BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1902-09-27

Governor General with the objections
to its sanction and proclamation. The
instllar parliament may, in view of>the
objections, reconsider or modify the
act, if it deems fit, without a special
proposition.
eff two months shall elapse without
the Central Government giving any
opinion as to the measure agreed unon
by the Chambers and transmitted to it
by the Governor General, the latter
shall sanction and proclaim the same"
The veto was, therefore, of a suspen-
sive nature, and to become operative
it needed the approval of the National
Cabinet. This Cabinet, being a par
liamentary government, was responsible
to the National Congress. In the Con-
gress Porto Rico was represented, as
has been stated, by sixteen Represen-
tatives and four Senators, with equal
rights and privileges to those of the
other provinces who were enabled by
questions and interpretations to inves-
tigate the acts of the National Cabinet,
and to charge the responsibility for
their acts 10 the members of the Council
of Ministers Of the Kingdom.
The Island, which had a greater
autonomy than the continental provin-
ces of Spain, especially in economic
matters, received with the Colstitlition
establishing self-government the power
vested in the insular parliament by
Article 80 ''to frame the tariffs and fix
the duties to be paid on merchandise,
as we'll as for its importation in the
territory of the Island, as for the eX-
portation thereof" By this Article the
power was given to Porto Rico to tax
the products of Spain.
Such was, in its fundamental features,
the political status of Porto Rico on the
memorable day, October I8, 1898, when
Old Glory, symbolizing American III
stitutions, vas raised in Porto Rico; and
on that solemn occasion, when that
valiant soldier, honest man, and beloved
Governor, General Guy V. Henry,
before the enthusiastic Mayor and citiz-
ems of Ponce declared that
"The forty-hve States represented by
the stars emblazoned in the blue field
of that flag unite in vouchsafng to you
prosperity and protection as citizens of
the American Union"
The Porto Rican people have clearly
understood that by its geographical
position, as we'll as by it's history, the
Island is, in fact, an integral part of
the American Union. For this reason
the political parties of the Island iu-
scribed in their respective platforms the
unanimous aspiration of the people to
become all organized territory, with the
certainty of soon being admitted as
State of the American Union.
The United States cannot fully per-
form the duties imposed upon it by the
Monroe Doctrine, any more than it can
completely guarantee its own safety,
without what John Adams termed it's
natural appendage." The American
flag can perhaps be lowered in the
distant Philippines. 1t must be main
tained in the neighboring Island, with
the institutions Of liberty and justice
that it represents.
"Give us a chance, and we will
prove to what is what extent we
are able to perform our political
duties that the Porto Rcan people |
ask. They trust in the spirit of justice
and honor of the people represented by
the generals of the army, as Miles and
Henry, whom they received with a
hearty welcome as the heralds of the
principles that form the pride and glory
of every American here, and in the
entire world, of every man who has
been uplifted to the consciousness of his
civic human dignity by the proclamation
made through the Declaration of In
dependence that mankind has reached
its majority.