regard to 

 the introduction of American methods in the ad 

 ministration, in consequence of which the Cabinet 

 had offered its resignation as a body previous 

 to its dissolution. Gen. Henry found Dr. 

 bonell too dilatory in carrying out nis projects 

 for the improvement of the public roads, and 



therefore appointed an American officer to con- 

 duct this branch of the department. The s 

 tary of Fomento thereupon tendered his rc-i-jna- 

 tion, and the Cabinet determined to resign a- ;< 

 whole if the slow and cumbersome method of 

 dealing with all matters through the President 

 of the Council were changed, as the Governor 

 General resolved it should be. Major Pierce was 

 appointed Director of Public Works after tl 

 tirement of Dr. Carbonell. and Gen. Eaton 

 assigned to the Department of Public "Instruction. 



