The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-04-03

statesmen and of all parties for fifty
years, and the trend of the decisions
OF the Supreme court, sustain the pow
er of congress to take the whole or any
,art of the constitution and the laws
If the United States into new terri
.ories and to establish governments
for them. vet the questions raised by
the acquisitions of Cuba, Hawaii and
the Philippines. when presented to the
Supreme court, must result in such
broad and comprehensive interpreta-
tions as will make clear for all time
the position of the United states upon
the government of territories which
come to us.
Utterly Misleading.
While the practical part Of this
measure has received some considera-
ton. yet it has resulted in pictures of
Puerto Rico and it's inhabitants which
are utterly misleading. The lower
house of the Iowa Legislature the other
day adopted resolution for free trade
with Puerto Rico on the sentimental
ground that her people had accepted
our sovereignty willingly, while the
other islands were resisting 1t. The
sudden collapse of the spanish power,
and the almost instantaneous dropping
into our hands of the island possessions
of Spain, found different conditions in
these possessions. 1t is admitted, for
instance, that Cuba is to be under our
government only until she is capable
of governing herself We all know
that. with the revolutionary elements
and professional agitators of that
island, If any excuse or opportunity
had been offered there would have been
a revolt against our authority. We all
know that in the Philippines there
would have been universal acceptance
Of I,,- tnt
except that professional agitators, who
rcvolutionized for revenge and had
made fortunes in previous revolts,
played upon the imagination of an ig-
norant people and led them into insur-
rection, hoping the United States would
follow Spanish precedentS and pur-
chase their allegiance. 1t is equally
true that in Puerto Rico the popula-
tion is so poor and so crowded, and
the conformation of the island makes it
so easy for an army to put down inSur-
rection. that, though the same gov
ernment existed in Puerto Rico as in
Cuba and in the Philippines, 1t was i'm
possible to inaugurate revolution in
Puerto Rico. The Puerto Ricans knew
that they must come under some gov
ernment, and after three hundred years
of Spain hailed with delight the trans
fer to the United States.
IulSuICeISIduullSS'
Puerto Rico has been pictured here
and presented to the country as if it
were a Massachusetts, a Connecticut.
or an Iowa, populated by an intelli-
gent and educated people who had in
stantly grasped the problem of govern
ment and the institutions of the United
States. and were in all respects fitted
to early assume a place among the
states of the Union; that prior and
preliminary to this statehood they were
entitled TO every privilege, every law,
every constitutional right which be-
longs to the citizens of the states.
To get horizontal view of this ques-
tion we must come back TO the testi-
mony of Puerto Rican citizens and for
eigners and of the officers of the Unit
ed States which was given before the
committee on Puerto Rican affairs.
Like judges and juries who see and
near the witnesses, the members of
chat committee who, for hours every
day during three weeks, saw these wit
nesses and heard their testimony re-
ceived impressions stronger than the
cold type of the evidence presents.
Puerto Rico is more thickly populat-
ed than any country in Europe. 1t is
one of the most fertile territories on
earth. From seashore to mountain top
1t can be cultivated. With capital en-
terprise. and modern machinery the
possibilities of increase in it's produc-
tiveness can not be calculated. 1t is a
little over two-thirds the size of Con-
necticut. but has a much larger popu-
lation. Its industries are purely agri-
cultural. AS in all contries where
there are no varied industries, the
young men and the young women have
no opportunities TO engage in different
pursuits Where agricultural is the
only occupation of thickly settled COM
munities the conditions of India are re-
peated, and so there prevails in Puerto
Rico a widespread and grinding pow
erty unknown in Europe or in Ameri-
ca. There are in round numbers, a
million people upon the island. Seven
ty thousand are negroes, 100000 OF
mixed negro and white blood, and
about 100000 are the result of the se:-
tlement by the wild adventurers, of all
races and nations, who, in the four
teenth and fifteen centuries. sailed and
fought on the Spanish Main. One hun
dred thousand of these people can read
or write; about $4,000 can do both.
Nine hundred thousand are in abso-
lutte ignorance.
The Real Status.
OF this million, 100000 derive their
living from agricultural pursuits. They
live in huts, consisting of one room;
they nave work only during the sea-
son for coffee, for sugar and tobacco
The children from 10 to 16 years of age
earn about ten cents a day; vigorous
manhood receives 80 cents, and old
age, again. from 10 to Is cents. They
live on sugar cane and the fruits that
grow, and are so cheap, in the tropics
and 1t is estimated can sustain life on
five cents a day per individual. Most
of them have never known bread or
meat as IL Is familiar to our people
They are hired by the day, the con-
tract closing with the sun. BY this
means the owners of the large estates
are free from responsibility for their
care or maintenance, a responsibility
which would come If the contracts
were by the month or by the year.
There are no school houses in the
island. Thus eight-tenths of this
population are ignorant Of politics, of
government. of Spanish or American
n