Washington sentinel., 1900-10-13
"a Sequence OF Failures. ,,

= AAN-1ONGAAAOA L aAAAoOA hAo 1S~
S investigating the results OF Amer
] can colonial government in Port
, Rico tor the New York 30nyHal
. He finds the "great resources o
, the island PROSTATE, its largest in
dustries at a standstill and it
; people, who are industrious anC
! docile, dying OF hunger" The
United States, he declares, canno
escape responsibility tor the con
'lition. "Our stewardship has beer
a series OF experiments and Sc
quence Of failures. American mis-.
rule has been substituted Tor Span
despotism." Mr.. Pattison states
that thousands of Porto RIcans are
seeking asylum in turbulent,
primitive Santo Domingo" and
are emigrating as fast as they can
find the means to 60. The plan
tations that produced the finest
coffee in the world and the tobacco
fields which gave Havana its fame
are idle and in many cases aban
doned. "Spain," says Mr.. Patti
son, took all the coffee Porto
Rico could send her; Cuba BOUGHT
her whole crop oi fine tobacco and
sent it to the United States in
Havana cigars. Now Porto Rico
is foreign country both to Spain
and Cuba, and the customs duties
bar her products from their old
markets."
The sudden change Of the cur.
rency OF the island from Spanish.
Porto Rican to American has, &C
cording to Mr.. Pattison. caused
great distress. BY doubling the
unit OF value, he saws, we have
practically cut the poor Porto
Ricans' money supply in two.
"The people who have things to
sell have advanced their prices to
fit the American standard, but
there has been no corresponding
advance ia wages. Where a man
got so cents Porto Rican-the
average days wages for a laborer
in the interior-he now gets from
80 to 40 cents" Mr.. Pattison con-
tends that the financial and social
problems which now make Porto
Rico "land OF horror" cannot be
solved until the island has a def
nitely settled form Of government.
That government, he maintains,
should be territorial like that OF
New Mexico, Arizona and other
States in embryo. Under Spanish
rule Porto Rico was entitled to
elect three Senators and sixteen
Representatives to the Spanish
Congress; now the island is en-
titled to one delegate in Washing
ton, with no vote. Under Span
ish despotism" Porto Rico had free
trade with the mother country;
now the island is hampered by
customs duties.
Under Spanish rule, although
Porto Rico had to pay army and
navy expenses and huge annual
pensions to the descendants of
christopher Columbus, the budget
showed a surplus. Under our
control the deficit already amounts
10 a million dollars. The officials
Of the Porto Rican Government
ire appointed by President Nc
Kinley and paid out OF the reve-
lues of the island. They receive
salaries which, according to Mr.,
Pattison, amount in the aggregate,
together with other expenses, to a
sum equal to the cost of govern
ng many oi the largest and most
prosperous States in the United
States" Most of these officials
are Americans, although Mr.. Pat
-ison says there are hundreds Of
bright Porto Ricans, many edu-
Gated in the United States, amply
competent to fill any positions
under the Government. Summing
up the situation, Mr.. Pattison
asserts that "the condition of the
Porto Rican laborer is pitiable.
The plantations are idle, the
have no money with
which to operate them; capital will
not come to the island while it is
subject to the whims and vagaries
Of Congress, and the result oil 1t all
is that the man who did the work,
the foundation OF society, is a
pauper and a beggar." This is
what McKinleYIsm has done for
our colony Of Porto Rico. Truly,
our stewardship has been Sc
quence OF failures"
Hull Under Fire.