The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-13
s. ICLESIAS CONVICTED
A UNION ORGANIZER OF SAN
 JUAN, P. B.
He Was Tried and Found Guilty of Forming a Conspiracy to Raise the Price of
 Labor.

San Juan, Dec. 12.-Santiago Iglesias, President of the Federation of Labor of Porto Rico. together with nine compan- ions. was tried in the district court of San Juan yesterday on a charge of con- spiracy. Today Iglesias was sentenced to three years. four months and eight days imprisonment. Seven of his companions were sentenced to four months imprison- ment, while two were acquitted of the @harge of being the founders of an ille- gal association and conspiracy in Au- gust. 1sOo to raise the price of labor in Porto Rico.
 Islesias, as the founder of the con spiracy, gets the heaviest sentence. The other men were merely his associates in the crime. Under Spanish law. which is still in force here. persons convicted of a crime have to pay the costs.
 The local federation of the workmen or Porto Rico. which is now part or the American Federation of Labor. under the presidency of Samuel Gompers, has been ordered dissolved, as 1t has been adjudg- ed illegal because of this conspiracy.
 Mir. Savage, Judge of the District Court. dissented as to the illegality of the local federation. although he agreed that lgle- sias was guilty ot a conspiracy to raise the price of labor in August. 1900. when the currency of Porto Rico was changed At that time nearly all the mercnants and employers here raised their prices from pesos to dollars. an advance or Tor ty cents. Iglesias did the same, contend ing he only raised wages in proportion to spiracy.
 The case has been appealed to the Su- preme Court of Porto Rico. where 1t probably will be heard in a month. Pend ing this appeal Iglesias Is at liberty.
 The mass meeting of the Federation ot Labor scheduled for next Sunday will probably be called off. as the plans of the Federation are temporarily deranged.
 Iglesias says politics influenced the de- cision against him as the Judge belonged to the local Republican party. while lgle- sias is Federalist. One of the acquitted men has turned Republican, it is said, since the time of the conspiracy.
 Since Iglesias has been here as the To- cal organizer of the Federation of Labor, he has been continually attacked in cir culars and threatened By certain Repub- licans who oppose his plans. Last Tues day night these Republicans fired several shots at the building of the Federation. The police searched the rooms of these men for arms, but found nothing. The men who fired these shots had not, been arrested up to this morning.
 Iglesias has petitioned Governor Hunt men and asking for protection. Iglesias said: If the laws of Porto Rico are in adequate to punish these offenders; if cannot continue my work of American LZluk DiCdH sldUOICIS uHiAOicStCo please inform me so that I can return to the United States abandoning this country and my mission here."
 Scranton, Pa, Dec. 12.-When the cor respondent of the Associated Press showed the San Juan cable to Samuel Gompers. President of the American Fed eration of Labor. tonight. he expressed as to what the Federation would do in the matter, he said: If MT. Iglesias's conviction is upon the charge that he has been guilty of conspiracy to increase the wages of Porto Rican workmen, we shall leave no effort untried to secure his honorable release, and also the nec- essary change in the laws of the island to conform to the American standard. The Porto Rican law Is evidently a relic of Spain's brutal code and regime, and the American people will not tolerate so gross a violation of guaranteed rights"
 Mir. Gompers said the convention will take up the matter before it adjourns.