Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/327

PORTO RICO. kilometer (.62 of a mile); about 177 miles of good roads were in use when the United States acquired the island. In July, 1902, there were 32 telegraph offices and 600 miles of wire. Two submarine cables connect the island with the outside world, one via Saint Thomas and the other through Kingston, Jamaica. There is only one bank, the Spanish Bank, situated at San Juan, with branches at the principal towns of the island. It has power to issue notes to the extent of three times the amount of its capital, but the present policy of the bank is to curtail the issue of banknotes.

The insular revenues are derived from the customs, internal revenue taxes, postal receipts, a few minor sources of income, and trust funds. The trust funds are derived from revenues collected in the United States on importations from Porto Rico and placed at the disposal of the President to be used for the government and benefit of Porto Rico, for the aid and relief of its people, and for public education, public works, and other public purposes. The total receipts for the year ending June 30, 1902, were $4,472,192.63. There were derived from customs $848,258.30; internal revenue, $1,497,802.63; miscellaneous, $52,525.22; trust funds. $1,478,682.08; balance on hand at close of business June 30, 1901, $563,650.54. The expenditures were: legislative, $51,430.14; executive, $1,655,779.23; judicial, $200,104.66; other disbursements from insular revenues, $292,128.37; disbursements from trust fund, $914,281.37; total expenditures, $3,113,723.77; balance on hand at close of business June 30, 1902, $1,358,468.86. The municipalities are supported chiefly from taxes on real estate.

Mexican money was current nntil the end of 1895, when a five-peseta piece was coined and put in circulation. The peseta has now been superseded by the American dollar. The metric system of weights and measures is in use.

The population by the census of 1899 was 953,243, or 264 to a square mile, a density of population about the same as that of New Jersey. The people live chiefly in the rural districts. There are no large cities, the only cities exceeding 25,000 inhabitants being San Juan (32,048) and Ponce (27,952). Mayaguez had a population of 15,187, and Arecibo 8008. There are 8731 more females than males in the island. The census divides the inhabitants into whites, numbering 589,426, or 61.8 per cent.; and colored, numbering 363,817. The classification ‘colored’ includes a very few Chinese and many persons of mixed white and negro blood, as well as the pure negroes. More than three-fifths of the population are pure white, and nearly two-fifths are partly or entirely negroes. About 84 per cent. of the total colored were returned as mixed blood. Of the whites of Porto Rican birth, 21 years of age and upward, 35,397 could read, and of the colored, 12,576. Under the educational qualification, therefore, the number entitled to vote would be 49,973. About 200,000 persons are employed as laborers in the fields. Though small in weight and stature, their bodies are all bone and sinew, and they have great powers of endurance. The average daily wage of the farm hand is about 35 cents, and the scale of wages can hardly be increased until there is a general rise in the price

of agricultural products. In 1897 the wealth of the island was estimated at $150,000,000, but the municipal and private mortgage indebtedness was about one-third of the total wealth, and rates of interest are very high.

The immigration laws and regulations of the United States apply to Porto Rico. Of the 1908 persons arriving at San .Juan in 1902, 725 were cabin passengers, three-fourths of whom were Spaniards who left the island at the time of the American occupation and are now returning. Most of the immigrants are from the other West Indies, Spain, and South America, a large part being Porto Ricans who left at the time of the American occupation.

On February 21, 1902, there were 876 schools, with 41,642 pupils and 934 teachers. The number of schools has increased over 80 per cent. since the American occupation. The Porto Ricans predominate among the teachers, 837 teachers being natives of the island. More than half the schools are ungraded rural schools. In the 345 graded schools much attention is given to the study of English. There are also a normal school for the training of teachers and a high school at San Juan. Two-thirds of the text books are in the Spanish language, although wherever practicable the pupils are required to use the English text.

The predominant religion is Roman Catholic, but all faiths have complete toleration. A Protestant church is maintained in Ponce, and a few others in smaller towns. The bishopric of Porto Rico, founded in 1504, was the first to be established in the New World.

After the cession of Porto Rico to the United States the island was governed chiefly by the military authorities under the direction of the President of the United States until May 1, 1900, when the scheme of government prepared by Congress went into effect.

Shortly after the transfer of the island to the United States, the President appointed a commission to investigate conditions in Porto Rico and draft a code of laws for the island. It recommended a separation of Church and State in the island, an improved system of taxation, a revised tariff schedule, the establishment of a public school system, and the encouragement of industrial enterprise by the grant of liberal charters. About the same time the civil government of the island was reorganized by order of General Davis. Bureaus of State, of internal revenue, and of agriculture were created and placed under the management of natives, subject to the supervision of the civil secretary to the Military Governor. An advisory board, known as the Board of Insular Policy, consisting of nine members, was created. At the same time the judicial system was reorganized and the island divided into five judicial districts under the jurisdiction of a Supreme Court at San Juan. By act of April 12, 1900. Congress provided a civil government for the island, but did not raise it to the status of a Territory, nor extend the Constitution and laws of the United States thereto. The inhabitants of the island were declared to be “citizens of Porto Rico and as such entitled to the protection of the United States.” The form of government provided consists of a Governor appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, at an annual salary of $8000; an executive council of eleven members, five of whom