BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1904-06-03
CONGRESS MUST ACT

nave luE fukFs@1tt ~ AANAt NNNAAAJ -
heart. Is q fail measure Of successful
economic progress and democratic
form OF government. free. progressive
aud untrammelled. The greatest po-
litical movements in the world. by
which the people are always brought
TO the fore as the power which cCn-
trols government are due TO no other
cause than this. Governments are
constantly occupied by this question
more than by any other, and while
arts, letters and sciences arc allowed
to run smoothly in the ruts which they
fashion for themselves progressive
government is ever seeking the best
and most successful means to bring
about higher standard of econon1iC
progress and advance for use asa bull
wark in opposing the demands of ne
cessity made upon their resources as
well as the attempts of demagogy. to
undermine government welfare for
individual benefit.
The higher ideal of people must
OF necessity be desire to be surround-
ed and to become factor in the ge-
neral progress of peace and industry
and once let a people go bravely into
the fray in the determination to win
that recognition which is justly theirs,
and neither political Vaccinations nor
individual desires will dare to oppose.
No power on earth dares deny to man
as an Individual or as a political body
those rights which are justly and in
aliensbly his, provided he enters the
fight well equipped for the fray and
with determination to know no such
word as fail.
Those people who by the workings
of fate are deprived of the right of
governing themselves absolutely and
independently always prefer the sove-
reignty of that nation which guaran
tees them the greatest good and con
tributes most to their material pro-
gress, protecting fully their industries
and enterprises and in this manner
fostering their good will and earning
their loyalty and respect, This ten
dency on the par; of dependencies is
manifested by all; it is fundamental
principal of life and of right, of just
ice of progress, because when a nation
fails to accord all of this and more it
naturally strikes at the life of its
dependency and through 50 doing af--
fectS all of the various methods of
progress and development, depriving
them of the sacred right of bread
winning; establishing an inhuman
blockade, a siege of hunger and
thousand and one evils are SO brought
upon the people subjugated.
OF the foregoing there can be no
doubt, and since we must agree that
this form of government is the most
acceptable it is but fair to conclude hat
our present campaign for the welfare
of Porto Rico is well founded and
just. 1t is not the form Of govern
ment which captivates us, but it is
the fact that the constitutional guar
antees which a democratic form of
government naturally bring guaran-
tees of itself our interior economic de-
velopment. The dilemma in which
we find ourselves, and which our So
voreign power seems unwilling, or
unable, to understand, is clear and
terminant. The question resolves it'll
SSlI luto CQaL OF Gltucl p1OtCCtluS OlI
coffee, including it in the products
which are favored by free trade, or
granting to us the right to dispose of
our coffee where ne can find the most
favorable market for same, and for
which market we can offer the privi-
lege of trading with our people, on
basis which will warrant the nation
favoring our coffee in dealing with US
free of the trammels of the DingleyE
tariff. This is more than no fair and
is the only solution of our problem.
We do not mean to indicate that it |
will be necessary to suppress imme-
diately, or to violently cast aside the
present existing free trade between
our island and the United States, but
if it must continue on its present status
then it is no more than right that We
should demand that our principal pro-
duct our coffee-be protected, or that
we be granted the privilege above
outlined. There is no valid reason
for not imposing a prohibitive duty on
all coffee except that Of Porto Rico
since a protection which does not pro-
tect is a mere laughing stock and
the present rate on coffee makes us