ing alone, of two partners living together at their place of business, of
three or more boarders living with a housekeeper, or of hundreds
of guests, nuns, or prisoners living together in a hotel, convent, or
prison. On the basis of number of members alone no sharp line can be
drawn between natural families and economic families. Still, the only
classification of census families presented in Table XXXI is that by
size, and on this basis, therefore, an attempt may perhaps be ventured
to divide census families into two classes, one of which should consist
mainly of natural families and the other mainly of economic families.
As a natural family can not be composed of a single member, the
lower limit of size for a natural family may be drawn with confidence
between two members and one. The higher limit is more vague and
uncertain. Yet it seems that if all families of more than ton persons
are grouped as economic families, a large proportion, if not a majority,
of the persons in them might be assumed to be living apart from their
kindred that is, as farm laborers in their employer's family, or as
boarders, lodgers, or residents of hotels, schools, prisons, or other
SIZE OF FAMILIES.
99
institutions treated by the census as a family, but not so regarded in
ordinary speech. On this basis, therefore, the families in Porto Rico
may be divided into the following three groups:
1. Families of 1 member.
2. Families of 2 to 10 members.
3. Families of more than 10 members.
Of these groups, the second consists mainly of natural families, the
first entirely and the third largely, if not mainly, of economic families.
FAMILIES OF ONE MEMBER.
This class in Porto Rico numbered 7,854, or 0.8 per cent of the
population. In the United States and Cuba the corresponding per
cents were 0.7 and 1.9, respectively. Families of one member, there-
fore, are slightly more common in Porto Rico than in the United
States, but less than half as common as in Cuba.
In the following table the proportion of population living in fami-
lies of a single member is given by departments:
Department.
Population.
Population
in families
of one
member.
Percent.
Mayaguez
127,566
1,714
1.3
Bayamon
160 046
1 400
8
TTnmnpfln
88,501
771
0.8
Ponce
203 191
1 620
7
Guavama
111 986
857
7
Arecibo
162,308
960
0.5
Aguadilla
99,645
632
0.5
Total
953 243
7 854
8
The departments with the smallest proportion are the two in which
the proportion of population living in cities is lowest (p. M). It may
be, therefore, that families of one member are more common in cities.
To test this conjecture the following table has been constructed, show-
ing the number of persons living in families of one member in the
three large cities of Porto Rico and in the rest of the island, and the
per cent these make of the total population of each district.
Population
District.
Total popu-
lation.
in families
of one
Percent.
member.
Three cities
75 187
1 496
1 9
Rest of Porto Rico
878,056
6,358
7
The table shows that the proportion of persons living alone in the three
cities is nearl} T three times that of the proportion living alone in the
rest of the island. A similar fact holds for Cuba, the explanation of
which doubtless is that in the country a family must be, in a largo
measure, an economic unit and self -sustaining, while when people
are living as close neighbors, such economic independence of the family
is far less essential. When the figures for the several cities and depart-
100
REPORT ON THE CENSUS OF PORTO RICO, 1899.
merits are analyzed, it appears that in the city of Mayaguez living
alone is much more common than in either of the other large cities,
and that in the department outside of the city, it is much more common
than in any of the other six departments, even if the cities be included
with them.
FAMILIES OF ELEVEN OK MORE MEMBERS.
Such families in Porto Rico included 109,300 persons, or 11.4 per
cent of the entire population that is, more than fourteen times as
many persons were living in these big families as were living alone.
In this respect Porto Rico differs widely from the United States,
where only 6.6 per cent of the population lived in families of 11 or
more members, and from the South Central states of America, where
race conditions and agriculture are somewhat like those of Porto Rico,
but where the proportion of population in families of more than 10
members was the same as the average for the United States.
As hotels, boarding-houses, and institutions are more common in
cities than in the country, it may be that these large census families,
like the very small ones, are more common in the cities.
The following table tests the conjecture:
District.
Total popu-
lation.
Population
in families
of 11-t-
members.
Per cent.
Three cities
75, 187
11,061
'14.7
Rest of Porto Rico
878,056
98,239
11.1
These very large families, therefore, were somewhat more common
in the three cities of Porto Rico than they were in the rest of the
island, a relation between city and country in which Porto Rico differs
from Cuba, where large families are more common in the rural districts.
