Part 5
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.
A modification of this system is frequently found in the cases where employees build their houses upon the land which belongs to the plantation. In many cases the employer does his utmost to make the life of his tenants as pleasant as possible, granting them garden plots and trying to make them permanent employees by offering them certain advantages. In many cases, however, the employer maintains a company store and requires his employees to purchase all their provisions from the store, thus making a double profit from them, and frequently charging them higher prices than they would have to pay elsewhere. In other cases the employer guarantees the credit of his workmen at a given local store, and on pay day he turns over to the local storekeeper the amount due the workmen and the storekeeper deducts from this the amount which is owing him for provisions and hands over to the workmen what may be left. As the average countryman has little idea of business and is lacking in knowledge of how to keep accurate accounts, and, moreover, since a credit system always tends to extravagance, it frequently happens that the workman is never entirely out of debt. There is a law approved in 1908 which makes it unlawful "for any corporation, company, firm or person engaged in any trade or business, whether directly or indirectly, to issue, sell, give or deliver to any person employed by such corporation, company, firm or person, payments of wages to such laborers, or as an advance for labor not due, in any script, token, draft, check or other evidence of indebtedness payable or redeemable otherwise than in lawful money." Section 2 of the same law provides that "if any corporation, company, firm or person shall coerce or compel or attempt to coerce or compel an employee to purchase goods or supplies in payment of wages due him from any corporation, company, firm or person, such said named corporation, company, firm or person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor." In this way attempts have been made to protect the laborer from exploitation, but violations of the law are not uncommon.
There is need for legislation to provide opportunity for the man of small means to purchase sufficient land to establish a home. In Porto Rico there are about 121,346 acres of government lands located in various parts of the Island which might well be opened to settlement at a nominal price. Legislation should also be passed which would provide that private land which is not used for produce for a given term of years might be opened to settlement and sold to people who would occupy it and use it for production. There are many acres of private land in Porto Rico which are not used at all and have not been used for years. The accumulation of land by an individual or a corporation for purposes of speculation or for purposes other than cultivation and use for the production of crops should be discouraged, because the limited amount of land in the Island does not permit such accumulation except at the expense of the poorer class of people. There is at present a law preventing the accumulation of more than 500 acres of land by any company or corporation, but no penalty has been provided for the violation of this law, and it is practically useless as it stands at present.
In addition to providing means by which people would be encouraged to own and manage small farms, coöperative organizations for providing a market for the products of these farms should be established. Undoubtedly, the government should start such a movement. The spirit of coöperation is not strong in Porto Rico at the present time, and the small farm holder finds himself at a disadvantage when he has to compete with the larger producer and when he is obliged to find a market for his goods. Some such system as exists in Denmark, where the farmers of a community have joined themselves into coöperative associations for selling their products and the purchase of necessary supplies, might very well be introduced into Porto Rico. This would tend not only to improve the economic situation by bringing better prices and a steady market for the farm products, and by making possible the purchase of necessary supplies in larger quantities, but it would also help to encourage a sense of unity and mutual confidence among the people of a given community, which would be of immense value in raising the standard of citizenship. Community pride and a definite desire for improvement would necessarily follow such a movement.
Farming is one of the few occupations which is not influenced by seasons, so far as unemployment is concerned. Practically all of the trades have their busy seasons and their idle seasons, and any movement which would tend to make employment more permanent by providing small farms for a larger number of people, would be of immense benefit to the Island as a whole. The Bureau of Labor of Porto Rico in an investigation which covered the last five months of the year 1913, found that of the total number of union men reported, 27 per cent were unemployed during the month of August, 26 per cent during September, 38 per cent during October, 34 per cent during November, and 46 per cent during December. The men reporting were engaged in various occupations. It was estimated that 28 per cent of all the laborers who reported were unemployed on account of lack of work and not on account of not desiring work. The different trades represented are as follows: among the dock laborers 62 per cent were unemployed, 56 per cent of the carpenters, 47 per cent of the agricultural laborers, 23 per cent of the cigar makers, and 10 per cent of the typesetters reported that they could not find employment. Thus it will be seen that when the individual workman is at the mercy of the employer, he has no independent status such as he would have were he the owner of even a very modest piece of property, and it is inevitable that he will find employment only part of the year. Part time employment tends to low standards of living, because during the period of reduced financial income the standards of living are lowered, and when it is found that the family can exist on the reduced income there is little inducement for seeking work since the desire for economy and saving is not greatly developed among the working classes of Porto Rico.
