“ Each municipality is required to pay to its school board 25% of its receipts from the general property tax.
Finance.—Trade between Porto Rico and the United States is free, but upon imports to Porto Rico from foreign countries the Federal government collects custom duties and pays the net proceeds to the insular government. Other principal sources of income are excise taxes, a general property tax, an inheritance tax, and a tax on insurance premiums. ”

“ There are important mineral and thermal springs in various parts of the island.
The only manufacturing industries of much importance are the preparation of sugar, coffee and tobacco for market, and the manufacture of cigars, cigarettes, straw hats, soap, matches, vermicelli, sash, doors, ice, distilled liquors and some machinery.
Transport facilities are inadequate. The American Railroad of Porto Rico, about 190 m. long, connects the principal cities along the north and west coasts and those as far east as Ponce on the south coast ”

“ At no period of its history has Porto Rico enjoyed great prosperity. Besides the causes already indicated the evil character of many of the white settlers conspired to retard its development. In 1515 its European population may have been 400. Until 1782 the island was divided into the eastern district of Puerto Rico and the western one of San Germán. In 1513 the arrival of its first bishop, who later also exercised the function of general inquisitor, added one more to the discordant elements ruling the island. ”

“ A huge land-turtle is peculiar to the island. Reptiles are scarce, and venomous reptiles unknown. Noxious insects are less numerous than is usual in tropical countries. There are no large game birds, but song birds and doves are numerous on the mountains, and flamingoes and other water-birds frequent the coast. There are a few species of fresh-water fish, but food-fishes are scarce both in the rivers and along the coast. ”

“ By 1520 philanthropic churchmen directed their attention to the miserable conditions of the natives; but remedial legislation was largely nullified by the rapacity of subordinate officials, and before the end of the 16th century the natives disappeared as a distinct race. ”

“ A project for irrigating the district south of the mountains between Ponce and Patillas was adopted by the Porto Rican government in 1909. The Federal government has an agricultural experiment station at Mayaguez.
The mineral resources are very limited. Brick clay and limestone are abundant, and there are on the south coast a sand marl rich in phosphates and productive salt deposits. Iron ore, lignite, copper, mercury, molybdenite, nickel, platinum and other minerals have been found, but the quantity of each is too small, or the quality too poor, for them to be of commercial value. ”

“ In 1910 the census returned the population as 1,118,012. The proportion of whites is greater at the west end than at the east end, greater on the north side than on the south side, and greater in the interior than along the coast. Only 13,872, or about 1.5% of the total population of 1899, were foreign-born, and of these more than one-half were born in Spain. The married portion of the population was only 16.6% in 1899. The principal towns, with the population of each in 1910, are: San Juan, 48,716; Ponce, 35,027 ”

“ The coffee plantations were greatly injured by a severe hurricane which visited the island on the 8th of August 1899, but the yield for exlport increased from 12,157,240 ℔ in 1901 to 38,756,750 ℔, value at $4,693,004, in 1907. The acreage, however, decreased from 178,155 acres in 1906 to 155,778 acres in 1909, and in the latter year the crop fell to 28,489,263 ℔. Java coffee has been grown with success in Porto Rico. Tobacco of a superior quality is grown extensively on the lower northern slopes and much tobacco is now grown under cloth. ”