568 



PORTO RICO. 



ficient for the needs of government, and after it 

 had gone into operation passed on July 4, 1901, 

 a joint resolution notifying the President of the 

 United States that the aid was no longer needed, 

 in consequence of which the President on July 

 25, 1901, proclaimed the cessation of all tariff 

 duties between Porto Rico and the United States. 

 The Governor of Porto Rico is appointed by the 

 President of the United States. Charles H. 

 Allen, appointed Governor on May 1, 1900, at 

 the institution of local self-government, was suc- 

 ceeded on July 23, 1900, by William H. Hunt, 

 whose official staff at the beginning of 1902 was 

 composed as follows: Secretary, Charles Hart- 

 zell; Attorney-General, James S. Harlan; Treas- 

 urer, W. F. Willoughby; Auditor, John R. Garri- 

 son; Commissioner of Education, Martin G. 

 Brumbaugh, succeeded by Samuel M. Lindsay; 

 Commissioner of the Interior, William H. Elliot. 

 The Resident Commissioner of Porto Rico in 

 Washington is Federico Degetau, reelected Nov. 

 4, 1902. The Executive Council is the upper 

 house of the Legislative Assembly and the popu- 

 larly elected House of Delegates the lower. The 

 Governor and the chief American officials with 

 5 native Porto Ricans appointed by the Presi- 

 dent constitute the Executive Council. The 

 House of Delegates has 35 members. A Supreme 

 Court was instituted, with Jos6 S. Quinones as 

 Chief Justice and Louis Sulzbacher, of Missouri, 

 and Jose C. Fernandez, Jose M. Figueras, and 

 Rafael Nieto y Abeille, Porto Ricans, as asso- 

 ciate judges. A United States district court was 

 created, and William H. Holt was appointed Fed- 

 eral district judge. The Spanish code of laws 

 was continued, with modifications recommended 

 by a special commission bringing it into harmony 

 with the laws of the United States. Gov. Allen 

 resigned, and William H. Hunt, of Montana, was 

 on July 23, 1901, appointed his successor. The 

 Governor and the Secretary receive instructions 

 from the State Department at Washington, the 

 Treasurer and Auditor from the Treasury De- 

 partment. A battalion of native troops organ- 

 ized in 1899 has been retained in the United 

 States service, and forms the only military force 

 on the island with the exception of detachments 

 of artillery in the sea forts. These native troops 

 are to be disbanded. 



Area and Population. The area of the is- 

 land is estimated at 3,600 square miles. The 

 population in 1900 was 953,243. Many workers 

 on the sugar plantations were induced to emi- 

 grate with their families to the Hawaiian Islands 

 and to Cuba, and others employed in the tobacco 

 industry went to the latter island, but this emi- 

 gration was counterbalanced by immigration 

 from Santo Domingo, Cuba, and other West Indi- 

 an islands. The density of population is 264 to 

 the square mile and the increase in population was 

 16 per cent, from 1887 to 1900 according to cen- 

 sus returns. Of the inhabitants of the island 

 589,426, or 61.8 per cent., are white, though many 

 of these show an infusion of African blood. The 

 number of black and colored inhabitants is 363,- 

 817, or 38.2 per cent. The number of foreigners 

 in 1900 was 13,872, or 1.5 per cent, of the popula- 

 tion, and these include 7,690 Spanish residents, 

 the great majority of the Spaniards having elect- 

 ed to retain their nationality. The proportion 

 of the totally illiterate to the population in 1900 

 was 83.2 per cent. Education is making good 

 progress. There were at the end of 1902 in the 

 schools, on which $192,896 had already been ex- 

 pended for buildings, 1,126 teachers, and over 

 55.000 pupils. The annual expenditure for edu- 

 cation is fixed at $600,000. Two industrial schools 



were opened in the fall of 1902. San Juan, the 

 capital, has 32,048 inhabitants; Ponce, 27,952; 

 Mayaguez, 15,187. 



Finances. The insular revenues are sufficient 

 for the needs of the administration, and in his 

 message to the Legislature the Governor advised 

 no increase in direct taxation in 1903. The sum 

 of $600,937 raised by tariff duties up to the time 

 of the cessation of the special tariff on Porto 

 Rican products was set apart as a fund for per- 

 manent public improvements in Porto Rico. Its 

 expenditure for this purpose gave employment 

 to native laborers and imparted an impulse to 

 the commercial and industrial energies of the 

 country which had been paralyzed by the inter- 

 ruption of the former trade with Spain and Cuba 

 and by the effects of the hurricane of 1899. At 

 the close of 1902, besides $885,635 of trust funds, 

 there was a balance on hand of $378,670 from 

 insular revenues and $431,128 due from the Uni- 

 ted States. 



Commerce and Production. The most val- 

 uable product is coffee, of which 60,000,000 

 pounds are gathered annually from 200,000 acres. 

 The coffee finds a ready demand in Austria, 

 France, and other Continental countries and ita 

 superior quality is beginning to be appreciated 

 in the United States. Coffee has constituted 63 

 per cent, in value of the total export trade, and 

 sugar 28 per cent., after which come tobacco, 

 honey, molasses, cattle, timber, and hides. The 

 yield of coffee has been increased from 200 to 

 more than 500 pounds an acre. The crop in 1901 

 was 200,000 bags. In 1902 it approximated 350,- 

 000 bags. Oranges, bananas, and pineapples are 

 exported in increasing quantities. There is a 

 variety of pineapple that attains the weight of 

 25 pounds. Bananas grown without cultivation 

 are of fine quality. Limes and lemons 'grow wild 

 in abundance. Silkworms have been raised experi- 

 mentally that produce cocoons twice or thrice 

 the ordinary size and of the finest quality, fed on 

 a plant growing in abundance on which silk- 

 worms were already raised in Venezuela. A com- 

 pany has been organized to grow Sea Island and 

 Egyptian cotton, for which the soil and climate 

 have been found well adapted. Rice is grown on 

 the island, but more is imported. Corn and vege- 

 tables of all kinds are raised. The sugar planta- 

 tions cover 50,000 acres, yielding nearly 100,000 

 tons in 1900. The yield of tobacco was 3,000,000 

 pounds in 1901 and nearly 9,000,000 pounds in 

 1902. The principal mineral product is salt, of 

 which 10,000,000 pounds are annually produced 

 by the salt-works of Guanico, Salinac, and Cape 

 Rojo. Gold is found, and carbonate and sulfids 

 of copper and magnetic iron ore are abundant. 

 Lignite, amber, and marble are other mineral 

 products. There were 260,000 cattle in 1899. 

 Oxen do the heavy hauling. About 50,000 cattle 

 are slaughtered or exported annually. The gra- 

 zing on the island is unexcelled. There are 130,- 

 000 acres of blue grass. Cattle are shipped to 

 Trinidad, St. Lucia, Martinique, and Guadeloupe. 

 Hogs thrive particularly well. Poultry is en>ily 

 kept. Sugar, rum, cigars, and cigarettes are now 

 the principal manufactures. Wood manufac- 

 tures, matches, soda, and vermicelli are newer in- 

 dustrial products. There is unlimited water- 

 power and cheap fuel. The plaiting of hats is 

 a house handicraft which has expanded into a 

 commercial industry since prices rose. Prof. S. A. 

 Knapp examined the agricultural resources of 

 Porto Rico with a view to the establishment of 

 an experiment station in connection with the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, and 

 one has been started near Mayaguez and one 



