RESOURCES.
It is somewhat difficult to tell exactly what is the commercial value of
the new colonial possessions which the Spanish-American war has placed
at the disposal of the United States. The figures are naturally based
upon the conditions which prevailed under Spanish rule.
But, all for all, it may be said that Porto Rico, taking into
consideration its area, has been the most valuable of all Spain's
colonial possessions.
For some reason, which seems to be inscrutable, Spain has given the
inhabitants of Porto Rico far better treatment than she accorded to the
natives of Cuba. She dealt with the island more as if it were a Spanish
province than a colony to be bled to the fullest extent possible for the
financial benefit of Spanish officials and the mother country. Quite the
contrary has been the case in Cuba and the Philippines.
It may be stated that, as a matter of fact, Porto Rico has been, in a
political sense, a province of Spain for the past twenty years.
Spain has paid but little attention to internal improvements, but this
has been an advantage. For with her heavy hand relaxed, the people have
had a certain opportunity to develop such spirit of enterprise as they
possessed.
Porto Rico, in proportion to its size, is immensely wealthy. It is very
doubtful if the Philippines can equal it in richness, square foot for
square foot.
With the island in the possession of the United States and with the
abolishment of the differential duties in favor of the Spanish
government, its geographical position will undoubtedly cause most of its
commerce to flow to and from the ports of the United States.
There will be a market furnished for great quantities of food products,
textile fabrics, iron, steel and coal. From the island the United States
will chiefly receive coffee, tobacco and sugar. Indeed it may be said
that in the line of coffee cultivation, the greatest development of
Porto Rico may be expected in the near future.
Mr. John Beggs, whom we have quoted before, says that Porto Rico is one
of the finest pieces of property on the earth's surface. May it prove so
in the hands of the United States!
The soil of Porto Rico is of remarkable fertility. Its dominant
industries may be said to be agriculture and lumbering.
In the elevated regions, most of the vegetable productions of the
temperate zone can be grown.
More than five hundred varieties of trees can be found in the forests of
the island, many of which are very valuable, and the plains are full of
palms, oranges and other fruit-bearing trees. There are several very
interesting trees, especially a beautiful _Talauma_, with immense white
odorous flowers and silvery leaves. This tree is exceedingly ornamental.
It is used for lumber and called Sabiuo. A _Kirtella_ with crimson
flowers is also rather common. A tree which is called Ortegon by the
natives is found at high altitudes, but chiefly near the coast. It has
immense purple spikes, more than a yard long, and is very striking. It
seems to be confined to Porto Rico and Hayti. There are many varieties
of cabinet and dye woods, including mahogany, ebony, lignum vitae, cedar
and logwood. Plants valuable in the arts and pharmacy abound. Tropical
fruits grow everywhere to perfection.
The chief products of Porto Rico, outside of lumber, may be said to be
sugar, coffee, tobacco, rice, honey and wax, and these have greatly
enriched the island, making many of the people well-to-do.
Sugarcane is cultivated on the fertile plains, yielding three hogsheads
on an average per acre without any manure.
An excellent grade of coffee is produced, and it does not appear that as
yet any blight has perceptibly affected the shrubs.
Rice is very commonly cultivated on the hills in the Sierra. It must be
a kind of mountain variety, as no inundation or other kind of watering
is used.
Rice and plaintain are in fact the staple food of the natives.
Cotton and maize are also raised to a certain extent.
There should in the future be an industry from the manufacture of tannin
extracts from the bark of Coccolala, Rhizophora and the pods of various
acacias, the latter of which are a great nuisance on account of their
rapid growth.
There are a long number of fruits on the island, such as cherries, guava
plums, juicy mangoes and bell apples.
