Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1900-03-29
THE PORTO RICO MATTER.
Benefits which VIII Accrue to the
Island Through Proposed
Tariff.

Opponents of the Porto Rican tariff
bill have tried to attach "a great deal
of Importance to certain statements
alleged to have been made by men in
Washington said to have been sent
there to represent the interests of the
people of the island. These men were
quoted to have said Porto Rico want
ed no financial aid; that she was
abundantly able to pay for her home
needs; that all she wanted was free
trade with the United States, ETC.,
etc.
Either those men were misquoted
or else they misrepresented the con-
dition of the masses of the Porto
Ricans. Gen. Davis, military governor
of tho island, has written to the state
department at Washington that there
is great destitution among the work
ing people, and that some of them are
in actual danger of starvation. He
recommends that means be given him
to put 5000 men at work for three
months on the improvement of the
roads; for this he says he will need
for labor, tools and supplies about
| 1926, 900 per month. He thinks that
within three months, under this plan,
the period of acute distress will be
passed over without difficulty and
| that then new industrial and eco
nomic conditions will exist under the
wise and remedial legislation that
congress will enact.
The passage of the bill to refund to
| Porto Rico the customs duties col
lected on products of the island re-
ceived into the United States will
make available about So, ,O00,O 900, so that
| if the sum asked for by Gen. Davis
is allowed him there will still be more
than million and quarter left for
works of permanent improvement.
OF course, the anti-tariff papers will
now say no more about the alleged
statements of the alleged Porto Rcau
| delegates, but will point to Gen. Da-
Wis letter and say that this country is
about to burden with taxation people
so stricken by misfortune. This line of
| argument of the anti-taritf people re-
calls the days of 1855, when all the dem
ocratic parrots were taught to eXclaim
that the tariff Is a tax 1t need hard
ly be said that the imposition of a IS
per cent. duty will not be a tax on
| the poverty-stricken thousands of
! Porto Rico who have nothing to export.
1t will not be a tax upon the planters,
| because, while they Will have to sell
their products to United States buyers
a little cheaper because of the duty to
| be paid by the latter the cost of pro-
! ducton in Porto Rico is far more than
Is per cent. less than it is in the United
States. The tariff will be to none a bur-
| den; it will be merely Il source of rev.
enue for the benefit of all the people of
Porto Rico.
In this connection it will be in order
to point out the purpose of democratic
efforts to drive the government, by
means of more or less simulated popu
! lar clamor, to immediate abolition of
the tariff The democracy desires to
see a precedent established through
which it could ccnsure the government
when the making of regulations for
trade with the Philippines comes up,
whatever the government might do in
that case. If it should place Il tariff up
on goods passing between the United
|
racy would cry aloud that it was vio-
lating a precedent established in the
case of Porto Rico and was discriminate
ing against the unfortunate Filipinos;
| if it should establish free trade with
the Philippines, the democratic party
would wax indignant because the prod
ucts of cheap Chinese and Malay labor
were to be brought into un Just competi-
ton with American products.
By temporary tariff between Porto
Rico and the United States the only pre-.
ccdcnt that will have been established
will be that the congress has the
power to impose duties upon goods
passing between the United States and
its eXtra-continental possessions, which
authority il may or may not exercise
according to its Judgment in each par
ticular case. That precedent would not
serve democratic purposes.-AIbany
| .IOurnal