Evening Star Newspaper, May 16, 1930, Page 7

PORTO RICAN NEED HELD “DESPERATE” ‘Roosevelt Pleads for Pas- sage of $3,000,000 Relief in Forum Address. The need for $3,000,000 additional hurricane relief for Porto Rico, which now is pending before Congress, was | stressed last night by Col. Theodore Roosevelt, Governor of Porto Rico. Speaking through Station WMAL over the National Radio Forum arranged by | The Star and sponsored by the Colum- bia Broadcasting System, Col. Roosevelt outlined the “desperate” need of the island. ‘ The island never has had the “only | real prosperity—that which reflects itself ; in the pay envelope,” declared the gov- ernor. “The average wages are from $150 to $200 a year.” Unemployment, he said, was serious. | What the present administration of the island is doing to improve condi- | tions was outlined by Col. Roosevelt. He | told of efforts to build up the small farmer, through schools, the homestead | commission and the building up of farm | bureaus like those operating in the | United States. Industrial education, he | réported, was also being put into the| 00ls to develop industries of the fu- ture and an industrial class. Officials Serve Without Pay. Handicapped by lack of funds, the ad- tration of the island is being done | some officials without pay, the go ernor pointed out. For instance, he ex- plained, his secretary was serving also &8 commissioner of elections and getting only the salary of one position. ‘The cyclone of a year and a half ago, Col. Roosevelt sald, “left us in desperate condition. At the present moment, 60 cent of the children are suffering malnutrition, many of them with but one scant meal a day. aged by disease. Our I 50 highest in many ythe W ern Hemisphere, and four-an the West- times that of the United States. mz right now from per] from consumption. Fully 600, ‘hookworm.” 2 Col. Roosevelt's address l;ollom ‘The average person the United States has but little knowledge of what Porto Rico is or what it means to this 30, have lying somewhere to the south of but little importance, if they think of it at all. Since I have been governor there I have had letters ad- dressed to me, Porto Rico, Philippine Islands; Porto Rico, Cuba, and one even American Ambassador, Porto Rico, South America. Quite a number of times I have known of people asking how long it took to go by automobile the United States to Porto Rico. matter of fact, the island is of LH] Sout ‘eoun come wr?vw. We lounding & school of tropical agricul- , With the assistance of Carnell, which will serve in the same fashion. sEEl g I Iee I s i e fh 2 g Rico been in such shape that the vast majority of our pesple were pros- and healthy. We have never the only real tg:"“”""’"“’" which reflects itself in pay envelope. year and s half ago the cyclone struck us and left us in desperate con- dition. At the 60 per suffering from malnutrition, many of them with but one scant meal & day. We are ravished by . Our tul josis rate is the highest in many places in the West- ern Hemisphere and four and one-half times that of the United States. Our is 50 times That is the but it is not a condition that cannot be changed. It is one that can and must be remedied. Our peorle are in- telligent and industrious. Ii opportunity, they will their worth, and end that we must direct our efforts. When I arrived at the island last Autumn I found, due to the cyclone, not only the conditions above stated, but, in’ addition, that we were in & grave financial crisis, because our rev- enues had fallen while our needs in- creased. We had & large floating debt we were running behind every month in our insular revenues. It is clearly evident two things must be done.” The first is to meet the present e the lives of g through ppeal for funds to be used in our 1 lunch rooms. That, however, neceasary as it was, was only & pal- COL. THEODORE THE EVENING STAR WASHING'TON, D. C., FRIDAY, l TELLS PORTO RICAN NEEDS ROOSEVELT, JR. —Harris & Ewing. liative, The other part of our prob- lem, the more difficult and the more important, was to seek for a perma- nent remedy. Our island in the past had been e vast majority o peopl n their livelihood or_indirectly from culture. What we decided we must do was to bend every effort to building small farmer. Our had been sugar, fruit, and coffee. We felt that we for canning others. We felt that the solution of our trouble was intensive agriculture. We felt that we must try to get the information out to the small people. In order to accomplish this end we have decided to work through the schools and develop our smaller prac- tical rural units. We have now formed 13 and we are hoping to add 15 more this year. These rural schools teach reading, writing, arithmetic and Eng- lish, but 60 per cent of their curricu- lum is practical s . _Around each leho:.lu;lefiutlm ‘There the boys are taught farming, not by blackboard demonstration, but by raising the crops themselves under the direction of a practical farmer. Where the boys' nmmz l;-u farms thew pg:mr;' aged eep small gar a home. These in: by the sanitation and health. cost only sapproximately $9,000 to $10,000 a year to mal beca the students build the school furniture, raise the food for the school lunch rooms and cook the food. It is work that hes back l.