Edwin Emerson, Jr., a war correspondent, speaks of some of the fruits as
follows:
"The most astonishing and the best of all was a fruit called pulmo--in
our language, sour-sap. It is about as large as a quart bowl, and so
nourishing and full that a single fruit was enough for a good meal,
although that did not deter my horse from eating four. Later I found
that they are also relished by dogs. Of springs and streams there were
so many that I had no fear of dying of thirst. If water was not handy, I
could always climb a cocoanut tree and throw down the green nuts, which
were filled with an abundance of watery milk, more than I could drink at
one time. Other nuts there were in plenty; but many were more curious
than edible, even to my willing appetite. One had a delicious odor. I
tasted a little, and thought it ideal for flavoring candy. But it soon
dissolved in my mouth in a fine dust, absorbing all the moisture, so
that I had to blow it out like flour. Nothing ever made me so thirsty in
my life, and even after rinsing out my mouth I felt for a long time as
if I were chewing punk or cotton. The fruit of the tamarind only added
to my torments by setting all my teeth on edge. When we reached the next
spring I fell off my horse for fear he would get all the water. Only
after I had satisfied my thirst would I let him drink."
The poverty of the fauna and flora is remarkable, there being scarcely
any wild animals, birds or flowers.
There is a great deficiency of what may be called _native_ animals of
any sort.
The most troublesome quadruped is the wild dog, which chiefly attack
pigs and other small domestic animals. Mice are probably the greatest
pest of the island, but they are considerably kept down by their natural
enemies, the snakes. The latter not infrequently reach a length of from
six to nine feet. There are a good many mosquitoes, but they are no
worse than they are in New Jersey. Numerous species of ants and bees
exist as well as fireflies. The latter occasionally fly in great masses,
producing beautiful effects in the tropical nights.
It may be stated that, on the whole, Porto Rico is singularly free from
those noxious reptiles and insects which seem to inherit the rest of the
West Indies as their peculiar possession.
Immense pastures occupy a part of the lowland, and feed large herds of
cattle of an excellent quality. St. Thomas and the French islands all
obtain their butcher's meat from Porto Rico. Even Barbadoes comes there
for cattle. Sheep always thrive in a hot country, and they grow big and
fat in Porto Rico. Fresh lamb and mutton are constantly shipped from
there. A very numerous class of the people are shepherds, and these live
upon mutton and the kind of highland rice, already alluded to, which is
very easily prepared for food.
Poultry is most abundant, and the seas and rivers are full of the finest
fish.
Agriculture has hitherto been almost exclusively in the hands of the
natives, but most of the business and commerce have been controlled by
foreigners and Spaniards from the Peninsula.
Although the island is certainly well developed agriculturally, it
certainly admits of considerable expansion in this direction. Under a
different political system, and when it is freed from the oppressive and
vexatious taxation, Porto Rico will certainly become far more productive
and prosperous even than it is now.
There is no question but that the island, richly endowed as it is by
Nature, has been miserably governed.
But agriculture in the near future will certainly not be the main
industry of the island. For there are known to be gold, copper, iron,
zinc and coal mines, which have never been developed. In fact, strange
as it may appear, none of these valuable mines is worked at all. The
vegetable productions have been considered so valuable that in order to
cultivate them the minerals have been neglected. There are also
extensive sponge fields, which are very valuable, but which have not
been touched, owing to several causes, chiefly the lack of capital. The
same can also be said of the quarries of white stone, granite and
marble.
Then there is the question of salt, which is sure to be of importance.
There are large quantities of salt obtained from the lakes. Salt works
have been established at Guanica and Salinas, on the south coast, and at
Cape Rojo, on the west. This constitutes the principal mineral industry
of Porto Rico.
Hot springs and mineral waters are found at Juan Diaz, San Sebastian,
San Lorenzo and Ponce, but the most famous are at Coamo, near the town
of Santa Isabella.
It is now interesting to see what the trade of Porto Rico has been with
other countries, and especially the United States during recent years.
A very large part of the island's trade has been carried on with the
United States, where corn, flour, salt-meat, fish and lumber have been
imported in return for sugar, molasses and coffee.
The natives are not a sea faring people, and care little or nothing for
ships of their own. Therefore, by far the larger part of their trade
with other countries has been carried on by the means of foreign ships.
Porto Rico has paid into the Spanish treasury about 4,000,000 pesos
annually, which is equivalent to about $800,000.
In normal years, that is, when no war was going on, the total value of
imports into the island amounted to about $8,000,000, and the exports to
about $16,000,000.
The latest Spanish statistics, that is, during 1896, give the
importations into Porto Rico as amounting to $18,945,793, and the
exports to $17,295,535.
The average entrances of ships into the ports have been 1919 vessels of
an aggregate of 327,941 tons, of which 544 of 81,966 tons were British.
