BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1905-08-15

With an admirable perception OF
the true state OF affairs, The New
York Sun, in an article to which we
have referred in part at other times,
portrays with mastery touch an exact
picture of our situation which it pre-
sents to the consideration of its coun-
Itrymen.
Up to the present time we have not
seen in the papers of the United
States a statement. so acceptable, SO
Impartial, so exhaustive, giving such
an exact description of the present
condition of our island, showing such
a careful study of the economic crisis
and its causes, analyzing with ian in
dependence of criticism to which we
are unaccustomed in papers of the
mother country, the reasons the colony
has for it's complaints, which our COL
league recognizes as just in its able
article which presents SO striking a
contrast to the unreliable reports of the
functionaries.
The Sun" has believed in the truth
Iof our sta tements, which it corrobo
rates fully.
The island is in the midst of deep
and grave crisis, economical, poll zeal
and social.
The high price of sugar has not i'm
proved the situation in the colony;
that has been the case in Cuba because
sugar is the chief product of the coun-
TRY; but in Porto Rico it is coffee, ard
for our grain the United States has
not accorded the most inhnitessimal
protection.
The "Sun" likewise notes the injus-
t;ce of our being compelled 10 pay a
price for american products advanta
|geous for the latter: without our being
given the just protection we ought to
have for our coffee, Porto Rico's first
and chief product, which is at the
mercy Of every competitor, forgotten
and ignored in the tariff of country
which does not know how to properly
Appreciate the merit of our grain.
This requires no comment.
The injustice of which we are the
victims is only too evident to any one
who views conditions here in their
true light, and to al! such it is imme =
diately apparent that there is justice as
well as reason for the protests provo
ked against those who give out inform
alton showing an utterly unreal and
false condition of colonial prosperity;
against those who furnish worthless
statistics.
AS the Sun" truly says: The
condition of the island is question Of
fact and not of assumptions and as
sertions. The public is misled by sta
|tements which show the enormous in
crease of trade between the island
and the United States proper: and 1t
|says further: The truth is, it is in a
worse state, commercially and ind
|ustrially, than it was before we went
there"
There is much fairness and magma
nimity in the article of our colleague,
which condemns with energetic Ian
guage our having to submit to the do
mination of functionaries who are In
every way, excepting political form,
aliens and strangers. The functiona-
ries who here are engaged in the
contemplate work of wasting the
time and money of the colony. who
are occupied in making columns and
statistical exhibits, without other OBJ
ject than to falsify the ruth and make
an island appear rich and prosperous,
which in reality is in state of ruin.
But, fortunately, in the opinion and
judgment of the people of the United
Sta+ac an article Such as the one IN
the New York Sun" carries infinitely
more weight and signifies vastly more
than all the worthless reports and
statistics of the discredited functio-
naries.
That paper knows the sort of REDEEM
ptionists we have here. An army OF
hangers on, of useless men, inca paci-
tated by want of ability, essential apt
itudes and qualities for maintaining
themselves in the mother country
without the sort of protection and assis