On examining the three cities separately it appears that the high
proportion of large families does not hold of Mayaguez, but only of
San Juan and Ponce. In Mayaguez the proportion of population liv-
ing in these large families was slightly less than the average in rural
districts.
The following table gives the same facts for the island by depart-
ments:
Department.
Total popu-
lation .
Population
in families
of 11-f
members
each
Per cent.
Aguadilla
99,645
11,242
11 2
Arecibo. ....
162, 308
18,703
11 5
Rav^ m on, ,
160,046
22,294
13.9
Guayama
111,986
12,085
11.3
Humacao
9 473
10 7
Mavaguez
127,666
11,395
8.9
Ponce .
203, 191
23 508
11 5
-
CENSUS Of PORTO RICO 1899.
SIZE OF FAMILIES
PERSONS TO
A FAMILY
El
15 PERCENTS
PER CENTS
A.Hoen&Co.Ba!ta lith.
SIZE OF FAMILIES.
101
FAMILIES OF FROM TWO TO TEN MEMBERS.
As Porto Rico has a much larger proportion of persons living in
families of more than 10 members than the United States, and about
the same proportion of persons living in families of 1 member, it clearly
must have a smaller proportion of persons living in families of from
2 to 10 members, or what has been termed "natural" families. In
Porto Rico about seven-eighths (87.7 per cent) of the inhabitants are
living in families of between 2 and 10 members. In this respect Porto
Rico holds an intermediate position between Cuba, where 85.2 per cent
of the population were living in families of from 2 to 10 members, and
the United States, where 92.6 per cent were so living. The proportion
of population living in families of this size varies little from depart-
ment to department, the proportions ranging from Bayamon, with 85.2
per cent of its population living in natural families, to Mayaguez, where
89.7 per cent were so living.
Families having from 2 to 10 members may conveniently be subdi-
vided into three classes: Small families those having 2, 3, or 4 mem-
bers; families of medium size those having 5, 6, or 7 members; and
large families those having 8, 9, or 10 members. The members of
natural families, or families having between 2 and 10 members, in each
department have been thus subdivided with results shown in the fol-
lowing table:
Department.
Absolute number of persons in families of
Percentage of persons in fami-
lies of 2 to 10 members liv-
ing in
2 to 10
members.
2 to 4 mem-
bers, i.e.,
small
families.
5 to 7 mem-
bers, i.e.,
families
of medium
size.
8 to 10
members,
i.e., large
families.
Small
families.
Families
of
medium
size.
Large
families.
Aguadilla
87, 871
142, 645
136,352
98,444
78,257
114, 457
178,063
22,545
39,385
36,186
27,488
21,611
37, 310
48,582
40,673
63,361
60,332
44,455
34,fe7
50,569
79,199
24,653
39,899
39,834
26,501
21, 759
26, 578
60,282
25.7
27.6
26.5
27.9
27.6
32.6
27.3
46.3
44.4
44.3
45.2
44.6
44.2
44.5
28.0
28.0
29.2
26.9
27.8
23.2
28.2
Arecibo . .
Bavatnon
(iuavama
Huinacao
Mayaguez .
Ponce
Porto Rico
836,089
233,107
373, 476
229,506
27.9
44.7
27.4
Apparently the size of families among white and colored in Porto
Rico \v:is about the same. For in the preceding table the percentages
for Humacao, where there were most colored, differed little from
those for Aguadilla, where there were most whites.
Families of 2 to 4 members and families of 8 to 10 members each
included about one-fourth of the total population living in families
of from 2 to 10 members. Small families (2 to 4 members) were pro-
portionately fewer than in Cuba, and large families (8 to 10 mem-
bers) were more numerous. The families of medium size were also
slightly more numerous than in Cuba. The departments differ but
LIBRARY
UNIVERPTTY OF CALIFORNIA
SANTA BARBARA
102
REPORT ON THE CENSUS OF PORTO RICO, 189?.
little among themselves. The most conspicuous divergence from the
average is in the department of Mayaguez, where families of from
2 to 4 members, like families of 1 member, are unusually numerous,,
and where large families (8 to 10 members) are correspondingly few.
The following table shows the proportidn of the total population of
Porto Rico living in families of specified size, and for purposes of
comparison columns have been added giving the same ratios for Cuba
and the United States:
Number of members of family.
Per cent of total population
living in families of speci-
fied number of members.
Porto
Rico.
Cuba.
United
States
(1890).
