Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1898-05-16
POINTS ON PORTO RICO.

POINTS ON PORTO RICO.
A Fertile Isle That May Become Ours.
One of the important questions
growing out of the war will be the
disposition of the island of Porto
Rico-the healthiest of the Antilles
and admirably adapted BY it's strate-
gic position for an outlying naval sta
ton. The Spanish minister to the
United States, Senior De LONE. was
fond of citing Porto Rico, now Spain S
last possession in America, in evil
dence of the blessings and content
producing properties of Spanish rule.
But it is neither because it's people
have been happy under the Spanish
yoke, nor yet because they have not
made desperate efforts to throw it
off, that Porto Rico is still depen-
dency of Spain. The Porto Ricans
have long desired freedom with an
augmenting keenness, and, further
more, nine-tenths of them probably
wish to become citizens of the United
States.
Porto Rico has been held by the
Spanish crown since the days of
Ponce de Leon, who was SO delighted
with it's loneliness that he sought
there the fountain of youth for which
the island seems fitting location.
The mismanagement of an English
expedition under Abercromby, rather
than the loyalty of it's inhabitants,
saved the island to Spain in the
eighteenth century, and standing
army has preserved it for her during
the nineteenth.
AS early as 1920 the Porto Ricans
attempted to gain their independence.
This was years before Cuba had been
fired by the torch Of liberty. Indeed,
at about this time the Cubans were
taking oaths of eternal allegiance to
legitimate Spanish dynasty which
they alone supported when Napoleon
had overrun Spain. This first rebel
lion was put down after short que
rilla war. Several abortive attempts
to drive the Spaniards from the island
followed toward the middle of the
century. But they served only as a
sign of the discomfort in the hearts of
the people.
It was in 1868, the year of the great
uprising in Cuba, that the most for
midable outbreak in Porto Rico oc-
Cured. It is significant of Spain's
treatment of her colonies that the
leaders of the contemporaneous rebel
lions knew nothing of the intentios Of
the patriots on the sister island.
In Porto Rico preparation was made
for great simultaneous rush to arms.
The Spanish government was so uni
versally detested that the prospective
insurgents included large proportion
of the people. In fact, it was the
number of persons in the secret that
proved fatal to the ploc and led to it's
exposure by traitors. AS a result, it
was necessary that the instruction
take place several weeks bfore the
patriots were prepared After two
months fighting the Spanish regulars
were victorious and the leader of the
rebels, DR.. Ramon e. Betances, now
of Paris, was captured, as was also
j. J. Henna, since New York physi-
clan, then a young Porto Rican 18
years of age.
All prisoners were sentenced to be
shot on Nov. 4, 1868. On Nov. 8,
news reached the island of the over
throw of Queen Isabella and political
prisoners were pardoned Later they
were banished.
These exiles, dwelling in many
different countries, have formed the
centers of active movements for the
freeing of Porto Rico that have Gull
minated in powerful organization
known as the Porto Rico Section of
the Revolutionary Party of Cuba.
The first article of the statement of
principles of the Cuban Revolutionary
party, written by Jose Marti, declared
that fomenting revolution in Porto
Rico and helping the Porto Ricans to
their independence should be an OBJ
ject coordinate with Cuban's freedom.
This led to the organization of the
Porto Ricans as a part of the Cuban
party. Natives of Porto Rico in and
out of the country are hard at work
for the independence of the island.
Votes were recently taken for officers
of the section, and the hero of the
rising in '68, DR.. Ramon E. Betances,
was elected delegate general. DR.. J.
J. Henna is the president and the
head of the movement in America.
The other directors of the section are