BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1902-10-28

the result being that perfect order and
security to life and property have been
at all times maintained on the island.
In this one direction, at least, Porto
Rico can well invite the attention of the
American people to what We believe to
be an improvement on any similar Or
ganization in any state or territory un-|
der federal dominion.
The officials of the insular govern
ment, fully realizing tha the great chan.
ges to be accomplished must be the
gradual work of many years rather than
that hasty action which would not alone
endanger and invite mistakes, but which
would also most certainly arouse objec-
ton and hostility among the people to
whom it is all so foreign. and in many
cases well nigh revolutionary, have only
sought to institute those particular feat
ures of modern American laws which
seemed most necessary to the i'm
mediate and pressing necessities of the
situation of the people of Porto Rico.
The second session of the legislative
assembly has nov been finished, and
the same spirit of conservatism has
again been manifested and observed in
it's actions. The growing acquaintance
of its members with legislative proceed
ure has enabled the accomplishment Of
much more of practical nature. but
the vastness of the work to be done
and the years of patient effort and cons
tant so1icitude which must elapse before
the ambitions of the lovers OF Poto Rico
can be fully realized, is being made
more and more apparent to those who
have been intrusted by the federal 60
vernment with the privilege and char
ged whit the duty of assisting in this
great work.
American methods of court procedure
in many directions have now been en-
grated into the statutes Of Porto Rico.
An entire criminal code and code Of
criminal procedure. adapted were large
| ly from the statutes OF California, and
which at one stroke sweeps away al of
the old crimes and contemptS which
abounded in the Spanish colonial sys-
tenn, has been embodied into the new
system of law, thus substituting the
best result of the most modern thought
and patient investigation after the ex-
perience of more than 100 years under
the American constitution.
A law relating to corporations, fol-
lowing the lines of the admirable New
Jersey Statute upon this most important
subject, now replaces the mass Of scat
tered and conflicting royal DEGREES and
general orders which effectually pre-
vented any general attempt at incor-
porating, and makes possible to the
people of Rorto Rico this greatest agent
of modern progress and prosperity which
has been thing unknown to them up
to this time.
A general law relating to cities and
towns on the island, which defines the
rights, powesS aud duties Of municipal
officials and their relations to the c:ti-
zens, has been substituted for the old
system of contradictory, confusing, OBJ
scure and dangerous powers, many of
them of doubtful origin, bat having
been exercised from time immemorial,
and by which the property and even
the liberty of citizens was ieopardized
upon the slightest pretext.
These and many other Legislative acts
of equally vital importance, all embody. |
ing the best results Of experience in the
various states. have now become reali- |
ties in Porto Rican law, and the much
greater task of their adaptation is be-
ginning The enactment of these laws
is but preliminary circumstance to the
great work 10 be performed. but time
will undoubtedly, and with greatly in
creasing force, demonstrate their su-
periority. and thus cause them to be
not only accepted, but their benefits fully L