Articles of import have been distributed by countries as follows:
From Spain come wines, rice, oils, flour and textiles; from England,
machinery, textiles, salted provisions, rice and coal; from France, a
small amount of textiles, some jewelry and perfumery, and some fine
wines and liquors; from Italy, wines, vermicelli and rice; from
Germany, glass and porcelain wares, textiles, paper, cheese, candied
fruits, beer and liquors; from Holland, cheese; from Cuba, rum, sugar
and tobacco; from the United States, petroleum, ironware, glassware,
chemicals, textiles, paper, lumber, barrels, machinery, carriages, dried
and salted meats, butter, grease, codfish, flour, coal, fruits,
vermicelli and cheese.
A commercial arrangement was entered into between the United States and
Spain in 1895, in consequence of which the following proclamation was
issued by the Spanish Government:
PROCLAMATION:
The executive is authorized to apply to the products and manufactures of
the United States which coming from the ports of the United States be
admitted into the ports of Cuba and Porto Rico, the benefits of the
second column of the tariffs in said islands; provided that the United
States, in their turn apply their lowest rates of duty to the products
of the soil and of the industry of Cuba and Porto Rico.
This modus vivendi shall be in force until a permanent commercial treaty
between the two parties concerned is concluded, or until one of them
gives notice to the other, three months in advance of the day on which
it wishes to put an end of it.
Therefore, I command all the courts, justices, chiefs, governors and
other authorities, civil, military and ecclesiastical, of all classes
and dignities, to observe and cause to be observed, obeyed and executed
this present law in all its parts. Given in the palace, February 4,
1895.
I, the Queen Regent.
Alejandro Groizard, Secretary of State.
The above is translated from the Gaceta de Madrid of February 6, 1895.
This agreement, if so it can be called, is of course now at an end.
Hereafter Porto Rico will enjoy all the privileges of a colony of the
United States.
But still it is interesting to note the duty on the leading articles of
export from the United States to Porto Rico, as expressed in the second
column of the Spanish tariff.
This was as follows:
Wheat flour, rice flour, buckwheat flour, cornmeal,
oatmeal, barleymeal, ryemeal, per 100
kilograms, gross, $4 00
Pork, per 100 kilograms, net 9 90
Beef and all other meats, per 100 kilograms, net 6 50
Sausage, per 100 kilograms, gross 20
Hay, per 100 kilograms, gross 80
Pig iron, per 100 kilograms, net 50
Bar iron, per 100 kilograms, net 2 15
Barb wire (for fencing), per 100 kilograms, net 40
Coal, per 100 kilograms, net 60
Patent medicines, including weight of container
and wrapper 35
One hundred kilograms amounts to something over two hundred pounds.
The people on the island are rather luxurious, so much so that in one
year five million dollars worth of goods were carried there. These goods
consisted principally of manufactured products, such as clothing and
household wares.
The principal exports from the United States have been flour, pork,
lard, lumber and shooks.
But, of course, all this will be largely increased now that Porto Rico
is practically a portion of the United States, and the increased
commerce will be to the advantage of both.
During the five years from 1893 to 1897, the trade of Porto Rico with
the United States has been as follows:
Imports
Exports to from
United United
States: States:
1893 $4,008,623 $2,510,007
1894 3,135,634 2,720,508
1895 1,506,512 1,833,544
1896 2,296,653 2,102,094
1897 2,181,024 1,988,888
Whatever disadvantages Porto Rico may possess, and when all is said and
done, they are beyond question few, it is certainly lovely enough and
prolific enough to make one forget them all.
A writer in Ainslee's Magazine concludes his very clever article as
follows, and undoubtedly every word he says is true:
"Unfortunately for the development of Spanish countries the mental
activity of the people is principally manifested in an exuberant
imagination which finds expression in superlative and poetical language.
If there were any corresponding creative genius and executive ability in
material affairs such a fertile and well-watered land as Puerto Rico
would be the home of one of the richest communities on the globe. By her
situation she is adapted to become the centre of a flourishing commerce
whose goods might be carried down dozens of navigable rivers from the
interior of the island. Under a good government, with enterprising
colonists, the natural resources of the island, some of which have been
scarcely touched, would bring comfort and wealth to a large
population."