1
0.8
4.3
8.6
11.6
13.6
13.5
12.2
10.2
8.1
6.8
11.6
1.9
6.4
9.8
12.0
12.6
12.2
10.9
9.0
7.0
6.2
13.0
0.7
5.3
10.1
15.3
14.1
13.6
12.1
9.6
6.9
6.6
6.7
2
3. . ..
4
5
6
7.
8
9
10
11+ :
Total
100.0
6.3
100.0
4.8
100.0
4.9
Average size of family
In comparing Porto Rico with Cuba and the United States it appears
that the average size of family is somewhat greater than in either of
the other countries. Families of less than 5 members included in
Porto Rico 25.2 per cent of the population, while in Cuba they
included 30.1 per cent, and in the United States 31.4 per cent. On
the other hand, families of 7. 8, 9, or 10 members were more common
in Porto Rico than in either of the other countries. The fewness of
small families and the many large families doubtless account for the
greater average size of families on this island.
SANITARY CONDITON OF HOUSES.
[See Tables XXXII-XXXIV.]
In the present census all buildings, whether occupied November 10,
1899, or not, were reported by the enumerators, and the facts regard-
ing the provisions in them for supplying water and for disposing of
garbage and excreta were ascertained. Before proceeding to a discus-
sion of these topics a brief analysis of this return of buildings may be
made.
The total number of buildings in Porto Rico, whether occupied or
not, was 178,518, or 5.3 persons to a building. The average number
of persons to a building, occupied or unoccupied, may be computed
from those tables. The provinces range as follows:
DWELLINGS.
103
Department.
Population.
Number of
buildings.
Persons
to a
building.
Mayaguez
127,566
26,616
4.7
99,645
19,842
5.0
Arecibo
162,308
30,751
5.2
88,501
16,997
5.2
Guayama.
111,986
20,648
5.4
203,191
37, 410
5.4
Ba vamon
160,046
26,254
6.0
Porto Rico
953, 243
178, 518
5.3
In Bayamon there were 6 persons to a building, while in Mayaguez
there were 4.7. In Cuba it was found that the proportion of persons
to a building was greater in the cities than in the rural districts. To
determine whether the same is true for Porto Rico, the following
table has been constructed:
District.
Population.
Number of
buildings.
Persons
to a
building.
Three cities
75,187
10,283
7.3
Rest of Porto Rico
878,056
168,235
5 2
This table shows that in the three cities of Porto Rico there were
on an average rather more than 7 persons to a building, while in the
rest of Porto Rico there were about 5. That the three cities differ
widely among themselves in this regard is shown by the following
table:
City.
Population.
Number of
buildings.
Persons
toa
building.
San Juan
32,048
2,776
11.5
Mayaguez
15, 187
2 522
6
Ponce
27 952
4 985
5 6
Total
75 187
10 283
7 3
From this it appears that there are about twice as many persons to
a building in San Juan as in either of the other cities in the island, and
more than twice the average number for the whole of Porto Rico.
The number in San Juan is also decidedly greater than in Habana city,
where there are 8.8 persons to a building. The reason for this crowded
state of the population in San Juan is somewhat like that to which a
similar condition is due in New York city, namely, location on an
island of small area, with the resultant barriers to expansion of the
population.
Of the 178,518 buildings, 20,213, or nearly one-ninth, were unoccu-
pied, a proportion slightly less than that in Cuba. The ratio of unoc-
104
REPORT ON THE CENSUS OF PORTO RICO, 1899.
cupied buildings in the several departments varies, as is shown in the
following table:
Department.
Total num-
ber of
buildings.
Number of
unoccupied
buildings.
Per cent
unoccu-
pied.
Aguadilla
19,842
2,056
10.3
Arecibo. .
30,751
4,247
13.8
Bayamon
26,254
2,415
9.2
Guayama
20, 648
1,720
8.3
Humacao
16,997
1,541
9.0
Mayaguez
26, 616
4,445
16.7
Ponce
37, 410
3,789
10.1
Porto Rico
178,518
20,213
11.3
The minimum proportion is found in Guayama, where one building
in twelve is unoccupied. The following table shows the figures for
the three cities and the rest of the island:
District.
Number of
buildings.
Number of
unoccupied
buildings.
Per cent.
