BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1904-06-21
"SLICHT RESENTMENT"

treated in very superficial manner,
the author giving the impression that
a great favor would be granted to
Spain.
"As the result of the war on the
Cuban questions" to quote from the
article in question. lit was natural
that Spain should harbor some slight
resentment toward her rebellions and
disaffected colonies which did not
sympathize with her, and therefor she
resolved to put a tax on the Porto
ricsn coffee entering her ports.
A more remarkable statement in a
discussion on an economical theme
would be indeed difficult to conceive.
Weither 'slight" nor great resent
ment can effect the rupture of COM
mercial relations provided these are
to the advantage of both the interes-
ted countries.
But the Spanish American war has
closed TO Spanish products the markets
of Porto Rice, Cuba and Philippines,
and as natural result, the Spanish
Government in seeking markets Tor
its products was compelled to offer
those conpensations which naturally
are part of all commercial transac
tions between nations.
Our loss OF the Spanish market,
then, is not the result of slight
resentment" but the necessity imposed
! by adverse and fateful circumstances.
ANY nation would lave acted in the
same way.
And right here in Porto Rico we
propose to follow Spain's precedent:
for we are endeayoring to find markets
since we have not one in the United
, States, and we could only obtain them,
!. naturally, by offering in return indu-
cementS to the countries, whose pro-
ducts and manufactures we import, to
buy our coffee. Nor could such a
policy of projection as tine foreign
market would consequently enjoy be
construed as an attitude on our part,
of aggression or resentment toward
the United States,
In the second place it was not
against the "rebellions and disasf-
fected" colonies, as our collegue calls
them, that the ''slight resentment"
which Spain feels could be directed.
Verify, In these times marked by the
American policy of absorption, it is
the height of folly to presume that the
. sacrifice wich the Spanish Govern
ment has been compelled to make be
carried to the point of furnishing a
market for the coffee and other pro-
ducts of Porto Rico, when here. as
well as in Cuba and the Philippines
have been imposed such high custom
/, duties that Spanish imports are exclu-
ded. And pray what other course
could Spain pursue? The had to find
a market somewhere for her textile
fabrics, her wines and ell articles of
manufactures which in former times
her colonies beyond the sea consumed;
J. in return for which the ports of the
peninsular were open to the coffee and
sugar of those colonies. Notwithstan
ding, and commercial statistics in the
export trade will bear out this state
ment, the Spanish people are now
consuming more Portorican coffee
than the entire population of the Uni
ted States.
All countries are subject to the
! economical law by which financial
equilibrium is maintened. One coun
try will not buy the products of ano-
ther, however friendly their relations
may be, unless it can secure advan-
tages thereby.
There are, of course, exceptions in
which this stern law of necessity is
modified. For there are countries
which are not consumers but only
producers; they offer no opposition to
business transactions, which must be
to their great advantage, and yet they
cannot contribute in effccting such
negotiations. And because of this fact
Ne have presented to The public the
question Of markets for our coffee
under two aspects-full protection by
means of free trade, which is such in
fact and not in name, or the abolition
Of the spurious system of free trade
with the United States as it exists
fe day. These are the only two roads
open to us; one of them we must
choose, and that very quickly, for
already we have delayed so long that
all remedies, however radical they
sum, become inopportune and without
effect.
In the few words which we have