should be ashamed thereof. On the contrary they have a right to be gratified by the fact that they come from a country known as Japan, because there is no other country in any other land, civilized or uncivilized, Pagan or Christian, and I do not bar from that comparison the Republic of the United States of America, that can show the same degree of industrial economic and warlike development compared with the preceding period that the Japanese have shown during the last fifty years, and they are entitled to the credit of it. Every Japanese has the opportunity in Hawaii to attend the public schools; they also have their own schools. There is a prejudice in Hawaii over the fact that they have their Japanese schools, but I take this ground upon that proposition. I have no objection to the children of the Japanese being educated in Japanese history and being familiar with Japanese traditions, and if it be true that the education of these children in English history and their knowledge of our country, and its achievements and its developments, is not able to satisfy them of our superiority, I am perfectly willing, so far as I am concerned, to yield the palm to them. Let them adhere to their country. But this ought to be said; the atmosphere in Hawaii is not favorable to the Americanizing of either Japanese or Chinese. This may not be a palatable fact, but in my judgment it is true. No person will become Americanized or become part of our country unless he is able to localize himself in some part thereof; and by that I mean, to acquire a status in the country, to become attached to the soil, to own real property therein. I could not find in Hawaii any enthusiasm over the proposition that a Japanese should be allowed to buy an acre, two acres or ten, or that the Chinese should be allowed to do the same thing.

I agree perfectly with all the gentlemen who have addressed the Conference upon the great proposition that with the proper application of American ideas and American notions we will get the proper results; but we must create the conditions that will produce the results: and when they are created, we may expect the results to follow. I thank you. (Applause.)

THE CHAIRMAN: Our good friend, REV. D. C. HUGHES and his wife, father and mother of our Governor, are obliged to go to-morrow. We would be glad of a single word from the REV. MR. HUGHES.

The Rev. D. C. Hughes responded briefly, expressing his appreciation of the value of the conference and his pleasure

in being in attendance. Referring to our duties to the dependent races he quoted the Scriptures "He that would save his life shall lose it; and he who would lose his life for my sake shall save it." "The United States," declared Mr. Hughes, "will lose its life if it should selfishly throw aside the millions of those peoples who have been under bondage, which has resulted in their ignorance and helpnessness for so many centuries, but now in the providence of God have been placed under our care."

The Conference then adjourned until the following morning at 10 A. M.

Fifth Session

Friday Morning, October 25, 1907

THE CHAIRMAN: We shall take up Porto Rico this morning. The first speaker is the REV. DR. C. J. RYDER, Corresponding Secretary of the American Missionary Association.

PORTO RICO: THE ISLAND AND THE PEOPLE

ADDRESS OF REV. CHARLES J. RYDER, D. D.

I visited Porto Rico in 1902. Conditions have doubtless materially changed since that time. I speak of the island and the people as I found them, having taken considerable pains to discover the real conditions, and such a study may be of advantage in showing how much has been accomplished and how serious the outlook was at this earlier period.

The

The topography of the island it is necessary to understand in order to understand the conditions. Around the edge is a narrow plain or plateau. Rising from this plain are the rolling foothills and above these the mountains of the interior. superficial area of the island is 3,606 square miles. Porto Rico is about three-fourths as large as Connecticut. It is sometimes called "The Island of the Sacred Cow" on account of its peculiar appearance on the map.

The fertility of the island is too well known to need comment and the variety of agricultural products almost without limit. The development of the agricultural possibilities of the island which will surely come through the industrial training given in the missionary and other schools, will certainly greatly enhance its importance. The balance of trade will surely turn in favor of the United States.

The original population of Porto Rico when American occupancy took place was about one million. A word of history is essential to understand the present conditions. Porto Rico was discovered in 1493 by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage across the Atlantic. A monument now stands to Columbus at the western edge of the island at Aguadilla. Here also is the Columbus spring from which it is supposed Columbus and his fellow voyagers drank from the bubbling water. The first Governor, Ponce de Leon, occupied the island in 1509, building his White House, or Casa Blanca, which still stands near San Juan. Ruthless and cruel mistreatment of the Carib Indians, who occupied the islands, is the unfortunate history of the Spanish govern

ment. A constitutional government was established in 1870, however. African slavery, which was introduced in 1531, was abolished in 1873. The American flag was raised over San Juan October 18, 1898. So much for the history. The present condition of the population modified more or less by the influences which this history presents, is of especial importance.

