Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 79, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 June 1901 — NEWS FROM OUR COLONIES. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

NEWS FROM OUR COLONIES.

“It is no wonder our soldiers in the Philippines think an American apple food for the gods when you look at the thing those Filipinos call an apple,” said one of the chiefs of the Department of Agriculture as he held up for inspection an article that looked for all the world like a lemon that had been left on a pic-' nic ground. It was as fine a specimen when put on one of the government transports for shipment to the United States as could be found in a Philippine orchard, but it was of a decidedly perishable nature, and even had it been judiciously packed could not have stpod the long voyage without serious damage. When it arrived a few worm holes and a small core attached to a bit of skin were all that remained to tell the story. Our soldiers beg for apples, real American apples, as a hungry man would for bread, while the most luscious tropical fruits hang all about them.

The repulsive bat they have in the Philippines grows to the size of the American chicken hawk. They are eaten by the natives, -though not by those of the better class. The cities, towns and barrios are overrun with the creatures, which are very stupid and easily killed with a pole. Only a small part of the carcass is eaten, all but a portion of each side being thrown away. Of the 953,243 population of Porto Rico only 75,000 live in cities. On the island but 100 miles long and 36 wide are 40.000 district farni6 and one-fifth of the island under cultivation. The average size of a farm in Porto Rjco is forty-five acres, of which twelve are cultivated. Seventy-) one per cent of these Porto Rican farms are owned by whites. Ninety-three per cent of all the farms are cultivated by their owuerrf, a higher rate of owner-cul-tivation than the United States can show, where the proportion is but 72 per cent. Thirty-eight per cent of the Porto Ricans are colored. In Porto Rico 83 per cent of the colored people are of mixed blood. The percentage of illiteracy in Porto Rico is very high—about 84.

Gov. Allen of Porto Rico speaks plainly in presenting the reason why this island has been at a practical standstill for nearly four centuries, nnd says that In a climate where a man can lie in a hnmniock, pick a banana with one hand and dig a sweet potnto with one foot, the incentive to idleness is easy to yield to and* brings its inevitable consequences. He urges the introduction of fresh blood end Anglo-Saxon push and energy as a means of dispelling the lethargy and developing the riches 6f the country’ to their fullest measure.