Show r L MILl PEOPLE STARVING STKAl GE STATE OF AFFAIRS I REPORTED IN ORTO RICO Dying for 1 Lack of Food Which They Could Obtain WithLIttle Effort Ef-fort Cultivating the Soil New York Aug 13i MaJE Graff a commissioner pf education foe Porto Rico has contributed to A recent Lssup of the Independent an article entitled I After Two Years Work In Porto Rico The Major after reviewing the imprOvements sanitation which jc I suited in the extinction of smallpox by which the island was cursed details other Improvements made by the Americans He tells of the establishment establish-ment of new scliools and says Standing armiesarc not needed with such a force as that of the Insular police All the great damage done l the roads by the hurricane of AugustS August-S 1S39 has beenrepaired with the exception ex-ception of replacing cpbtly Iron bridges The effects of the hurricane are still felt In the continued scarcity of food and there Is still great suffering and sickness among the people because of 0 lack of nutrition At the present mo jnent the city of Ponce is suffering more than any other point A report Just made to tho superior board of health shows that the death rate Is now about 100 per 1000 per annum and while the deaths are all recorded in the official reports as duo to gastroen terltls the Inspector of the board reports re-ports that these deaths ore due almost wholly to starvation The condition favoring us in Porto Rico is this That Island sells sugar and coffee and tobacco and buysnear ly l all Its food The great storm nnd progressive financial difficulties have I ruined the planters so that they are unable un-able to employ the laborers These persons who receive never more than i 30 cents gold per day having no work do nOt turn to raising food for themselves I them-selves but dig wild roots and slowly starve to death j Gardens are practically unknown In the islands The people llviynpon rice codfish beans and wild fruits and roots The whole mass of the population Is In a chronic state of starvation From lack of food the laborers are unable to work more than three days each week they are willing to work but have not I thu strength to do so Yet certainly I onetenth of the Island Is In cultivation cultiva-tion Here are 1000000 people who have a rich soil uncultivated a good climate slowly starving to death Why i The only explanation Is that they have so long lived under bad laws nnd Unfavorable I un-favorable economic conditions that now In their extreme poverty and ignorance ig-norance they do not know enough to I i draw their food from the earth |