The Irish standard., 1900-03-03
AE THE PORTO R1CAN TARIFF.

AlDlE THE PORTO RICAN TARIFF.
When the inhabitants OF Porto Rico
welcomed General Miles and his armv
INTO their island they supposed they had
come as dclivcrers. 1t never entered
their simple minds that the great Amer
lcan republic which had declared war
against Spain in the name OF humanity
and promised freedom to the Cubans
had any selfish motives for the invasion
OF their little island. Hence instead OF
offering resistance to the American
troops they chcercd them enthusiastic
ally and received them with open arms.
President Mckinley's message of April
II, 1893, assured them they need have
no fear, for in it he said: 81 speak not
OF torclble annexation, for that cannot
be thought oi. That, by Our code OF
morals, would be criminal aggression"
Little did the confding Porto Ricans
imagine that the ruler of the great re-
public would act like European despot
and tramplc ''our code of morals" under
loot. But that he has done in his treat
ment OF the Filipinos and that he will
do in his dealing with them. Instead
OF allowing the Porto Rcans 10 govern
themselves as free and independent
people, Mr.. Mckinley wants this repub-
lie to govern them as it sees fit. He
wants the island to be colony with
out any representation in the American
congress and to govern it for the bcne-
fit of the syndicates and trusts OF this
country. Referring to this arbitrary
method OF government the St. Paul
Globe truly says:
"The primary question at issue here
must be settled. 1t is whether we can,
under our constitutional system, pursue
course similar in principle and prac-
tice to that followed by the ministers OF
King George toward the American COL
onies, and in revolt against which these
states won their liberty. This is what
it understanding less or more. II
we can hold colonies only to rob and
bayonet the natives of them; if we can,
as the president says we can, deprive
them of all civil and political rights,
deny them admission to the Union and
establish among them naked militarism
as a substitute for civil government, it
is time that we should openly proclaim
the empire which so many OF our peo-
pie believe is imminent. No empire,
from tic frozen regions OF Siberia tc
the tropical regions OF Brazil, has ever
existed which felt itself at liberty to go
to further extremes than our nationa!
authorities have avowcd themselves
ready to go in their treatment OF the
people OF the unhappy lands that have
been turned over to us under the treaty
OF Paris. 1t is all so infamous that it
puts an end to argument. At the polls
alone can the American people hope to
put an effective end to such policies p"
The lcvying of tariff on Porto Ri
can products will enable American
trusts to put more money in their pock-
cts to the detriment OF the people of the
island who had free trade with Spain
before the war; AS shown by Represen-
tative Littlefeld, of Maine, in his speech
in congress the other day the proposed
tariff, whether it be rs or IS per cent,
is unjust, unnecessary and unwise. The
advocates OF the tariff claim that the
measure is to provide revenue for the
island, and the shifty Mckinley, who
favored free trade in his message, ap-
pears to be satisfied with the specious
arguments OF Dolliver, of Iowa, and
Tawney, of Minnesota, who talk as if
they were friends OF the islanders in
stead OF the trusts. They falsely assert
that the tariff on American exports to
Porto Rico will compensate the inhabi-
tants for the tariff on their exports to
the United States. But such thing
is an utter impossibility. When small
island is placed on an equality with a
country of imperial proportions in the
matter of tariff it will inevitably go to
the wall