The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-02-15
THURSDAY. FEBRUARY Is. 1900.



fore the United States Supreme Court for
adjudication through the regular chan
nels, it is, nevertheless. all but certain that
the measure will be passed. Its authors
and promoters are as insincere and morally
guilty as the thing itself is dishonorable
and outrageous; for it is nothing less
wicked than a proposition TO continue the
conditions of nakedness and starvation
which Dingleyism has imposed upon the
island in order that the sugar OIL tobacco.
and New England rum trusts may be pro
tected' in their monopolies and thus rem
dered amenable to the siren song of the
collector for the Republican corruption
fund OF 1900.
What is the situation which Chairman
Payne and his colleagues of the House
Ways and Means Committee would perpet-
uate? Upon undeniable Administration au-
thority, including that of the President
himself. we assert that the necessities Of
Porto Rico demand that the unrestricted
free trade with other portions of the United
States. to which the island is entitled I'M
der the Constitution. shall be allowed and
allowed al once. When we took possession
Of the fertile country its inhabitants hailed
us as deliverers How foolish they were to
80 regard us the event bit too sadly shows
Under the Spanish yoke Porto Rico en-
ioyed what in effect was free trade with
Cuba and Spain. What did we give in re-
turn for closing these markets? We plas-
tered the devastating curse of Dingieyism
on Porto Rico. making ii impossible for the
island people TO sell anything they are
capable Of producing. Secretary Root has
informed the country that two years crops
Of tobacco are rotting in the local ware
houses. There is no sale for that commod-
ity or any other and no encouragement
for the unfortunate Porto Ricans to grow
anything whatever. They are made into
industrial reconcentrados. and as such
doomed to death for the benefit of few
lnonopolies or the mainland of their own
R6ify.
he Congressional Weylers claim that
r. new proposition to tax Porto Rico
RtZlwenty-fve per cent OF the Dingley
tariff is measure OF relief and mercy. 1t
ie nothing of the sort. The island must
import nearly all the common necessaries
Of life, paying for them with exports of
sugar. tobacco, sand rum. Nominally all
these necessary things are subject 10 duty
here In reality they are not in any por-
ton of the United States-including the
older Terrltories-where the Constitution
is respected and obeyed. No one on the
mainland has TO pay customs duties on
the American productions which the Porto
Ricans must have TO live. Principally.
these are oil, bacon, lard flour. and salt
fish. Ii is sin and shame to compel
the Americans of Porto Rico to pay tribute
TO the producers of these commodities.
and at the same time TO sustain the ille-
gal handicap OF a differential tax upon
their products in relation to other Ameri-
can products. Twenty-Five per cent of the
Dingley tariff on the simple necessities
which Porto Rico must draw from the
mainland will mean a famine In that
Island. Truly il would be better for us
to abolish our Armenian committees, dry
the tears We are forever shedding for
Borrioboola- Cha, and invite missionaries
from Spain, Turkey, and Dahomey TO come
over and teach US how TO treat our own
people with at least the justice and mercy
practiced by ordinary barbarians.
AS we have remarked above. ii is not at
all probable that considerations of equity
or humanity viii affect the men who
would Impose economic conditions upon
Porto Rico worse than those existing under
The Spanish rule. Politicians who do not
hesitate TO tread the Constitution OF the
United States under foot, by denying that
II gives the status Of citizenship TO the in
habitants OF our Territories, need not be
expected TO stop at any political crime
which they regard as necessary TO their
partisan OF personal purposes. And here
let US again call attention TO the ridicu-
lons subterfuge upon which Mr.. Payne and
his associates rely 10 carry out their ne
fsrious point against Porto Rico.
The majority report OF the Ways and
Means Committee on the Porto Rican tariff
bill asserts that while the term United
States as a geographical expression prop
erly includes all the territory under the SOW
ereignty OF the nation. as a political defni
ton Il covers only the areas within the
boundaries OF the component States of the
Union. Hence the report argues. the ter
ritories acquired by the country, beginning
with the Louisiana Purchase and ending
with our acquisition OF the Island OF Tu-
iuilR the other day, have all been outside
OF although belonging to the United
States, and their people have been with
out civil or political rights-as are the
people of the District OF Columbia. Ari-
roma, New Mexico. Oklahoma, and Alaska
today-saye as such rights may have
been provided for in treaties Of ces-
sion or granted as an act OF grace
by Congress. In short, treaty obliga-
Ions aside, Congress can do anything
in a Territory which the Constitution says
IL shall not do in q State with the sim
gle exception of establishing slavery. II
may deny the right Of trial by jury, estsb-
fish state religion, or grant titles Of
nobility.
Now that bubble OF foolish argument is
easily pricked. We will take the case Of
Utah while 1t was a Territory. That
political division 81 the United States was
inquired under the Treaty of Guadalupe
HIdaigo. After its organization as Terri
tory, were the citizens Of Utah treated by
he Coyernmept and the courts as deriving