We find a gradual lowering of the moral standard as the necessary accompaniment of low standards of living, and if continued long enough, this low moral standard gradually leads to moral and social degeneration. The necessary steps should be taken by the legislature to provide for the relief of the landless and unemployed classes, as otherwise these people will constitute a serious handicap for the economic and social development of a competent body of citizens.
POVERTY
THE meaning of the word poverty is relative and depends upon the class of people to whom the word is applied. Poverty, technically, is the lack of an income sufficient to maintain the individual as the society in which he lives demands that he should live. Thus a wealthy man may live in relative poverty if he is in a circle of acquaintances who are much more wealthy than he is. The amount of income necessary to keep one from being classed in the poverty-stricken group decreases with the simplicity of individual, family, and community life. The amount of property necessary to keep one from poverty in the country is not as great as the amount of property necessary to keep one from poverty in the cities, due to the fact that the standards of living in the country are much simpler and require less expenditure of money to conform to the social standards. Pauperism is not the same as poverty. Poverty may be only temporary, depending upon unfavorable conditions which have reduced the income of the family, such as sickness, accident, lack of employment, or other factors beyond the control of the individual. Poverty does not necessarily involve any moral degeneration, while the pauper is entirely dependent on society and is a moral degenerate. Poverty, in general, however, is a dangerous condition, because it generally leads to pauperism. Poverty perpetuates itself if not taken care of; and if the poor man should give up the struggle against poverty, the general effect on society would be injurious, because, through contact, standards of living, social disease, and bad morals are contagious.
The competition between capital and labor, which often leads to poverty, is not fair if it is limited to the individual members of society. As the individual capitalist has more influence than the individual laborer, labor must be organized in order to equalize the situation. The competitive process between capital and labor, and between industrial organizations, should be controlled so that people should not be compelled to compete on an unfair basis.
The existing conditions in any community are largely responsible for poverty and often for pauperism. They are especially responsible for the attitude of the individual in regard to poverty as to whether he will make a fight to gain a place in society above the poverty-stricken class, or whether he simply resigns himself to his fate and continues to live in a poverty-stricken condition. In this situation, the well-to-do class is more responsible for poverty than any other class, because they have the most power, both legislative and moral, and they must assume for this reason a greater share of responsibility regarding the conditions in any given community. Poverty can be alleviated, but probably not entirely eliminated, and some of the means of combating poverty are the following:
First.--Education. By this means the efficiency of the individual in adjusting himself to trade environment is increased.
Second.--The self-support of weaker classes through voluntary associations among themselves, such as labor movements.
Third.--The proper kind of legal protection, such as factory, and woman and child labor laws, safeguards in factory work, the minimum wage, and accident laws.
Fourth.--Rational charity, by which cases of unusual necessity can be cared for. This charity should act as a temporary agency and should not become permanent, as in that case it tends to pauperism.
Fifth.--Eugenics, by which the physically and mentally unfit, who contribute largely to the pauper class, may be eliminated from society and prevented from propagating a second generation.
Modern charity is more democratic than older charity, and in its workings material aid is made subordinate to moral aid. It is optimistic and believes that radical improvements in social conditions are possible. It believes that the family should always be a self-supporting group, that charity should try to make the poverty-stricken family self-supporting, and that the family should be kept together.