It seems to me that most of the visitors to the island gain a superficial view of the real conditions of the people on account of the general plan of the tourists' visit. They go from San Juan around the edge of the island reaching Ponce at the south and then taking the Military road from Ponce to San Juan. This gives one a very little view of the interior of the island. The population, roughly estimated, is about as follows: Spaniards, 100,000, living mostly around the edge of the island in the larger towns and furnishing the merchants and professional men. Emancipated slaves of African admixture, 400,000. They too largely live on the edge of the island in the flat country. Porto Ricans, 500,000. These latter are the descendants of the mixed races consisting of Spaniards and Carib Indians. They are distinct from the Negroes in the lowlands and more or less distinct from the Spaniards. I went ponyback through the heart of the mountains, studying the conditions of the Porto Ricans proper. I do not mean that there is so distinct separation between these different races that it is possible to dogmatise of conditions of each. On the other hand, to me these five hundred thousand Porto Ricans, anxious for self-government, many of them fairly enlightened and progressive men, represent the hopeful future of the island. The Spaniards were more or less unreconciled to American occupancy and naturally so. The Negroes in our southern states are not to be compared with the Negroes of Porto Rico. They seemed a very discouraging peasantry. The Porto Ricans proper offer hopeful material for development and of representative government.

The density of the population was a great surprise. In the United States the population averages twenty persons to the square mile. In the Philippine Islands the average is sixty, while in Porto Rico there are 270 to the square mile.

The illiteracy at the time of American occupancy was appalling. Eighty-five per cent. of the population could neither read nor write in any language. The United States Government has provided educational facilities for about one hundred thousand children. The total enrollment of school age is 350,000. This leaves something like 200,000 unschooled children in the island.

There has been no denominational rivalry in the island. There was only one protestant church at the time of American occupancy and that had been closed for some time. It was a Church

of England society at Ponce. The Roman Catholic Bishopric was established in 1512. The domestic, social, educational and spiritual condition of the people in the island has, therefore, been entirely dependent upon this one branch of the Christian church.

In entering the island the various denominations held a conference and agreed that rivalry and denominational discord should never be allowed in the development of Christian and missionary effort.

The American Missionary Association, representing the Congregational work in the island, has six churches with a total membership of 481. Blanche Kellogg Institute at Santurce, the gateway of the island, is maintained by the Association. The plan of instruction here is to teach especially girls and boys to some extent along lines of industrial as well as intellectual instruction.

While in the island I visited nearly all the Catholic churches at the large centers and also the various protestant churches and missions. I want to bear my testimony to the progressive methods which have been recently introduced and of the devotion and efficiency of the great body of teachers and missionaries of the various denominations. It seemed to me that the official language of the island ought to be the English. If the island is to be held by America certainly in the courts, in the reports of the public schools and in official documents the language of the nation of which the island is a part, should be the language of the island. Another suggestion that occurred to me was that industrial training should be made a large feature of the public instruction. The agriculture of the island heretofore has been mostly slovenly and unsystematic. With the fertility of the soil that would make it a veritable garden of Eden, the careless methods of agriculture have produced but insufficient results. In the political administration of the island I was impressed with the dignity and character of the officers who have gone into it from Continental United States. I visited the courts conducted by American judges and was impressed with their strength and fairness. The impression of my visit as a whole

was,

First, the appalling conditions which the island had reached before American occupancy.

Second, the efficiency of those who were seeking to correct this condition and produce results worthy of the splendid possibilities.

Third, that without any experience in colonizing distinct islands or continents, the United States was pretty well up to its job and was pursuing wise and wholesome lines of development that would surely succeed.