The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-09-01
washington uht- Z p. N. ST. r-eiun5.
A1-rocRAcY PORTO RICO.

The report of the insular commission re-
gardfng the future proposed plan of gov
eminent for Porto Rico leaves a bewilder-
Ing effect on the mind of the reader.
Whatever civil rights the Porto Ricans
possessed under Spanish jurisdiction are
tn be brought to an end. They are offered
no substitute. Being captured territory,
it does not, we suppose, make any differ
ence to this commission that the people
of Porto Rico accepted, nay, welcomed,
the advent Of Americans, and showed the
extreme pleasure with which they
changed an allegiance which was burden
some to them for one which they were
taught to believe would be followed by
enlarged civil rights and increased OPP
portunities for winning social peace, free
dom and prosperity.
With the single exception of the cir
cumstance that the natives of Porto
Rico are given the preference in the in
cumbency OF civil office, there does not
seem single provision Of the proposed
code which is designed to modify the po-
sition in which the people of the island
find themselves, of being mere civil out
casts. From the synopsis of the proposed
plan OF government contained in the press
dispatches, the anomalous state of things
which it is now designed to bring into the
civil life of these people is not limited as
on the disposition of future federal adj
ministrations when it shall be brought to
close
For an indefinite period, then, it is pro-
posed to deprive the mass of the people Of
Porto Rico of all say as to the control of
their own affairs. They shall have no
right to vote, and the right of trial by
jury shall be denied to them
Just at this time there is much of dis
tress and suffering among Porto Ricans,
and the American people are showing
their generosity in relieving that distress.
Doubtless many of them realize that it is
much better to have the sustainment of
this great people, even while deprived of
all civil rights, than to remain under
Spanish control and die of hunger and
exposure without any serious effort be-
ing put forward for their relief. But
there are also those among the people
who will regard the exchange as but a
poor. one. They will, like many Ameri-
cans, fail to see the distinction which
treats their country as a part of the ter
ritory of the United States yet tells them
they are not of the United States.
Whether it would have been advisable
to establish at once territorial form of
government over the island is neither
here nor there. No mere semi-military.
semi-civil autocracy such as that pro-
posed by this commission will suit the
American people any better than it can
be expected to suit the Porto Ricans. If
such a makeshift, exotic system is to
be set up, Americans and Porto Ricans
alike will insist that the date of its ter
mination shall at least be approximately
stated.
This first fruit of imperialism will be
rendered no sweeter to either people by
telling them that the military hand that
provides it shall, as much as possible, be
kept out Of sight. It represents no such
form of civil diet as either a free people
or one ambitious of being free will be
content with.