\éhu: LLY{3 this situation. With Government money it buys cheap land when such land comes on market. It divides this land then into farms of some 21, to 20 acres and rents each one of them to & suitable individual. He builds his house thereon, and pays back to the Government the original cost in_an- nual installments. Meanwhile the Gov- ernment has, in connection with each one of these settlements, & small Gov- inspector goes to the surrounding farm- ers, helps them in their problems, ad- A Little Paint Makes vises them on their um l.lgl ‘l‘;l:: in organizing w—wzfl ves and sel their produce. ‘e have now some 1,200 farms and have only had about 1 per cent of defaults in payment. We sre going to use every effort to extend this work. th ‘ust like 3 ontinental United States, co-operatives omposed of the farmers whereby the armers can aid themselves. We are working in fifty other ways sward the same end, encouraging pack- ng firms to establish on.the island; cou! g cannerjes, etc. Already ve are beginning to see the fruits of our florts in an increased productivity and n the opening up of certain markets - that we were unable to reach before. Though farming is perhaps our first ncern, we cannot exist farming alone, for we have 440 people to the square mile, We therefore made up our mind we sheuld do our best to in- {ustrialize the island. We have abun- iance of intelligent readable labor. We 1ave potential water transportation to \l markets. We have hydroelectric | . We are putting into our schools dustrial education. We have organ- ized a bureau of commerce in the gov- ernment to aid in any fashion possible new industries that may wish to estab- lish themselves. ‘we are beginning to show dozen firms are now elther establishing themselves or trying to establish themselves in Porto Rico. Old industries are increasing their capacity. The tide is turning, but, of course, it will be a slow process. Last and of equal importance with farming and industry is health. I have sketched briefly above the condition of In order to meet it we |no one can be healthy without proper | food, and the roots of most of our difficulties lie in that fact. - We are | also planning to extend.our system of health units, molded on those in this country, and to wage with whatever means we may be able to obtain a war against tuberculosis. Endeavors Depend on Roads. Naturally, al! of- the above endeavors depend upon a properly maintained and developed road system, for you cannot have schools or collect your farmers' on. ‘To embark on all this, of course, will require money. Due to the hurricane we were loaded with debt and our ex- a big difference When it comes to the porches and roof—its insurance, for a coat of good paint shields from damage the ho Consult us a t sun and beating rains can do. bout this “insurance” paint. We know what’s best. And for the porch and lawn furniture—its decoration and restoration. Makes the old new; and the gay colors that are the present fashion will work won Consult us We'll guide yo ders in pleasing effects. u correctly—and economically. Dyér Brothers 734 13th St. N.'W. Incorporated Franklin 8325 Distributors for Sherwin-Williams and Other Nationally Known Paint Products Worsteds and Flannels— Both With Extra Trousers Are specially favored this season. The correct shade—in the pre- cisely correct modeling—both single and double breasted—and with P-B craftsmanship make these Grays splendidly satisfac- tory. They are weigh ted for comfort- able wear; silk trimmgd; and in those individualized sizes which insure perfect personal fit. The Flannels With two pairs of trousers and Super-value quality. The Worsteds With two pairs of trousers. 