The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-15
A .FL4G REVERSED,


The published reports of the conviction
of the president of the Federation Of
Labor Of Porto Rico and certain of This
associates of conspiracy to raise the
price. of labor on the island present to
view a state of facts which gives the ordi-.
nary, person: additional reason to wonder
what the real political status of that ISL
and is WITH reference TO the United
States.
The alleged crime for which Mr.
Iglesias has been ordered imprisoned for
upward of three years seems to have
consisted in uniting with the other mem
bers of his organization in securing an in
crease in wages. The occasion Of taking
the steps whatever they were in that
behalf seems to have been when the cur
rency of the island was being changed,
from basis of the pesos to that of the
dollar as dictated by our constitution and
laws. According to the report these men
did nothing more than any other dealers
in a commercial commodity; they took
steps to get the largest possible equiva-
lent in dollars for the commodity they
had to market, such equivalent being es-
tinlated in. dollars rather than in TIE
pesos as before. They We're convicted
and sentenced to Imprisonment for the
commission of this offense.
The explanation is offered of the con-
viction of these men that it was accon-
plished under the operation of Spanish
laws; and Mr.. Gompers is represented
| as inveighing very bitterly against the
| Spanish code because it could have EN-
bodied any such provision. Mr.. Gompers
| is quite right in his animadversion on
the Spanish code; but he seems to miss
| the point American authority has pre-
vailed on the island of Porto Rico for a
| considerable period of time. The inhab-
/ itants of the island look to the United
States for protection in their rights and
privileges. It must, indeed be regarded
as an extraordinary circumstance that
after such a lapse of time standards of
measuring the social and personal rights
! of the people of Porto Rico
represented by this barbarous jul
dieial decision should still pre-
! vail, and that such a state of society
! Should be tolerated by American author
ity that the men now convicted could
have been shot at and otherwise NAL
treated for their efforts on behalf of their
fellow laborers in the direction of i'm
proving, their material condition.
1t is not many months since num-
Der of representatives Of organized labor
down in Florida were maltreated in an
| utterly barbarous manner because they
/ sought the advancement of their own in
/ terests, doubtless after the fashion OF
| these men in San Juan. Whatever their
/ methods in so doing. may have been those
| adopted by the class which resented
those efforts were utterly inde-
/ feasible under any state of society what
ever; while nothing was ever made public
/ to show that the clgarmakers OF Iampa
were not acting strictly within their legal
| rights.
1t is a shame and wrong that code
of laws should be in operation at this
time in Porto Rico as to render such IL
treatment of any class of the residents
of the island possible. 1t is very plain
that not Iglesias and his companions, but
4 those who are instrumental in bringing
about their conviction, would now be in
jail in San Juan if the American fias
were not there and elsewhere being made