The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-10-09
Governor ruttison ON Porto Rico.

In our morning edition OF yesterday
We discussed. less fully than the subject
would have justified, the startling reyela-
lions which Ex-Governor Pattison OF
Pennsylvania made through the New
York Journal of the horrible conditions
which have been created in the Ameri-
I'm territory o. Porto Rico by the policy
and action of the Mckinley Administra-
ton under the influence of the oil.
sugar tobacco. and rum trusts It is
sgain our privilege 10 make a few re
marks upon Mr.. Pattison's supplement
tary paper. also Published IN the Jour
nal in which he offers some additional
facts Ind suggests remedies which. in
his judgment, would tend to alleviate the
awful suffering in the island and help
its people 10 regain some measure OF
the prosperity which they enjoyed under
Spanish rule.
II is difficult, If not impossible, for the
average American to treat the terrible
situation which is disclosed by the Pat
tison report with anything approximate
ing its authors absence of partisanship
or passion. Most unprecedented people
in his position would have been tempted
into rage and invectiye against the
Iooting combinations and the heartless
politicians who have wrought the desc
Iation and misery that he depicts. But
Mr.. Pattison evidently has realized the
solemnity of his mission, has set down
naught In malice, and has confined the
record of his observations and conelu-
sfons to simple and sickening facts and
truth. upon which the American and the
world public can and will form their
own opinions.
-Four years ago the people of this
Indignation over the horrors Of Weyler-
ism in Cuba. Today similar conditions
in Porto Rico, the deliberate work CT the
same Administration, call aloud to
heaven for relief and retribution. In his
second paper. published yesterday. Nj
Pattison says:
There can be no permanent relief for Porto
Rico until our promises TO her rcdt med.
II we persist in keeping her u colony. against
Constitution and against traditions we
viii have a recuir.Dt Porto Rico famine As Eng
land has her Indian famine when the crops fail
Misfortune Overtakes the industrious Of New
Mexico, Oklahoma and Ariz0aa-c.ops fail.
Billiards destroy the cattle, and depression clip
pies the mines; but people in Territories that
part Of country do not die Of star.
vation nearly cne-ienth Of the Porto Rican
poor have already died.
Persist in denying them their freedom. ard
the swift determination Of the Porto Ricsns
will result Six years was the period set lr
the United States military surgeon at Adiun-
tas. when he discussed the matter with me for
the depopli!ation Of that district should the
lta .4.
plained. actually due to famine and nothing else"
While the masses of Porto Rico are |
starving, the Administration has imposed |
upon them a carpetbag government more |
costly than that OF any American State |
of equal population. Says Mr.. Pattison: |
1t gives an American a queer feeling |
10 travel in sight OF his own flag and |
realize that pretty nearly everybody he |
meets is hungry, and that many of them |
will be killed by hunger before aid reaches |
them" He continues:
"Ciiildren beset you as you ride along with !
pleas ioE a penny for bread, women hold uut0
:heir hands, and ask with their eyes The /
distress must not be COMPOUNDED with the beg !
giRs a trade that is frequently described I
bs travellers in Latin and Oriental countries
The men would rather work than beg. Lot I
]; be known IN village that YOU VIII pav
hiiy cents to have your baggage carried twenty
miles over tine hills and you will be overwhelmed
with candidates for the job. This yery willing I
ness to work furnishes the c!ew for the Frat step
toward regcnefatHg Porto Rico. Conditions
there will not help Themselves.
mo time should be lost in Organizing the
own COUNTS are organ
iyed each with its poor farm . III almshou-e
4 rigid separation OF the well from The unfit i i
the first pressing demand. Now the lame ana
blind and in.beclc are all oTer the place
You must step aside to avoid stepping over
them you enter your hotel With adequate
provision for these people, who under any
civilized system Of government must be carcdd
for in institutions. they will be kept of the
strcets"
Women in the last stages OF starvation
are found breaking stone OF the govern
ment roads for twelve cents day. Hun
areds OF thousands of once well fed peas