338 345 Street Floor. The Avenue at Ninth R F S PB —KNO YWN STORF, jobs. My secretary, for instance, is serving as well as commissioner of elections, and getting only the salary for one position. We have no head for our insane asylum. The health com- missioner is acting in that capacity. We have pooled our government transporta- tion. We are watching every. penny. That was not sufficient, for an estimate of the treasury gave us receipts, on th basis of last year’s taxes, of but $9,500,- 000. We felt that would not suffice, so, with conditions as they are, we decided to raise our taxes. We the gaso- line tax by 50 per cent and provided $300,000 more that way. Then the question of congress appropriating $3,000,000 for additional hurricane re- lief came up, particularly $2,000,000 to do with our roads. This was a life- saver for us. It enabled us to extend the practical work I have outlined above, and undertook, in some measure, the rehabilitation of Porto Rico and the care of the children. At this moment the appropriation is before congress. I earnestly hope it may prevail. If it does not, we will have to cut out our increase in rural MAY 16, 1930. schools, cut out our farm bureaus, our monstration farms, our extended health service, our bureau of commerce. That, of course, would spell a definite halt in our struggle to furnish our fel- low citizens of Porto Rico, men, women gldmchlldren. with a fair opportunity e. Of course, what I have outlined above is only the beginning. It forms a basis ‘® | for the future, but it hardly touches much of our needs for the present. The American Child Health Association, un- der the direction of President Hoover, has made a survey of the island, which I believe will soon be made public. We will need aid from the United States to meet the emergency to fight the dis- ease, to check the tuberculosis, to save the lives of these children. I am sure we will get it, for I think I know the heart and temper of the people. I know, furthermore, that Porto Rico in the fu- ture will more than justify what may be_done to aid it now. I thank you. American investments in Peru now total $334,000,000. AT SLOAN’S ART GALLERIES 715 13th Street ’ Peremptory Sale A Magnificent Collection £ Oriental Rugs and Carpets At Public Auction Within Our Galleries c 715 13th St. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, May 19th, 20th, 21st, 22d and 23d, 1930 at 2 P. M,, Each Day Embracing in part Kermanshahs, Sarooks, Serapis, Kishans, Khorassans, Fereghans, Mossouls, Beloochis- tans, Irans, Shirvans, Tabriz, Cabistans, Lillehans in extra large pieces and scatter sizes. Note: The above sale is made for a large importer who is desirous of liquidating his stock before the sum- mer seasom. . TRADE MaRk On Free View Up to Hour Of Sale Each Day. TERMS: Positively Cash REGSTERED C, G. Sloan & Co., Inc., Aucts. ‘ -,.(7;’0 about the “decoration paints.” = The Sponsored Straws of authenticated fashion Personal choice Panamas and Stiff will decide ’twixt Straws—with per- haps a stronger leaning toward the Panamas. To whichever you incline there is a quality reason for preferring P-B Hats. They come from domestic and foreign makers of note. Genuine South American Panamas, and Bonar-Phelps Stiff Straws exclu- sively here. You'll find it easy to satisfy becom- ingness by reason of our detailed pro~ portions. Panamas—$5.75 to $12 Stiff Straws—$3 to $5 Milans—$4.00 Leghorns—#$5.75 Special Genuine South American Panamas at $§.75 Special Smart Sennits and Split Braids at $1.85 43 X NATIIONAILILY ELF ERVICE ELLING YSTEM Get Acquainted With Our Wonderful Low Prices! Hot Weather SUITS 39_99 Tropical Welght TROUSERS . . . 5282 Linen Knickers and Linen Trousers . 32 Boys’ Wash Knickers; Linen Crash . 98 George s G 910 7th Street We Request the Return of Anything That Can Be Bought for Less Elsewheny Blue Suits - for the “Grads” These Blues, while strictly a necessity for the graduation functions, serve appropriately on all dress-up occasions. Blue Longie Suits —with two pairs of long trousers. $22.50 and $25 Fine cheviot weave; all wool, of course;. and ab- solutely fast color. The de- signing is a modification of the men’s models, suiting the ages 14 to 20 years. White Flannel Pants for wear with the blue COat Gnd Vest ......oeeeeeennnoneeesnes $750 Blue Knicker Suits —with two pairs of plus-four knickers. $15 and $18.75 Cheviot that's wear-proof and color that’s fadeless. Cut in the fashions to which the youngsters aspire. Fit ages 8 to 18 years. Every Boy Wants Sports Shirts—white and fancy. $1 and $1.50. Athletic Shorts; fancy patterns and plain white. 50c. Golf Hose—new Scotchy patterns. 50c and $1.00. *Teck Jr. Oxfords—in black and tan; straight lace and blucher. $4. *Trade Mark Registered. ‘ Barber Bill at the ters’ service— all day, every day Official Boy Scout Equipment