"Is it 'laziness' or disease that is this very day attracting the attention of the United States to the descendant of the pure-blooded English stock in the Southern Appalachian Range, in the mountains of Carolina and Tennessee, the section of our country where the greatest predominance of 'pure American blood' occurs, despised by the negro who calls him 'poor white trash'?"

During the year 1914-15 there were 6,644 deaths of children under two years of age, which constituted 28.8 per cent of the total mortality of the Island. Approximately 14 out of every 100 children born, died in infancy, and the death rate for the total population was 5.55 per cent for children under one year of age, and 7.71 per cent for children under two years of age. Diarrhea and enteritis were responsible for 33.8 per cent of infant mortality; congenital debility for 13.14 per cent; infantile tetanus for 10.32; while disease of the respiratory organs caused 16.17 per cent of the infant mortality.

It has never been definitely determined just what losses, from the point of view of days of labor, or from the point of view of vitality of the laborer, have been caused by malaria. Mr. D. L. Van Dine, in an article in the Southern Medical Journal for March, 1915, gives the result of some of his investigations among the laboring class in Louisiana. In this study, which was made on one of the large plantations and which covered 74 tenant families with a total of 299 individuals, he shows the losses which occurred from May to October 15, 1914. There were 970 days of actual illness of such a nature that the illness was reported to the physician. Forty-eight out of the seventy-four families were reported to the doctor for malaria. According to Mr. Van Dine, this does not take into consideration mild attacks of malaria which were not reported to the physician, especially in the cases of children. He has estimated that there were at least 487 days lost in cases which were not reported to the doctor. He also estimates that there was a loss of 385 days on the part of the adults who assisted in caring for the malaria patients. It is estimated that there was a loss in days of labor equal to nearly six days and a half for each case of malaria. It will easily be seen that this may be a serious loss of time as far as the production of crops is concerned, and even thus it does not fairly represent the loss, as it does not take into consideration the weakened energy of the man just before or just after the malarial attack.

Undoubtedly, there is as great a loss in Porto Rico from malaria as is indicated in the statements just made. It has been reported that in some sections of the Island, 85 per cent of the people were found to have malaria germs in their blood. Between the two diseases of malaria and anemia, there is no doubt that the physical condition of the Porto Rican countrymen is gradually debilitated.

Since the American occupation, stress has been laid upon the attempts to eliminate anemia, and this work has received special attention since 1906. During the year 1914-15 there were 32,278 new cases of anemia treated in different parts of the Island, and 15,497 cases were discharged as cured.

Undoubtedly a great deal of the illness in Porto Rico is the result of improper food, or food prepared in an improper manner. Malnutrition among children is frequent and leads to such diseases as rickets, which we find has an exceptionally high death rate. In the recent measurements given at the University among university students, it has been found that there was an average depth of chest of nearly half an inch more than is found in the American boy or girl of the same age, and this has been considered as an indication of malnutrition and general softening of the bones in early childhood.

A hemoglobin test which was given to the students of the University this year showed that the average among the men was 80.04 per cent, and only 77.6 per cent among the women. The average for Porto Rico should not fall below 85 per cent, and the anemic conditions indicated by the low average is an indication that the disease is to be found not only among the country people, but also among people of the best conditions of life.

It will be impossible to settle the economic and social problems of Porto Rico until the question of personal health has been more nearly solved than it is to-day. With a large proportion of the country people sick from anemia and malaria, and with tuberculosis as prevalent as it is at the present time, the weakened vitality will not permit strenuous or continued work sufficient to improve economic conditions to any great extent. Social conditions, depending as they do upon the economic situation, must also be slow of improvement, and the most important work facing the Government of Porto Rico at present is the elimination of such diseases as impair the physical condition of the people and thus interfere with economic and social progress.

CRIME

Generally speaking, criminals may be divided into three classes: first, those who direct crime but who take no active part in the commission of the crime themselves; second, those who commit crimes which require a considerable amount of personal courage; third, those who commit crimes which do not necessarily involve any great amount of personal courage. There might be added a fourth class, which would consist of those who commit crime through ignorance of the law or carelessness in informing themselves of exact legal measures and in heeding this knowledge when once obtained. During the year 1915-16 there was a total of 53,006 arrests in the Island of Porto Rico. Of this number, nearly 47,000 were men and the rest were women. On the basis of a population of 1,200,000, this would give one arrest for every 22 persons in the Island. Of this total number of arrests, however, only 438 were cases of felony. There were a great many arrests for the infraction of municipal ordinances,—something over 11,000 in all,—and more than 8,000 arrests for disturbance of the peace. Over 9,000 were for gambling, and over 2,000 for petty larceny; about 5,000 arrests were for infraction of the sanitary laws, and nearly 2,000 arrests were for infraction of road laws. This shows that the greater number of arrests was for comparatively unimportant crimes; by unimportant meaning, of course, those crimes which do not directly involve the loss of life or of any great amount of property. The felonies committed during the year were as follows: