Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-06-27

| THE POSTOFFICE-
| knew that taxes were due every few
minutes and that he must fork over
or go to the jug for a vacation. and so
he scrubbed around and got the money.
If it ever occurred to a property
| owner that he was being taxed too
| much or too often he didn't go down to
| the pOstoffice to talk it over with the
| crowd waiting around for the mail.
He felt that the safer way was to pay
and say nothing about it. If two whole
| weeks passed without a visit from the
collector. property owners got up 4
sort of Fourth of July to celebrate the
| fact. The new governor shouldn't act
| rashly. If the people are Informed
| that they won't have to pay taxes over
| once a month, they'll hurrah them
selves hoarse for Uncle Sam. If the
occasions were reduced to twice a year,
they'd suspect some Interior motive
and be looking for calamity.
The next thing to take hold of is the
| holiday question. They are not quite
as bad in Porto Rico as in Cuba, but
there are 2SS days out of 800 when ev
cry law abiding citizen can knock off
work and get drunk il his conscience
| impels that way. They can't be re-
duced to the number of American holt
days all at once. The odd SO might be
knocked off as a starter, but it will be
years before they go down below 200.
The object of the holidays seem to be
to hold chicken fights, and the object
OF chicken fights is to vary monotony.
There has always been n good deal
of law in Porto Rico. and the governor
may conclude to lop off some of it.
Whenever anybody wanted to put any
body else In Jail, all he had to do was
to go to law. He didn't have to 20 far.
About every other man on the island
was an official of some sort. and if he
was paid cash on the nail he'd do most
anything to Oblige. If Il man had a
pull with the government, he went
around with his hat on his ear and
made the weather redhot for anybody
who looked cross eyed at him. If he
was only plain Jones, he spent about
half his time lodging and the other
half in Jail. When the island was turn
ed over to us, our people found men
who had been in Jail for a dozen years
without knowing what for. No one
else knew what for. II had just hap
pened that way, you know. Some
times prisoner was put On trial. II
1t was a rainy day. and there were no
chicken fights and the judge had no
money to gamble with, he'd try n case
and make amemora ndum of sending the
prisoner to Jail If things were other
wise, the prisoner would be jailed
without record. and if he ever got out
he had to dig through the walls. The
governor shouldn't promise too much
all at once. If the average islander is
assured that he won't be sent up for
life and his property confiscated be-
cause he dares talk back to a police
man. he'll realize that he is in a land
OF liberty.
Under a law $50 years old any officer
could dispense a gathering at viii if he
only suspected that some one had been
saying or was going to observe that
her majesty's government was not the
freest and best on the face of the
earth. Nothing was said as to the size
OF the gathering. and so the officers
have been dispensing everything they
ran across. even when IL was only a
man and his dog. If a crowd wanted
to leaf around a village drug store or
grocery and swap lies and jackknives,
they had TO divvy up with half dozen
officials or be dispersed. Being taken
by the neck and flung over a fence
wasn't the end Charges OF sedition