Part 6

This disease has left its trace among the country people and they have been accused of laziness and idleness when it is probable that the cause of the apparent disinclination for work is due to the weakened physical condition which is a result of the anemia. In this connection, Drs. Gutierrez and Ashford in their work on _Uncinariasis in Porto Rico_ quote Col. George D. Flinter, an Englishman in the service of Spain, who published in 1834 "An account of Porto Rico," as follows:

"The common white people, or lowest class (called _jíbaros_), swing in their hammocks all day long, smoking cigars and scraping their native guitars.... Most of these colonists are inconceivably lazy and indifferent. Lying back in their hammocks, the entire day is passed praying or smoking. Their children, isolated from the cities, without education, live in social equality with the young negroes of both sexes, acquiring perverted customs, only to later become cruel with their slaves."

Commenting on this statement, Drs. Gutierrez and Ashford speak as follows:

"What if these people were merely innocent victims of a disease, modern only in name? What if the brand placed by the Spaniard, the Englishman, and the Frenchman in olden times upon the _jíbaro_ of Porto Rico were a bitter injustice? The early reports savor strongly of those touristic impressions of the Island which from time to time crop out in the press of modern America, in which 'laziness and worthlessness' of the 'natives' are to be inferred, if, indeed, these very words are not employed to describe a sick workingman, with only half of the blood he should have in his body."

"True, Col. Flinter, Field Marshall Count O'Reilly, and the rest of the long list of early 'observers' did not know what uncinariasis was. But is it necessary that we have a record of microscopic examinations of the feces of the people they describe to realize what can be read between the lines? Convicts, adventurers, and gypsies may have formed part of the element that colonized Porto Rico, but we cannot believe that these were all, nor that their descendants were 'lazy' and 'worthless.'

"We cannot believe that vicious idleness comes natural to the Spanish colonist, even in the Tropics, for the very reason that we have seen these descendants at their very worst, after the neglect of four centuries by their mother country, and after the laborious increase of an anemic population in the face of a deadly disease, whose nature was neither known nor studied, work from sunrise to sunset and seek medical attention, not because they felt sick, but because they could no longer work.

"We strongly feel that these writers have unconsciously described uncinariasis. Are the Spanish people considered 'lazy' by those who know them? Were those Spaniards who conquered Mexico, Peru, and all South America, who formed so formidable a power in the Middle Ages, a lazy people?

"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:

Murders 41 Homicides 26 Attempt at murder 30 Robbery 5 Rape 15 Seduction 24 Crime against nature 3 Arson 5 Burglary 148 Forgery 6 Counterfeiting 1 Grand larceny 10 Cattle stealing 25 Smuggling 5 Extortion 2 Crime against the public health and security 55 Mayhem 11 Violation of postal laws 5 Violation of graves 1 Conspiracy 8 Falsification 7

giving a total of 438, which includes not only those sentenced but also those indicted and acquitted. From this table it will be seen that a relatively small number of the actual felonies committed are felonies involving loss of life or an attempt against life. In support of this table, and in proof of the fact that crimes of violence are relatively few in Porto Rico, the following table is given, which is a record of the convictions of the district courts of the Island of Porto Rico in criminal cases, for the years 1913-14 and 1914-15, and of the convicts in the penitentiary June 30, 1915:

Number of Percentage In peni- Per cent convictions of crimes tentiary in prison

1913- 1914- 1913- 1914- 14 15 14 15 Violation of laws enacted in exercise of police powers 220 842 .23 .45 142 .10 Against persons 286 432 .30 .23 371 .25 Against property 329 312 .34 .17 779 .53 Against the administration of public justice 29 142 .03 .08 21 .01 Against decency 40 51 .04 .03 97 .06 Against good morals 36 35 .04 .02 20 .01 Against reputation 9 16 .01 .01 ... ... Unclassified 10 7 .01 .01 38 .03 --- ----- ----- Totals 959 1,837 1,468

From the above table it will be seen that crimes against persons constitute 23 to 30 per cent of the crimes committed. Of the total number of convicts in the penitentiary for the commission of crime, 25 per cent, during the year 1914-15, were there for crimes against persons. Thus we may definitely state that about 25 per cent of the crimes carried to the district courts of Porto Rico are those which involve attempts against the life or well-being of another person. It will be noticed from the above table that with few exceptions the percentages of crimes for the two years are very nearly equal. In 1913-14, 34 per cent of the crimes were against property, which was not strange when we consider that this was a year of financial crisis, due to the sugar situation. In the same year 23 per cent of the crimes were in violation of laws enacted in exercise of police powers. These crimes included breach of the peace.

