The Oskaloosa herald., 1900-03-15
Is NOT UNDERSTOOD.
A Cabinet Official Talks on the
Porto Rican Question.

Washington, March GA member
of the cabinet gives out the following
authoritative statement:
There has been wide misapprehension
of the Porto Rican tariff bill, of the atti-
tude of the president, of the action of con-
gress and of their relations to each other.
The criticism and the concern which have
come from some well-meaning quarters are
/ due almost entirely to misunderstanding
of the real facts. When the country cor
rectly understands the truth, as it certain
| ly willtit will thoroughly approve what has
been done
No Disagreement.
'"The attempt to represent that there has
| been a disagreement between the president
| and congress is wholly unfounded There
| has been no essential difference between
them. Both have sought the same object
| The recommendation of the president, and
| the house bill, in their purpose and effect,
| amount to the same thing AS a conse-
quence each rightly sustains the other
| The clouds of confusion on the subject
have been clouds of misunderstanding and
! will clear away. A simple statement OF the
facts will make this plain.
The Message.
1.-THE president in his annual message of
| December urged that the customs duties
| on trade between Porto Rico and the Unit
! ed States be removed. Imports from Porto
Rico into the United States have been and
| are now paying the Dingley rates. They
| have no preference over goods from any
foreign country. The president felt that
! Porto Rico should be relieved of this bur-
den. He urged that it should be removed
not as matter of legal right. but OF lib
eral and humane public policy. His argu-
| ment indicated his reasons and suggested
| his view as to the question of constitution
al obligation. Porto Rico, severed from
| Spain, had lost her old markets and had
| gained none in their place. She had been
| devastated by hurricane and left destitute
| Humanity dictated every effort to lift her
up and to give her new market This was
| the presidents plea, and what need of such
| a plea If the constitution of itself carried
| free trade to Porto Rico? In that case free
| trade goes to her whether right or not.
| what the president proposed was that
the United States should offer the largest
and most generous measure of help to the
| distressed and suffering island, and he has
| never wavered a single instant in the OBJ
| Ject he sought. Had his suggestion been
| accepted and followed by all in his spirit
and as he meant it, with the limitations he
| intended, all would have been well. There
| would have been no harm in any direc-
| ton.
The Feeling i'm Congress.
| But when the time came for action in
| congress two tendencies were seen. On
| the one hand there were good men and
| some business and agricultural interests
| that while not Directing, or little Directing,
| TO free trade with Porto Rico alone, feared
| that free trade with Porto Rico would be
made precedent for free trade with the
philippines. They felt that there should
| be a distinct assertion and exercise of the
| power to impose duties, however small, as
an assurance that this power was reserved
| for other cases.
| Another Sort of Opposition.
| "On the nj bar nd hot h.
| proposed as a worthy act of national gem
! crosby and liberal policy was seized by DO
| htical opponents and claimed as a neces-
| sary and inevitable measure of inherent
| constitutional right. They insisted that
| the constitution by it's own force extends
] to Porto Rico and all the new island pos
| sessions and spreads all its provisions over
| them, including uniform taxation. They
| were eager to commit a republican con-
| gress to the adoption of free trade with
| Porto Rico not as a measure of generous
| eXpediency but because they could then
| claim that it had riveted a hard and fast
| principle which would tie the hands of the
government everywhere, in the Philippines
| as well as in Porto Rico, without regard to
| varying conditions, and which would eX-
| pose the administration and it's party to
| all the criticisms and attacks that would
| be made on such a position.
1T was cunning game, but it did not
| succeed. The apprehension of the homes.
| obJectors who feared that the concession
| of full free trade to Porto Rico would lead
| to misconstruction, and the designs of the
| crafty partisans who meant that 1t should
| were both met and frustrated by the bill
| which passed the house and which leyies
| ID per cent, or less than one-siXth of the
| Dingley rates. That low rate involves no
| possible hardships. 1t has the advantage
OF producing needed revenue which, until
| civil government and law are fully organ
i'm Porto inn ~ he vote
| from any other source.
Not Clearly Understood.
''There was another point which was not
! generally understood. The bill provides
| that the whole amount Of duties on goods
| coming from Porto Rico shall be paid back
| to Porto Rico for the benefit of the island.
| Thus 1t fully harmonizes with the object at
which the president aimed, of relieving the
| trade of Porto Rico from burdensome re-
! strictions and of extending the largest de-
| gree of help; and when 1t was crowned by
| the presidents special message promptly
| carried out by the house, providing not
| only that the duties hereafter collected,
but that those heretofore collected to the
| amount of 81, 0OO, 900, should be appropriated
| to be expended wholly in Porto Rico for her
development and improvement, absolutely
no ground was left for any pretense that
the policy of the president and congress
| was in the slightest degree harsh and
| oppressive.
The Fifteen Per Cent. Duty.
Nobody can Understandings object to
the 10 per cent duty all paid back to Porto
| Rico on the ground that it is unfair and
| hard towards Porto Rico. He can under
standingly object, only on the claim that
| there is no power to levy any duty
! at all, and such claim would leave
| the president and congress powerless
| and helpless in the Philippines as we'll
! as in Porto Rico. Between a Is per
| cent. duty as provided by the congress sion
! al bill, every cent of which is to be returned
to Porto Rico, that island also getting all
| collected at the other end and the removal
| of customs duties as suggested by the
| president for humanity's sake, there is alb
| solutely no difference whatever in prac-
| teal results In both everything is for hui
manity. Congress was aiming at the same
result as the president, and the president
| rightfully accepts the act of congress. The
! representation that either was not in ac-
cord with the other disregards every essen
| tial element in the case.
| Vital Difference.
"But between Is per cent. duty and free
| trade as constitutional right going neces-
| sarily and instantly wherever new land
may be acquired, there is the worldwide
| difference between reserving full dis
cretionary power to deal with the new pos
sessions as their varying interests and
| nd M ~