Three cities
10,283
1,028
9.9
Rest of Porto Rico
168,235
19,185
11.4
From this it appears that the proportion of unoccupied buildings in
the three cities of Porto Rico is somewhat, though not much, less than
the proportion in the rural districts. The three cities differ consider-
ably among themselves in this regard, Mayaguez having a much higher
proportion than the average in the rural districts, while the other two
have a lower rate.
Passing to the occupied buildings or dwellings, one may examine
the average number of persons to each. Here again only slight dif-
ferences are found between the departments, Aguadilla having the
lowest and Bayamon the highest proportion, as appears from the
following table:
Department.
Population.
Number of
dwellings.
Persons
to a
dwelling.
Aguadilla
99,645
17, 786
5.6
Arecibo
162, 308
26,604
6.1
Bayamon . .
160 046
23, 839
6.7
Guayama
111,986
18,928
6.9
Humacao
88,501
15, 456
6.7
Mayaguez
127, 566
22, 171
6.7
Ponce j
203,191
33,621
6.0
Porto Rico
953, 243
158, 305
6.0
The following table shows the number of persons to a dwelling in
the three cities and in the rest of Porto Rico:
District.
Population.
Number of
dwellings.
Persons
to a
dwelling.
Three cities
75, 187
9,255
8.1
Rest of Porto Rico
s7s, or*.
149,050
5.8
DWELLINGS AND FAMILIES.
105
When the three cities are taken together, the persons to a building
in them are more numerous than in the rest of the island, due largely
to the influence of San Juan. To show that, the facts for the three
cities are given separately in the following table:
City.
Population.
Number of
dwellings.
Persons
to a
dwelling.
San Juan
32 048
2 519
12.7
Mavaguez
15,187
2,107
7.2
Ponce
27,952
4,629
6.0
Total
7G, 187
9,255
8.1
It appears that the number of persons to a dwelling in Mavaguez
city is not much higher, and in Ponce city no higher, than it is in the
remainder of the respective departments, or in the island taken as a
whole, while in San Juan the proportion is more than double that for
the rest of the department or for all Porto Rico.
DWELLINGS AND FAMILIES.
By comparing the number of dwellings in Table XXXII with the
number of families in Table XXXI, one may ascertain the ratio between
census families and dwellings. Every dwelling contains at least one
family, for. as already explained, one person living alone is for census
purposes a f amity, and an unoccupied place of habitation is not a
dwelling. As certain dwellings contain two or more families, the
number of census families must exceed the number of dwellings. The
figures for Porto Rico, compared with those for Cuba and the United
States, are given below:
Country.
Number of
families.
Number of
dwellings.
Famines
to 100
dwellings.
Porto Rico
181 594
158 305
114
Cuba
:-;: y..~>
"',- -"i
125
United States
12 690 152
11 483 318
111
From these figures it appears that there were more families to 100
dwellings in Porto Rico than in the United States, but less than in
Cuba. Still, if the figures for Habana be excluded, the number of
persons to 100 dwellings in Cuba outside of Habana is found to be
almost the same as the average for Porto Rico.
In the following table the figures are given by departments:
Department.
Number of
families.
Number of
dwellings.
Families
to 100
dwellings.
Aguadilla
18 309
17 786
102
Arecibo
30 501
26 504
115
Bavamon
29 544
23 839
123
Guavama
21,353
1- 928
112
Humacao
!; 986
15,456
109
Mavaguez
> .V,-
22 171
119
Ponce
H :>!
33,621
114
Porto Rico
181,594
158,305
114
106
REPORT ON THE CENSUS OF PORTO RICO, 1899.
The high rate of Bayamon and the low rate of Aguadilla suggest
that in the rural districts each family is more likely to have a dwelling
to itself, while in the city we find frequently more than one family to
a dwelling. In the following table, therefore, the figures for the three
cities and the rest of Porto Rico are given separately :
District.
Number of
families.
Number of
dwellings.
Families
to 100
dwellings.
Three cities
15, 821
9,255
171
Rest of Porto Rico
165 773
149 050
111
It appears that the proportion of families to a dwelling in the three
cities is much higher than it is in the rest of Porto Rico.
In the following table the facts are given for the three cities sepa-
rately:
City.
Number of
families.
Number of
dwellings.
Families to
100 dwell-
ings.
San Juan
6,281
2 519
249
Mayaguez . ....
