BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1905-06-02
EDITORIAL


that iheY rsaY bc prepared TT starry
h4ppcnsngs and cs.gsoos sgec;selsS.
Mnh thc return of The Secretary OF
Porto Rico publlc aisenuon y agAia
ccatrea upon III Executive Council
4, NAV losk for some unwclcome
surprise Tor Mr.. ros; Vo1ld no, rccon-
Gle himself TO having has return pass
unno;iccd.
Add now. as II TO mark the suspi-
cious event. we hesr Of an exiraorii
nary petition for q franchise giving
monopoly Of the automobile service Of
the Island.
BY giving his vote. Mr. Post. would
happily inaugurste the new season
which begins with the return of this
dis,inguished funciionary.
Aud il would no; be remarkable
were we TO hear any day of his having
given his vote in favor of granting a
franchise 10 the automobile monopoly,
seeing that on another occasion he
favored the construction of hotel on
public land.
Anything may be looked for from
one who has been the principal cause
by his conplacence and his exagger-
ated tolerance of that delightful farce,
the Vandergrift railr, ad, whose bond.
so far as is known, has not been reco-
vered, nor is it likely it ever will be
after the lapse of two years, during
which time there have been ridiculous
petitions for extension. absurd and
interminable excuses for relief from
the bond, all of which should have in
duced our hecatombic Secretary to
believe that the project of building a
railroad line was nothing but talk, a
monumental mockery, or something
worse.
But Mr.. Post is the most obstinate
functionary we have known.
AMI with his.e xtrene compls cency,
his exaggerated contemplations and
his sympathies as inventor he may
have been tempted into favoring the SO
called Vandergrift company. He ap
pears to be enamored of aoy project
of an Inventive nature.
Were it not for that, we should not
be afraid of his favoring the franchise
for the automobile monopoly. But Mr..
Post is partial to all things having
velocity. he is charmed by railroads,
His enthusiasm amounts TO del
irium, frenzy, reaching the point
where he has invented coverings for
the bottoms of vessels to protect them
from the rocks, the stones and from
all the dangers TO De found in the
water.
From the other members of the
council We fear nothing. Not even
from Mr. Willoughby, who next to the
newly arrived President Of the Exec
utive Council is the most dangerous
member Of the group.
Although the Treasurer is fully ca
pable CT committing some act of injus-
tice, he is restrained by his fear of the
censure of the press: it is the press
that holds him in check that explains
TO the people his remarkable actions
in relation to certain matters that
have shown the young sociolt gist TO be
the irrecoucilable enemy of the dis
tillers and of all the portorican liquor
industries.
But Mr.. Willoughby, like all the OF
her councillors, must know that the
present mobile enterprises accep-
ldOIJ SClFC iAC puUilS lutCiCots dlC D1
reason of the competition keeping the
price of transportation at a figure Of
general convenience, and to grant a
franchise to company that would
create monopoly would be an un
heard Of concession, for in such an
event the real sufferers would be the
public, fact easily understood by all
without its being necnssary to possess
the distinguished and brilliant quail
ties of those superior men Of the gov
erment.
All of our councillors who are not
suffering from the fever of moving
things will be able to comprehend that
the granting of this franchise would
be to confound this country with one
of those which exist in darkest Africa
Does Mr. Martin not know that
here we are tired of seeing automobi-
les2
It would be better were he to ask
for franchise for something calling
for the expenditure of few millions
of dollars on an enterprise of which
our population is ignorsnt. But can a
franchise be asked for scheme
involving the expenditure of few
hundred dollars on automobiles