One of the improvements in modern charity is what is known as organized charity, which is a sort of clearing house for the charities of a community. Organized charity does not extend material aid so much as it attempts to find work for needy individuals and thus do away with poverty by putting the family on a self-supporting basis. Organized charity would do away with the begging pauper and require him to present his case at the headquarters of the society, where an investigation of the necessities of his particular case could be made and an effort to find suitable employment for him undertaken. The individual who wished to contribute to charity would contribute to the central organization instead of to the wandering beggar. This would have two distinct benefits to society, as it would prevent the disagreeable sights often encountered where begging is allowed in public, and it would prevent the individual member of society from being imposed upon by a beggar who might be in sufficiently good physical condition to undertake work which would bring in enough to maintain himself and his family.
The question of organized charity in Porto Rico has been suggested at different times, but it has never met with any great popular response, due to the customs and traditions of a charity-giving people. The Island to-day has a large number of paupers who are entirely dependent upon the charity which they receive through begging, and the custom of giving in response to the requests of these beggars is so widespread, that at the present time organized charity would have a most difficult field of work to undertake.
The Island of Porto Rico is prosperous. In the last fiscal year there was a surplus of about $15,000,000 of exports over the imports into the Island; but the distribution of wealth in Porto Rico is not equalized. It has been estimated that the wealth of the Island is in the hands of about 15 per cent of the population, and that the remaining 85 per cent are practically dependent upon uncertain labor and wage conditions for their maintenance. The per capita wealth of a country determines to a great degree the financial situation as far as the average individual is concerned. From the following list of per capita wealth in some of the leading countries, it will be possible to estimate how the average Porto Rican compares with the average citizen of other countries in this regard. The following list is based on statistics of 1909:
Great Britain per capita wealth $1,442 France " " " 1,257 Australia " " " 1,228 United States " " " 1,123 Denmark " " " 1,104 Canada " " " 949 Belgium " " " 734 Germany " " " 707 Spain " " " 548 Austria Hungary " " " 499 Greece " " " 485 Italy " " " 485 Portugal " " " 417 Russia " " " 296 Porto Rico " " " 182
From the above table it will be seen that the average individual in Porto Rico is comparatively poor.
The economic situation in Porto Rico is giving rise to the formation of classes based on wealth. With the introduction of available markets and modern methods of commerce and industry which followed the American occupation, the land values rapidly increased. The small landholder, seeing the increase in price which came about and believing that it was to his best advantage to sell his land, disposed of it to the representatives of large landholding concerns for what, to him, was a fabulous price. As soon as the money from this sale was expended, the original landholder found himself absolutely dependent upon the mercy of a wage-paying employer. In this way a great part of small landholdings passed into the hands of representatives of large landholdings and caused the formation of the two groups, the capitalistic group, which is limited to a comparatively small number of people, and the wage-earning group, which comprises probably 90 per cent of the population of Porto Rico. As a result we lack in Porto Rico the great middle class of financially independent farmers which constitutes the strength of the United States and the more prosperous European countries. A serious and systematic effort to build up a prosperous and independent middle class, either by encouraging small-farm or other industries, is necessary if the majority of the people are to attain the advantages which they should enjoy, and if the social and economic status of the Island is to be made equitable and stable.
The reduced wage system and the absolute dependence of the wage-earning group has given rise to a great many labor disturbances within the last few years. These labor disturbances have included both city and country groups and have in nearly all cases been caused by an effort to better the working conditions and to secure an increase of wages. In the great majority of the cases there is no doubt but that the laborers were justified in asking for better conditions than those which actually existed. That the disturbances sometimes ended in riots and led to the destruction of property is the fault of the educational condition of the people, who are easily excited and led to believe that only by the use of violence can they secure the things which they demand.
