of construction. Besides 55 new sites for school buildings were acquired.

The total expenditure of public funds for educational purposes was $2,106,389, as compared with $1,840,016 the previous year, showing an increase of $266,373.

The outstanding features in the report on health conditions are the transformation of the sanitation service into the new department of health, the struggle of the service with a wide-spread and usually virulent epidemic of measles which continued throughout the year, and finally a determined effort made by the department to reveal and to remedy the deplorable conditions of that part of the public health work which rests upon the municipal governments. All three of these matters together with other things of importance are thoroughly discussed in the report of the head of the department of health published elsewhere in this volume.

The most perplexing subject of all is the so-called "Beneficencia municipal," or medical charity work of the municipalities. The thorough survey published reveals the fact that in the great majority of the municipalities the conditions are bad and in many of them deplorable. The root of the difficulty seems to lie in the fact that the extreme poverty of large numbers of the people combined with the remoteness and inaccessibility of their habitations from the municipal centers makes in practically impossible for the municipal governments to give medical attention to the sick poor with the resources at their command. Nevertheless, with better organization and effort, it is no doubt true that conditions could be improved.

The general mortality rate for the year increased alarmingly, reaching 28.5 per 1,000, the highest rate in seven years. This was no doubt partly due to the general high cost of foodstuffs. This general condition was greatly aggravated in Porto Rico by the destruction by the cyclone in August, 1916, of the plantain and banana trees, the source of a large part of the food of the poor throughout the island. Unfortunately this disaster was followed in January by a widespread and destructive drought which cut down the pastures and reduced the supply of milk-the food of the young children.

The number of births reported was reduced from 45,590 in the previous year to 42,259. The number of deaths was 34,939.

EXTERNAL COMMERCE.

The value of imports and exports during the fiscal year 1916-17 aggregated $134,516,141, an increase of $28,833,412 over the corresponding total of the preceding year, and the largest in the history of the island. Imports were valued at $53,545,224 and exports at $80,970,917, an increase in the former of $14,594,068 and in the latter of $14,239,344. The causes and the significance of these figures have already been discussed in this report.

The following tables indicate the relative values and quantities of imports and exports during the year 1916-17 and previous years:

CHART SHOWING COMPARATIVE TOTAL EXTERNAL TRADE WITH THE UNITED STATES AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES FROM 1901-1917.

TABLE NO. 1.-Merchandise shipped from Porto Rico to the United States and foreign countries.

TABLE NO. 2.- Merchandise shipped into Porto Rico from the United States and foreign

TABLE NO. 3.- Merchandise shipped into and from Porto Rico in trade with the United

TABLE NO. 4.-Merchandise shipped into and from Porto Rico in trade with foreign

1901

1902

1903

1904.

1905.

1906.

1907

1908

1909.

1910.

1911.

1912

1913.

1914.

1915.

1916.

1917

Years.

TABLE NO. 5.-Statement showing annual trade balance resulting from the commerce between Porto Rico and other ports.

TABLE NO. 6.- Merchandise brought into Porto Rico from the United States and foreign countries during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1917.