60 per cent. higher wages than they formerly obtained. The common field laborer receives from forty to fifty cents a day where formerly he had the equivalent of thirty cents. Add to this that the necessaries of life are cheaper than they were under the Spanish régime, and it is apparent that the plantation laborer certainly has cause to feel grateful.

The fruit industry of Porto Rico deserves to be mentioned, not on account of its present importance, but on account of its wonderful possibilities. It is safe to claim for it the first place among future Porto Rican industries, unless Cuba becomes a part of the Union. Limes, oranges, and all citrous fruits, pineapples and a large variety of tropical fruits, as well as early vegetables for the Northern markets, are dormant elements of future wealth. They are awaiting the hand of the Northern farmer and horticulturist to awaken them. Fruit-lands are to-day unappreciated in Porto Rico, and can be bought at from $15 to $20 an acre. It is the one industry where the shrewd Northerner with pluck and ability can find plenty of room and doubtless great rewards. The lands suited to this industry are hillsides and interior valleys now given up to the most indifferent sort of pasturage, which yields a mere pittance.

The possibilities of rice culture should not be overlooked. Lands too wet for sugar will yield abundant crops of rice, a product highly protected by the present tariff. Hillsides also yield very generous crops of mountain rice in Porto Rico. About all the rice at present cultivated in the island is this mountain rice, planted mainly by the poorer classes of natives. Those who are planting to-day will reap large benefits, and others will be sure to follow their example.

The development of the island's agricultural resources

must be followed by many enterprises which are the natural sequence of thrift and good crops. Roads and railways, both steam and electric, irrigation plants and land drainage, water supply and sewerage systems, electric light plants, factories, public buildings, piers, etc., will surely be

built in the near future. Indeed, many of these enterprises are now going on; and others are awaiting the necessary capital, which can only come through the development of the island's resources. Then the engineer as well as the farmer may look upon Porto Rico as a prospective field for his energies.

But, while future possibilities for enterprising young men exist in Porto Rico, its mild and delightful climate offers a

perfect winter home to the rich, to the invalid, or to those who desire to escape from the rigor of a Northern winter. Not the climate alone, but the wonderful scenery, the luxuriant tropical vegetation, so new and interesting to the Northerner, the excellent driving, and delightful bathing

make a combination of attractions seldom found in a winter resort.

Blessed by Providence with a rich soil and climate unsurpassed, Porto Rico has at last obtained its greatest requirement,― a market for its product. The island has before it a period of prosperity and progress such as it has never enjoyed before, and such as should be the heritage of a new star of the American Federation.

LOUIS F. VERGES, '91.

THE PROFESSION OF TEACHING

One of the most painful things to the student of education is the wide difference between the high results of public school teaching which he believes to be practicable and the actual achievements of the usual public school. Theoretically, free public education should be the supreme force in every community: practically, it is not. Theoretically, the extension of such education should be followed by a higher political morality and a deeper sense of social responsibility: practically, it is not. Theoretically, the teacher-spiritual or temporal- should be honored above all other men : practically, he is not. Who is to blame? In part, the parent, for neglecting to take active interest in the work and standing of public schools; in part, the community, for giving grudgingly toward education and refusing due support and honor to those who teach ; but, most of all, the teachers themselves and the colleges of arts and sciences, for failing to regard teaching as the most important and honorable of all professions.

It is, indeed, the exceptional teacher- outside the faculties of colleges-who seriously looks upon himself as a professional man. The ordinary schoolmaster has little of the personal weight, of the sense of professional responsibility, of what may be called the corporate self-respect of the lawyer, the physician, or the engineer. The traditions of the teaching guild do not yet demand a wide education, a slow and laborious preparation, a careful and humble apprenticeship, such as are required for entrance into the really learned professions. A broad education and the poise of mind which follows it are the vital needs of a great