The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-02-24
LIGHTNING CHANGE POLICIES

In his message to congress in Deem
Der. the president recommended the
establishment Of free trade between
Porto Rico and this country, without
restriction of any sort. During the
debate in congress Thursday, Repre-
sentative Grogvenor announced that
Mr. Mckinley had changed his mind
once more and favored the bill i'm
posing a duty Of % per cent on all i'm
ports from Porto Rico and a similar
duty on goods entering Porto Rico from
this country.
That the president should change his
mind ia no surprise; it is the one thing
In which he shows facility. But that
Grosvenor should ask the country 70
believe there is any reason now for a
3 per cent duty that did not exist
when the message was written, is
proof Of the administration willing
ness TO deluda its followers and the
nation at large.
Mr.. Mckinley thought in December
last that Porto Rico could prosper only
by the advantages of free trade. He
saw then that We had excluded the
island from trade with its Old markets
by the erection of tariff wall. The
Porto Ricans could neither buy nor sell
in their old marts ana as a result the
islanders were being starved COM
mercially as well as physically.
Every disinterested report on the
subject. including one from the Ameri-
can governor. shows that Porto Rico
is in state Of distress second only to
the condition of Cuba before the
United States fnterfered in its behalf.
With all her markets lost, with trade
abs utc.y stagnan1 because of the
uncertainty as TO the policy to be
adopted i'm congress. most Of the meT-
chants of the island are bankrupt, the
planters are unable to finance their
undertakings and the laboring
classes are without employment means
of subsistence or even hope.
Has anything developed since last
December to justify the presidents re-
versal of opinion? Possibly the ex-
PLANTATION Of washington correspond
ents for Republican papers viii il
Igmine this somCvsauIt. These friendly
witnesses declare the trusts, par
tcularly the manufacturing trusts of
New England, have intimidated the Re-
publican leaders iu congress and CIT
until they are ready 90 do anything
the trust lobbyists may command. 1t
does not suit the New EuSlauGers tn
see such a precedent established. Free
trade EI-n Porto Rico on constitutional
grounds would mean free trade with
Hawaii ana the Philippine con-
tingency that seems TO have been over
looked or ignored by the administration
when it began it's benevolent bayonel
assimilation of the islanders of the
Pacific. To admit the products of all
the islands free would mean-as Demo
Gratis have insisted from the beginning
that Asiatic labor products would
eventually compete ON equal terms
with free Ame..,8u labor.
No Meter what congress may DO; no
matte~ how often the president may
wise hia opinions. the supreme courU
of the United States is likely 10 upse
their plans IL the law as laid down lbs
the supreme court heretofore is fol
lowed no legislation congress may en-
act Will serve to keep the outlying ter
ritory of the United States from being
sroaJed as any other territory is Undel
the law; the tariff laws VIII be de
cIared uniform throughout all IN,
lands uncer American Jurisdiction. an(
in that event duties can no more b,
collected on imports from Porto Bic,
OF Hawaii or the Philippines than they
can be imposed on goods shipped L,
Illinois from Arizona or New Mexico
The real beauties of the new depar
tune in governmental policy are de
veloPing fast.