National Altruism 



433 



President, and an elective national assem- 

 bly. The legislature is made up of the 

 two houses of the assembly and the ex- 

 ecutive council. Of the civil servants in 

 the central government, 343 are Ameri- 

 cans and 2,548 are natives. 



Very early in the American history of 

 the island a cyclone passed over it, de- 

 stroying a large part of its coffee cul- 

 ture ; $200,000 was expended from the 

 emergency fund of the United States 

 Treasury to buy rations for those left in 

 distress. Under the law all the customs 

 are turned into the treasury of Porto Rico 

 for the maintenance of the island govern- 

 ment, while the United States pays the 

 cost of the army, the navy, the light- 

 house service, the coast surveys, the har- 

 bor improvements, the marine hospital 

 support, the post-office deficit, the 

 weather bureau, and the upk'eep of the 

 agricultural experiment stations. Under 

 the last normal year of Spanish rule 

 there was a total revenue of $3,664,000 

 and a total expenditure of $2,869,000, in- 

 cluding the central, provincial, and 

 municipal receipts and expenditures. For 

 the year 1906 the total revenue, pro- 

 vincial and municipal, was $4,250,000 

 and the expenditure $4,054,000. 



There is maintained in the island a 

 Porto Rican regiment, paid by the United 

 States, and in addition a constabulary or 

 rural police, maintained at the expense 

 of the island treasury. The island is 

 policed by 700 men, and complete tran- 

 quillity reigns. Under the Spanish 

 regime, there was in the island a force 

 of over a thousand rural guards, beside 

 a thousand municipal and urban police, 

 and in addition the regular Spanish 

 army of 4,000 men and several regiments 

 of militia. Ladronism was bv no means 



THE ENROI^LMBNT OF PUPILS HAS IN- 

 CREASED 600 PER CENT IN 8 YEARS 



Down to the last day of Spanish rule, 

 there was not in this island, containing 

 a million people, a single building con- 

 structed for or dedicated to public in- 

 struction, and the enrollment of pupils 



was but 21,000. There are today in this 

 island 97 such buildings, and the enroll- 

 ment of pupils has reached the number of 

 130,000. In the last year of Spanish rule 

 there was expended $35,000 in gold for 

 public education. Under the present gov- 

 ernment, there is expended a total of 

 $854,000 each year. 



When the Spanish domination ended,, 

 there were 172 miles of macadamized 

 road. Since the United States took con- 

 trol, there have been constructed 291 

 miles more, making in all now a total of 

 463 miles of finely planned and admirably 

 constructed macadamized roads — as fine 

 roads as there are in the world. 



In the course of the administration of 

 this island, the medical authorities of the 

 government discovered a disease of 

 an£emia which was epidemic and was pro- 

 duced by a microbe called the "hook 

 worm." It so much impaired the energy 

 of those who suffered from it, and so 

 often led to complete prostration and 

 death, that it became necessary to under- 

 take its cure by widespread governmental 

 effort. I am glad to say that the effect 

 of the government's treatment has been 

 much to reduce the extent and severity of 

 the disease, and that it has been brought 

 under control. 



There is complete free trade between 

 Porto Rico and the United States, and 

 all customs duties collected in the United 

 States on Porto Rican products subse- 

 quent to the date of Spanish evacuation, 

 amounting to nearly $3,000,000, have 

 been refunded to the island treasury. 

 The loss to the revenues of the United 

 States from the free admission of Porto 

 Rican products is $15,000,000 annually. 

 In the rnaking of tobacco into cigars and 

 cigarettes and of cane into sugar, a con- 

 siderable number of the laboring class 

 find mechanical employment, but the 

 wealth of the island is directly dependent 

 upon the cultivation of the soil, to cane, 

 tobacco, coffee, and fruit, for which we 

 in America provide the market. With- 

 out our fostering benevolence, this i^'^and 

 would be as unhappy and prostral.: as 

 are some of the neighboring British, 