In the following year, 1914-15, when we had about 17,000 laborers engaged in strikes throughout the Island, and when in addition to this there was a general Insular election, we find that the number of crimes against property dropped to 17 per cent, whereas the number of crimes in violation of laws enacted in exercise of police powers rose from 23 per cent to 45 per cent. This would tend to prove that the average lawbreaker in Porto Rico is easily influenced by economic circumstances and by social surroundings, and that at such a period as that of strikes or elections criminal tendencies take the direction of breach of the peace and violation of municipal ordinances, rather than such crimes as arson, burglary, embezzlement, or forgery.

The influence of the election year is also noticeable in the group of crimes prejudicial to the administration of public justice, which includes contempt of court, bribery, and perjury. During the year 1913-14, 3 per cent of the convictions fell under this head, while during the year 1914-15, the amount was 8 per cent. It will be noticed that of the prisoners in the penitentiary the percentage of those convicted for violation of laws enacted in exercise of police power is only 10 per cent, much less than the percentage of those convicted in the district courts. This, of course, is accounted for by the fact that the great majority of violations of these laws are punishable by fines rather than by imprisonment. In the same way, the percentage of prisoners for crimes against property is much larger than the percentage of convictions in the district courts for this crime, due, of course, to the fact that these crimes are more frequently punished by a prison sentence than by a fine, thus giving an accumulation from year to year of convicts, which overbalances the per cent of the court convictions for any single year.

According to the report of the Insular Chief of Police, the town which had the greatest number of arrests, in proportion to its population, for the year 1915-16, was Arroyo, where there was one arrest for every 8.47 persons. This was followed by Salinas, with one arrest for every 8.82 persons. The town with the best record was Las Marías, where there was one arrest for every 162.03 persons. On the basis of the records of the municipal courts for the three years of 1912-13, 1913-14, and 1914-15, the judicial districts stand in the following relation as far as the number of criminal cases presented during that time is concerned. The table given shows one criminal case presented every three years for the number of inhabitants indicated in each judicial district.

San Juan, one case for every 17.79 persons Rio Piedras " " " " 18.42 " Patillas " " " " 19.94 " Vieques " " " " 19.98 " Salinas " " " " 23.34 " Guayama " " " " 24.62 " Yauco " " " " 24.14 " Mayaguez " " " " 27.50 " Vega Baja " " " " 28.74 " Humacao " " " " 27.31 " San Lorenzo " " " " 30.66 " Ciales " " " " 31.07 " Fajardo " " " " 31.40 " Juana Diaz " " " " 33.00 " Cáguas " " " " 33.01 " Yabucoa " " " " 33.24 " Añasco " " " " 36.29 " Ponce " " " " 36.92 " Manatí " " " " 37.89 " Arecibo " " " " 38.23 " Cayey " " " " 38.29 " Lares " " " " 40.83 " Rio Grande " " " " 40.90 " Barros " " " " 41.09 " Bayamón " " " " 43.87 " San Germán " " " " 44.70 " Adjuntas " " " " 44.97 " Coamo " " " " 45.19 " Camuy " " " " 47.13 " San Sebastián " " " " 48.55 " Aguadilla " " " " 50.22 " Utuado " " " " 54.61 " Carolina " " " " 57.63 " Cabo Rojo " " " " 64.99 "

The great proportion of crime in San Juan, as compared with the rest of the Island, is of course largely due to social conditions, inasmuch as it is the largest city in the Island and to a great extent the resort of undesirable characters for this reason. In the second place, as a coast town and the most important shipping and commercial center, it has a more or less shifting population, and a population composed to a great extent of an uneducated type among the working classes. Every seaport town offers opportunities for criminal classes which inland towns do not possess. The second town in the list, Rio Piedras, is the natural outlet between San Juan and the rest of the Island, which undoubtedly accounts for its large percentage of crime. The rest of the towns where crime is found in large proportion will be discovered to have a large floating population, people who are day laborers and who have no particular interest in the community, except as it provides them with an opportunity for earning daily wages. This class of population is always unfavorable to a community and is always to be found where large industries exist which employ a great number of men; and this is especially true when little attempt is made on the part of the employer to render the permanence of the job desirable by furnishing well-provided living facilities for the employee. It is noticeable that in Cabo Rojo, where the percentage of criminal cases is lowest, the population depends chiefly upon the hat-making industry for its support. This is added proof of the value of small industries from the point of view of community welfare.

