Social Problems in Porto Rico

by Fred K. Fleagle

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.

THE LAND PROBLEM AND UNEMPLOYMENT

One of the most difficult problems to solve in the case of a small country such as Porto Rico, and one which has a definite bearing on both the economic and the social life of the people, is the land situation. This is especially true when the chief industries are such as lend themselves more readily to large plantation farming rather than to small industries or crops which can be raised profitably on small areas. The most important products of Porto Rico to-day are large-farm products, and they naturally tend to develop a small number of large landowners and a large number of landless citizens. There were in 1910, 46,799 farms operated by their owners, and it was estimated that 600,000 people or 117,647 families in rural sections belonged to the landless class. An equally large proportion of landless citizens is found in urban centers. Of the 10,936 people in Puerta de Tierra in 1913, only 178 or about 30 families owned the land on which their houses were located. It is estimated that there are at least 800,000 people or 156,860 landless families in Porto Rico.

In addition to the tendency toward lawlessness that is always found where there is an overproportion of landless citizens, the systems of land rental in Porto Rico have certain unfortunate economic aspects which call for consideration. Part of the renters live in houses which are owned by the proprietor of the land upon which their houses are located, and here the case resolves itself simply into the ordinary relations of renters and householders. This system does not differ to any great extent from the ordinary rent system in the States and has the same disadvantages, both economical and social, which are to be found wherever the rental system is in operation.

A second system which has been known as the "Land Rent System" is somewhat different. Under this system a man rents a lot from the owner of the property and proceeds to erect his own house upon the land. He then owns the house but not the land upon which it is located. Usually he rents from the proprietor from month to month or from year to year and has no definite lease of the land, and there is nothing to prevent the owner from raising the rental price or from demanding the house of the renter whenever he feels so inclined. As a matter of fact, it frequently happens that the land is rented to householders at fifty cents or a dollar monthly for the purpose of building houses, and within a short time after the completion of the house the owner of the land advances the price of rent, so that the house owner finds himself unable to meet the increased cost. He then has no choice except to move out and leave his house, together with the amount of work and invested money which it represents, or to sell the house to another person. Usually the house is sold to the owner of the land himself, who thus comes into possession, at a very reduced price, of a house which he, in turn, rents to another individual. This system is extremely unfortunate for the renter and should be abolished by the passing of legislation which would require the granting of a lease for a certain definite period to every person who builds upon land owned by another.