THE principal industries of Porto Rico are necessarily of an
agricultural character, and their importance to the Island financially
is shown by the fact that during the year 1914-15 exports to the value
of $49,356,907 left for the United States and foreign countries. The
imports for the same period reached the amount of $33,884,296, thus
giving a good surplus to the Island after the total imports had been
paid for. The principal classes of imports are the foodstuffs which
might be produced in sufficient quantities to maintain the population of
Porto Rico. This is a situation which should receive attention, inasmuch
as the Island is capable of producing all of the foodstuffs which it
needs for its own consumption. The principal article of export from
Porto Rico is sugar and other products of the sugar cane. The article of
export second in value is tobacco in its various forms. Third comes
coffee; and these three products make up the chief source of wealth.
The chief criticism in regard to the agricultural situation of Porto
Rico at the present time, is that there has been very little development
of small farm products which would tend to make it possible and
profitable for the landholder who is in possession of only a few acres
to earn a comfortable living. The climate and soil of Porto Rico would,
undoubtedly, lend themselves to the production of many fruits and
vegetables which could be raised with profit on farms limited in size,
and which would enable the small farmer to maintain his family.
In addition to the introduction of agricultural products fitted for
small farm production, an opportunity should be given and efforts
encouraged for the establishment and improvement of such lines of work
as can be carried on in the homes or by a small group of people working
independently. Among these kinds of work are several, such as the
hat-making and basket-making industries, the production of handmade lace
and embroidery, and other forms of needlework, which might be carried on
by women working independently during the time they have free from the
occupations of their household work. These handmade articles of Porto
Rico are much sought after by tourists, and there is no doubt but that a
large and profitable market could be opened for them in the United
States, if efforts were made to establish the production on a commercial
basis. The individual living in a small town who devotes himself to hat
making is handicapped because he has no steady market for his goods and
is obliged to sell them or trade them for whatever he can obtain from
retail dealers, who themselves attempt to secure only the limited trade
which enters their stores. In order to make industries of this sort
profitable to the producers, it will be necessary to secure a new and
permanent market for the goods, and either the government or some group
of individuals who will not exploit the workers, should act as
middlemen to see that the work is uniform in character, and to attend to
the handling of the finished products and the supplying of a market for
it in the United States. Working as individuals, the countrymen or
dwellers in small towns have turned out products which differ in quality
and in design, and very frequently the lack of resources has obliged
them to construct their products from unsuitable or cheap materials.
They have been accustomed to ask for their products as high a price as
they thought they could obtain, and often this price is too high for the
quality of the article, while sometimes it does not pay for the labor
and time which has been expended in the production of the article. By
systematizing the work and putting it under the direction of competent
supervisors who would specify the quality of material to be used in the
production of the articles, and who would fix a price which would fairly
represent the time and labor expended by the producer, and who would be
able to reject work that did not meet the standard set, the value of the
goods would be increased. An equally necessary step in this matter would
be the providing of a regular market for the goods and the supervision
of production, so that the market would not be overloaded with certain
articles and lacking in others. Experiments already carried out have
proved the existence of a market for Porto Rican goods in the United
States, and the matter should be taken up under the supervision of the
Insular Government.
In order to produce trained workers for the production of these
articles, it would be necessary to establish schools for their
instruction which might well be under the direction of the Department of
Education. These schools would not necessarily last throughout the year,
nor would they require any great expenditure of money for their
maintenance. The character of the school should depend upon the locality
in which it was established and should be designed only for the training
of skilled workmen, either child or adult, in particular lines of work.
Short courses of two or three months in these industrial schools should
be offered, and the people who attend them should be assured of a market
for their goods when they have arrived at a point where they can produce
goods of the proper standard. The money expended in the establishment
and maintenance of these schools would more than double the earning
capacity of the unskilled worker, and the general welfare of the
community would be increased by the changing of unskilled and
unproductive citizens into trained, productive laborers.
It is a well established fact that the trained workman is the most
desirable kind of citizen. The unskilled laborer has no steady market
for his labor and is the first victim in the wage system whenever a
financial crisis causes the employer to lessen his expenses. The
unskilled laborer has for sale a product which the average employer is
not anxious to obtain, whereas the skilled worker can find a much more
steady and regular market for his labor. The lawless, irresponsible
class of citizens in any community is always composed to a great extent
of the unskilled laborers, and any country which has an overwhelming
proportion of its population composed of this class of people is in
constant danger of labor disturbances and conflicts between employers
and employees. The great majority of the men in penal institutions are
unskilled laborers, and if the proportion of this type of citizens is
sufficiently large, it may constitute a real danger to the community.
With increased ability to earn wages comes the desire to improve living
conditions and to rise higher in the social scale. This demands added
education, more hygienic surroundings, and better food and clothing. The
man who earns fifty cents a day, and that at irregular periods, is an
early victim to dissatisfaction and is easily made to believe that life
has not much for him in the future, and that he has not been fairly
treated by his employer. The skilled laborer who earns double this
amount or more, begins to take a new interest in life, as he can see the
results which have come from his directed efforts, and values the
benefit to his family; he educates his children, sees to it that they
are well clothed and fed, and he himself becomes interested in the life
and problems of the community as he becomes gradually a person of some
importance in its economic and social life. A dependent wage-earning
population usually lacks ideals of self-improvement, but the
steady-working, independent producer of marketable goods is constantly
striving to improve the amount and quality of his products.