3,647
' 2,107
173
Ponce
5,893
4,629
127
Total
15, 821
9,255
171
From these figures it appears that in Ponce there is comparatively
little crowding of two or more familes into a dwelling; that in Maya-
guez there is more; but that in San Juan there are, on an average,
about five families to every two dwellings, a proportion even higher
than that in Habana city, and further indicative of the serious crowd-
ing of population in the capital of Porto Rico.
SOURCE OF WATER SUPPLY.
The original source of water supply in Porto Rico, as elsewhere, is
rainfall. This rain may fall on a building and be guided into and
stored in a cistern, or may fall on and percolate through the ground
either under or upon the surface. Flowing water may be obtained for
human use as it comes to the surface either in a natural spring or an
artificial well; or it may be obtained as it flows over the surface either
in a natural water course or in an artificial water course or aqueduct.
Accordingly, the census recognizes four sources of water supply, as
follows:
1. Cistern for rain water.
2. Spring or well for ground water.
H. Water from a natural stream.
4. Water from an artificial aqueduct.
WATER SUPPLY.
107
In Porto Rico these .four sources are drawn upon fora water supply
in the following 1 proportions:
Source of water supply.
Number of
dwellings
supplied
from source
named.
Per cent of
total
dwellings.
Stream
86,348
54
Cistern for rain water. .
65 093
36
Aqueduct . . . ...
9,393
6
Spring or well
7 896
5
Not specified
676
Total
158 305
100
About one-third of the Porto Rican buildings are supplied with
water from cisterns, and more than one-half from streams, or nearly
nine-tenths from these two sources combined. About one-seventeenth
of the dwellings are supplied from aqueducts and one-twentieth from
wells.
In comparison with Cuba, the use of cisterns is much less common,
while streams are relied upon by almost twice as many houses. The
stream as a source of water, it will be noticed, requires less initial
expenditure of labor than the cistern, well, or aqueduct. Aqueducts
supply only about one-third the proportion of houses in Porto Rico
that they do in Cuba.
Per cent of dwellings obtaining water from source named.
Department.
Stream.
Cistern.
Aque-
duct.
Well.
Not speci-
fied.
Aguadilla
25
71
4
Arecibo
58
37
o
5
Bayamon
44
40
2
14
Guayama
69
25
5
1
Humacao
68
21
4
7
Mayaguez
40
44
11
4
1
Ponce
68
17
14
1
Total .
54
35
g
5
o
The preceding table shows that the use of cisterns is most common
in the north and west, and least common in the east and south, the pro-
portion varying from one-sixth in Ponce to more than two-thirds in
Aguadilla.
Reliance upon streams, on the other hand, is most common in the
east and south, and least common in the north and west, the proportion
varying from one-fourth in Aguadilla to two-thirds in Ponce, Huma-
cao, and Guayama.
Aqueducts are a supply of little importance, except in Mayaguez
and Ponce, where slightly more than one house in ten gets its water
supply from this source.
Wells are also little used in most of the departments, but in Baya-
mon about one house in seven uses them.
108 REPORT ON THE CENSUS OF PORTO RICO, 1899.
Aqueducts are the principal source of water supply in the cities of
Mayaguez and Ponce, but not apparently in San Juan, where the
greater part of the population nearly two-thirds rely upon wells.
The following notes on the water supply of the three large Porto
Rican cities have been gleaned from various sources:
SAN JUAN.
"The city is poorly supplied with water. There is a good spring on the island of
Miraflores, but within the city there are only cisterns for rain water and a scanty
source in the well of San Cristobal castle. There is another good well in the neigh-
borhood of San Antonio bridge." Delitseh, p. 1931a [1871].
"There is no running water in the town. The entire population depends upon rain
water caught upon the flat roofs of the buildings and conducted to the cistern, which
occupies the greater part of the inner courtyard, that is an essential part of Spanish
houses the world over, but that here, on account of the crowded conditions, is very
small. There is no sewerage except for surface water and sinks, while vaults are in
every house and occupy whatever remaining space there may be in the polios not
taken up by the cistern. The risk of contamination to the water is very great, and
in dry seasons the supply is entirely exhausted." R. T. Hill, Cuba and Porto Rico,
p. 176 [1898.]
"In the few months of American occupancy water from the works in process of
construction by the Spanish, for several years, has been brought into the city."
Carroll, Report on Porto Rico, p. 210.
"Nine miles from San Juan, by the military road, near the little town of Rio Piedras,
there is a piece of engineering just approaching completion which is to result in fur-