Twenty-Three Speak Spanish

TWENTY-THREE SPEAK SPANISH

Students From New American Colonies

COME TO ANN ARBOR

Because of Reports Carried Back by Graduates--Desire to be Called Americans

Twenty-three Spanish speaking people are at present in Ann Arbor. This includes one Colombian, three Cubans, four Mexicans, six Philippinoes, and nine Porto Ricans. And these Porto Ricans expressed themselves most emphatically and hopefully in the statement "We are not Philipinoes, but Porto Ricans, and that means we are Americans."

The Philipinoes are different," said a Porto Rican. "They have their own language or 'Tagalo' and learn the Spanish as an art. They are always 'small ones'.' and a man twenty-seven is way down like a nineteen year old boy."

Of the students who have come from Porto Rico, two are from Aquadilli, one from Mayagnez, two from Bayamon, and four from San Juan; and five of these are medics, two are pharmics, one is In the high school, and one is a law, or "an easy one," said Mr. Pespuera, "the rest of us work hard."

"The Porto Ricans come to the states to study," said Mr. Guillermety, "because we haven't any universities at home. There is a high school in San Juan in which we use the English textbooks and Spanish is not allowed to be spoken and girls attend as well as boys, and the girls can be fitted as teachers in a kind of normal school. But we cannot study medicine nor dentistry, nor law, and we have to take an official examination in these studies here before we can practice these at home, and another reason, said the boys, is that here we learn to speak the language more fluently. "A large number of students go to the eastern colleges, but we came to Ann Arbor because of the good reputation brought back from here by Rafael del Valle, a '02 pharmic. Five of or fellows graduated from the law department two years ago; one medic and two pharmics will graduate this year; and the prospects will come to be engineers next year.

The government of Port Rico gives a scholarship to those whose standings reach a certain mark and who pass a certain examination. Twenty-five of these approved ones are sent over here to study for four years at the expense of the government, which is $400 annually, sent monthly. If a student wishes to stay longer and is particularly bright, a concession is made and his time is extended.

Mr. Mateu is the only scholarship fellow here. His parents came with him but remained in Brooklyn three months and arrived here Monday. The boy is in the high school and has two years to complete there to prepare himself for the medical course.

"We think this country is a land of freedom," said one of the boys. "In San Juan we have much the attitude of being tied to mama's apron string; here we are by ourselves." "We are glad we are Americans. The people here are all nice, especially the girls," said Luis Guillermety, pharmic three years of Ann Arbor experience.

"We like Americans better than the Spaniards; but in Porto Rico some Americans are good and some are very bad ones. They go there to get rich and find positions and they quarrel."

An American is given any kind of a position just because he is an American, and no matter what else he is. A bad feeling has arisen among the Porto Ricans on account of this."

"Sometimes there is a bad feeling between the Americans and the police, the Porto Rican doesn't like to be commanded, the American likes to command; hence often there is bodily combat."

But there are good Americans, and there are good Porto Ricans. They are courteous, well bred, remarkably intellectual, and the most pleasantly entertaining--from an American's point of view.