Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-10-12
Pattlson's Impeachment of Mckinley.

PsttIson's Impeachment of Mckinley.
Hon. Robert E. Pattison. former
governor of Pennsylvania, has
| Just returned from Porto Rico, where
he made an exhaustive study of the
conditions existing in that pretty IS
| land. Mr.. Pattison has written a ter
rible indictment of the Mckinley ad-
ministration, based on the result OF
his Investigations of American colon
ial government. Among other things
he says:
Porto Rico, a jewel in the sea. an
inland experimenting within its
small area q diversity of climate,
scenery and resources greater than
many nations on earth, is today a
wilderness of poverty, misery, heart
burning and conflicting interests. Its
great resources are PROSTATE, its larg-
est Industries are at a standstill, its
coffee and tobacco fields lie fallow and
its people, the most patient, docile
and industrious people know, are
dying of hunger.
The United States cannot escape
responsibility for the condition. Our
stewardship has been a series of ex-
periments and sequence of failures.
The land is as fertile as ever, but
the elements of fecuperation have
changed. The only difference is that
American misrule has been substi-
tuted for Spanish despotism, aId yet
the people are dying by hundreds or
being driven to neigh boring islands.
What com mentary it is on Amer
lean government that the people who
came under our flag should shave to
seek asylum in turbulent, primitive
Santo Domingo. They are emigrat-
ing as fast as they can find the means
to go
The only argument against giving
the people of Porto Rico such terri
torial rights as are enjoyed by New
Mexico. Arizona and other states in
embryo is the imputed ignorance of
the inha bitants of this island. This
imputation is not justified, as 1 can
testify after conversing with the pro-
fessional men and merchants of San
Juan and Ponce, the cigarmakers of
Cayey, the doctor and the business
men of Coamo. the storekeepers of
Az bonito. the school teacher and the
alcaldo of Barranquitas. the parish
priest and the planters OF Adluntos,
the municipal officers of EDUARDO and
u hundred others-men of the cities
and men of the towns, far from the
coast and highway, to which the only
access is by bride paths. This cry of
ignorance as a reason for withholding
their rights from men is as old as ty-
rannv itself.
why should not Porto Rico be per-
mitted to raise and disburse her own
revenues in the manner that seems to
her best? She would not engage a
government more expensive than that
of an American state of corresponding
population, as she has now, and she
would be bound to raise revenue
enough to pay her expenses without
recourse to tariff which is against
the constitution and every precedent
i'll the history of the United States.
On this very point merchant of San
Jaun said to me:
Under Spanish rule. though we
had to pay army and navy expenses
and the huge annual pension to the
descendants of Christopher Colum bus,
our budget always showed surplus.
while under the American system
we have already 81 900, 900 deficit
Even tyrannical Spain, whose yoke
we lifted from the necks of these
people. did better by them than we
the deliverers.
just now the condition of the Por-
to Rican laborer is pitiable. The for
fixture of the coffee and tobacco mar
ket, consequent on the American con-
quest, was the first blow; then came
the cyclone which laid waste the plan
tatious, and that has been followed by
n financial condition to which both
these things and the subsequent ex-
periments in legislation all contribut-
ed. The plantations are idle. the pro-
prietors have no money with which to
operate them, capital will not come to
the island while it is subject to the
whims and vagsries of congress, and
the result of it all is that the man who
did the work, the foundation of socie-
ty, is a pauper and beggar."
These conditions, were brought
about by the Inauguration of imper-
lslism instead of the democracy of
the fathers, and as a rebuke to the
trusts and syndicates that brought it
about. the people will vote for Will
liam Jennings Bryan for president.
stops the Cough and Works on the Cold