The relation between poverty and health and poverty and morals is very close. The poverty-stricken family cannot be led to take any great amount of interest in society or health betterment until means have been produced by which the economic situation of the family group can be bettered. The expense of living uses up the daily wage of the ordinary unskilled laborer in Porto Rico, who averages fifty or sixty cents per day for the time that the weather and his physical condition permit him to work. There is also a close relation between sickness and poverty, the average countryman of Porto Rico being only partly as efficient a worker as he should be, due to physical weakness caused by anemia or malaria. Poverty is closely related to degeneration and crime, especially when it descends into pauperism and absolute dependence upon charity.
The climate and geographical conditions of Porto Rico have never provided the laborer with any incentive to economize, inasmuch as he has no need for providing against a period of cold, and Nature produces some form of plant or vegetable food throughout the entire year. Clothing and lodging may be of the simplest and still prevent much suffering under such conditions, and with physical weakness caused by disease, the tendency is to live for the present, and to take little care for the future through a system of saving and economy. The average manual laborer saves nothing and makes little effort to accumulate property. Incentive must be provided through education which will accustom the countryman to the idea of accumulation of property in a small way, so that dependence upon charity will not be necessary in the case of a financial or economic crisis. That there is a movement toward saving is evident from the fact that on June 30, 1915, there were savings accounts to the amount of $1,909,969.34 in the various banks in the Island. This, however, is a comparatively small amount, and the younger generation should be given definite instruction and incentives along the line of savings. The introduction of the Postal Savings Bank has been of great value in this respect, and the school savings banks have also done their share in inculcating the principles of economy.
SICKNESS AND DISEASE
THE Island of Porto Rico is more free from disease than the average tropical or semi-tropical country, due to the active efforts of the medical profession and of the special commissions and departments created for the elimination of disease within the last few years. Nevertheless, a great deal of sickness which might be avoided, part of which is responsible for death, and part of which merely incapacitates the sufferers or renders them less useful citizens, is to be found. The elimination of such diseases as smallpox and yellow fever, which formerly were responsible for a great number of deaths and which descended upon the Island as epidemics with considerable regularity, has been accomplished, and if similar care were taken in the case of less dreaded diseases, there is reason to believe that they could also be wiped out of existence in the Island.
For the year 1915-16 there was a total of 26,572 deaths in Porto Rico. Most of these deaths were from diseases classified as transmissible, and, consequently, from diseases which could be prevented by complete quarantine. Following is a list of the number of deaths from the diseases which took the heaviest toll in the Island:
Rickets 1,271 Tuberculosis (lungs) 2,125 Malaria 1,290 Typhoid fever 94 Whooping cough 167 Tetanus 109 Cancer 365 Meningitis 344 Epilepsy 57 Acute bronchitis 1,015 Chronic bronchitis 309 Bronco-pneumonia 822 Pneumonia 569 Diarrhea and enteritis under two years 3,485 Diarrhea and enteritis two years and over 870 Infantile tetanus 729 Lack of care in infancy 117 Congenital debility in children 1,145 Uncinariasis 479 Smallpox 9 Diphtheria 26
The two diseases which are of most vital importance to the people of Porto Rico at present are undoubtedly tuberculosis and anemia. The ravages of tuberculosis are more noticeable in the cities, and it has been stated that in 1912, on one street in San Juan, 12 out of every 100 residents died of this disease. Anemia is prevalent throughout the Island, but is more noticeable in the country districts than in the cities, and while the death rate for anemia is not so high as the death rate of some other diseases, yet by reason of weakening the vitality of the sufferers it tends to offer a fertile spot for the incubation of germs of other diseases, and the working and producing power of the individual is lessened with the acuteness of the disease.
It has been claimed that anemia was introduced into Porto Rico by the negroes who were brought here as slaves in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the identity of the disease with the anemia existing in about 20 per cent of all the negroes of the Gold Coast has been determined. The disease was for a long time limited to the coast land and was propagated on the sugar plantations, but after the introduction of coffee, which has come to be the chief product of the mountain regions, the disease was propagated throughout the entire Island.