Such a thing as liberty of the press was utterly unknown. Articles that had been printed in the Madrid or other Spanish papers attacking the government could not be reproduced in any Porto Rican papers, without the editors being arrested and punished. And this occurred even if the article in question had not been considered as offering ground for the prosecution by the authorities in Spain. The papers, by the way, were ridiculously inadequate in every sense of the word. Only one attempt was ever made to establish a magazine. This was about eleven years ago. It was called the _Revista Puertorriquena_ and was intended "to carry the highest expression of our intellectual culture to all the people of Europe and America where the magnificent Castilian language is spoken." The magazine was conducted by a committee composed of a director, two editors, "and other illustrious persons" elected by the subscribers. The founder of the magazine lamented that the "race of artists" who first settled in Puerto Rico "were so overwhelmed by the exuberant and pompous beauty of the tropics that the natural means of artistic expression were exaggerated to the detriment of ideas," and that the crying evil of the periodical press of the island was "the abundance of sonorous and high-sounding articles having nothing to say to the understanding." The founder of the magazine was Don Manuel Juncos, who is the author of several books of travel. He speaks of the Brooklyn bridge as "a magic vision of the Thousand and One Nights," while the smoke that rose from myriads of New York chimneys "formed the holy and blessed incense of a mighty and busy population, rising directly up to God from the fecund altar of labor." In the streets he was amazed at the "incessant avalanche of men, all having the purpose of certain or probable utility." No more than nineteen persons, under the old regime, were allowed to meet in any place of the island, without special permission from the government, and the mayor of the town was obliged to attend the meetings to see that nothing was said or done against "the integrity of the nation." Licenses were required for everything, even for an ordinary dancing party. The manner of life in the large towns of Porto Rico is not dissimilar from that of European countries, with the exception of some slight differences due to the heat of the climate. The fashions for men and women alike are imported, especially from Paris and London. Those who are in comfortable circumstances dress just like people in European countries. The men wear woolen clothes all the year round. The young women dress very elaborately and all wear hats, the Spanish mantilla being adopted by elderly women only. In the small towns, men dress after the fashion of the cities, except that their clothes are made of linen. Woolen fabrics are uncomfortable, and they are considered a luxury to be donned only on Sundays and holidays.