It is noteworthy that there was an immense increase in the number of crimes committed in the following districts: Ciales, where the number of cases increased from 431 in 1912 to 754 in 1915; Lares, where the increase was from 352 to 853; Vieques, where the increase was from 341 to 684; Yabucoa, where the increase was from 589 to 831; Yauco, where the increase was from 867 to 1,490. In the rest of the districts the number of crimes did not vary greatly from year to year, even decreasing in the case of Rio Piedras from 1,101 in 1912 to 911 in 1915. Of course, the difference in crime percentage might depend upon the efficiency of the police force or upon the severity of the Municipal Judge, but undoubtedly it will be found more often to depend upon local conditions such as strikes, or the introduction of large numbers of workingmen from another district to take part in agricultural or industrial work. The change of location and the resulting necessity of accommodation to local surroundings is apt to be dangerous to the morals of the individual.

The great majority of the arrests were for crimes which would be termed city crimes. The average countryman of Porto Rico is a man who has a great deal of respect for the law and is inclined to obey it unless led into trouble in a moment of passion or while under the influence of alcoholic drinks. Throughout the country districts premeditated crime is rare, and from the standpoint of improvement of the community, the cities and large towns should be the chief points of attack. A great deal of carelessness exists as to complying with local laws and municipal ordinances, and it is estimated that on June 30, 1915, there were confined in the Insular jails and detention houses, prisoners in the relation of one to every 7.17 inhabitants of the Island. The chief work of the schools along the line of prevention of crime should be the explanation of laws, both Insular and municipal, and the explanation of the reasons for such laws, in order that the individual may be led by his own volition to avoid lawbreaking. Parents should also be impressed with the necessity of inculcating in their children a respect for constituted authority and the necessary obedience to it in order that as the children develop into men and women they may have the proper respect for the laws and those who have been appointed to enforce them.

INTEMPERANCE

IT is unnecessary to say anything about the evil effects of the use of alcoholic drinks, whether it be from the physical, moral, or economic point of view. The recent agitation in favor of the prohibition of the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages in Porto Rico, however, has caused more discussion regarding the situation here than has ever before been the case, and a brief statement of facts may not be unwarranted.

The Porto Ricans are not given to the overconsumption of alcoholic drinks. They are not heavy drinkers, and drunkenness is not at all common. Probably every village has its unfortunate inhabitants, few in number, who live usually under the influence of intoxicants. But the great majority of the people are not given to the excessive use of alcohol. The use of wines is common, a custom characteristic of most Latin peoples.

Porto Rico produces a great deal of alcohol, it being one of the by-products of the sugar cane. Data are not available to show just how much of the rum and alcohol produced is used in the Island, and how much is exported, or how much is used for drinking purposes and how much for commercial uses. During the fiscal year 1915-16, a total revenue of $1,111,834.30 was paid to the Insular government on alcoholic liquors manufactured in Porto Rico or imported into the Island. This gives a per capita revenue of nearly one dollar, and this revenue was paid on 3,886,705 liters of alcoholic liquors either manufactured here or imported--a per capita allowance of more than three liters for every inhabitant of the Island. It is probably true that a great deal of the alcohol manufactured in Porto Rico was exported, but even granting that one half was not used here, the amount of one and a half liters for every inhabitant is excessive.

The average grocery store carries a complete line of bottled drinks, and often beer in the keg, as well. This is one of the first things which impresses the visitor from the States when he enters a grocery store and sees the shelves packed with all kinds of bottles. There is a constant sale for goods of this sort, usually to the workingmen and poorer class of people, who purchase in small quantities, a drink at a time, for three or five cents; many of them, no doubt, attempting to keep up their physical strength by the use of such a stimulant, since a more noticeable stimulating effect is produced by five cents' worth of rum than could be obtained through the consumption of five cents' worth of food. When this custom becomes as prevalent as it is in Porto Rico, it involves serious evil effects.