BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1904-06-23

Us attNtl &A4tlts
lsisa a pisy that ihe colleague Telcr-
red 10 has persisted IN Easlag With
sympathy on the docile oxen iaf'csd
Il Studying the features Il .hCse pas
sing slong the highways.
Feelings of sadness fil the hearts
Of rs all. al expression os pain dar-
kcaS all faces.
No one is glad 90 see the removal
of The csnnor-1o one
Tyrrany viii notva niSh with their
removal; il viii remain here without
them. becoming more imperious, more
insupportable every day-ihe tyrrany
of hunger. of suffering.
Before those cannon which we
might fittingly call the last Of the pa
triots to leave our shores il would not
have been surprising had the multi
tude uncovered their heads al their
slow and solemn passage through the
streets as If they left us unwillingly
and with pain. looking back.
Not the ancient and crumbling for
Itihcations but the cyclopesn battle
ments that valiant foes or the destruc-
tive force Of time would not have suf-
fliced to reduce, are now left dismant-
lied.
And from this incident which has
no other significance than an aban-
donment at once censurable and pc
nal; from this incident which means
moi hing else than inactivity and indif-
ference, is sought to take advantage
to entone an Infamous hymn for it is
not inspired by truth. a Senseless song
in praise of the triumphant democracy
of America.
In what does the triumph consist1
In the hssty departure from their
country conceded to the Portoricans, to
find in the lands to which they mi
CRATE the bitter bread of ostracism far
from their native land2 Does it mean
that democracy is hunger and ruin,
grief and anarchy Does il mean that
| liberty is death and therefor we are
being forced with brutal violence into
complete annihilation1
Because this is not the case, as it
mnst not be, as it is impossible to be,
then it can not be denied that we find
ourselves oppressed by feudal tyr
lraney that is not to be endured; and
in our martyrdom the needs of H6eyty
and AemOc1acY are banded about as ms
truments of torture, after the manner
lof those uretches condemned d to die OF
thirst and hunger, when black bread
and jar of water are placed just out
|of their reach as they lie bound by
chains to dead body.
In this way are we taught the mea-
ming of those words, liberty and de-
|mocracy! And we have called the
attention of our readers to these facts
SO persistently that we might justly
be accused of obstinacy if our warn
ings were not indispensable.
We must leave the inappropriate
hymns to an imaginary liberty and
give attention to those questions affe ct
ing the public welfare, because the
very life of our people is dependent
on the remedy that il is imperative to
find to relieve the stress of present
economical conditions.
The means to be employed are not
unknown; with untiring insistence has
the adoption of two plans been urged
in these columns, no more than the
determination to carry them into
effects is necessary to secure justice,
The sheet to which we refer, in
discussing the same subject made use
|of a phrase so eXtravagant and unu-
sual that we call attention to it; it may
serve to some purpose because of the
very bluntness of the words we must
employ to refute it.
We are obliged to protect the coffee
because, indeed. of the American,
interests in Porto Rico it declared, as
if an appeal in behalf of these Anne
ricans were the final, the unanswerable
arguments.
So this is the universal remedy and
the Americans, because of their natio
nality can obtain what the Portorican
can not get nor even ask for, accord
ing to this rep arkable reasoning. If
only to extend a pleasant welcome, to
ensure happy residence in Porto
Rico to these men, to these Americans
a. they call themselves, let our coffee
be given the protection Of custom
duties it needs.
Sad and grievous is it that we must
bescech the concession of the right to
life in the name of our tenants, as it