The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1906-12-21

therefore. there was double the trai9
that there was in the most prosper.
Gus year under the Spanish regime.
There we're 210,273 tons OF sugar ex.
ported last year, OF the value OF sl4.-
1SG,3l9; $3,555,163 OF tobacco. and
2S,290,322 pounds of coffee of the val
Of $3,4Sl,l02 Unfortunately, VIII
used to be Porto Rico's prime crop
coffee-has not shared this prosper.
ity. 1t has never recovered from the
disaster of the hurricane, and, more
over the benefit of throwing open
our market to 1t has not compensated
for the loss inflicted by the closing of
the markets to 1t abroad. | call your
attention to the accompanying memo
rial on this Subject ol The board OF
trade of San Juan, and | earnestly
hope that some measure will be taken
for the benefit of the excellent and
| high grade Porto Rican coffee.
There is matter to which | wish
to call your especial attention, and
that is the desirabll!ty Of comforting
| full American citizenship upon the
people OF Porto Rico. | most earnest
! ly hope that this will be done. | can
not see how any harm can possibly re-
suit from It, and 1t seems to me a mat.
ter of right and justice to the people
of Porto Rico. They are loyal, they
are glad TO be under our flag, they are
making rapid progress along the path
OF orderly liberty. Surely we should
show our appreciation OF them, our
pride in what they have done, and
our pleasure In extending recognition
for what has thus been done, by grant
| ing them full American citizenship.
Under the wise administration Of the
present governor and council marked
progress has been made in the difficult
matter of granting to the people of the
| island the largest measure Of self-goy-
eminent that can with safety be given
at the present time. 1t would have
| been very serious mistake TO have
gone any faster than we have already
gone IN this direction. The Porto
! Ricans have complete and absolute
autonomy in all their municipal gov
crnments the only power over them
possessed by the insular government
being that Of removing corrupt or In.
competent municipal officials. This
power has never been exercised save
on the clcarest proof OF corruption or
of incompCtcnce-such as to Jeopar'
die the interests of the people OF the
! island and under such circumstances
| It has been fearlcssly used to the i'm
mcnse benefit of the people. II Is not
| n power with which II would be safe,
! for the sake of the island Itself. to dis
pcnse at present. The lower house Is
absolutely elective, while the upper
house is appointive. This scheme IL
working well: no injustice of any kind
results from 1t, and great benefit to
| the island. and It should certainly not
be changed at this time. The machin'
cry of the elections is administered en-
tircly by the Porto Rican people them
selves. tho governor and council keep
ing only such supervision as Is neces'
sary In order to insure an orderly cleo
ton. ANY protest as to electoral frauds
is settled in the courts. Here again 1t
would not be safe to make any change
in the present system. The elections
this year were absolutely orderly, un.
accompanied by any disturbance; and
no protest has been made against the
management of the elections, although
! three contests are threatened where
| the majorities were very small and
error was claimed; the contests, Of
course, to be settled In the courts. In
short. the governor and council are CO.
operating with all OF the most enlight.
cned and most patriotic of the people
of Porto Rico in educating the citizens
of the island in the principles OF order.
ly liberty. They are providing n gov
eminent based upon each citizens self
respect, and the mutual respect OF all
citizens; that is. based upon rigid
observance Of the principles OF justice
and honesty. II has not been easy to
instill into the minds OF people unac-
customed to the exercise of freedom
the two basic principles of our Ameri.
can SYSTEM the principle that the ma
iority must rule, and the principle that
the minority has rights which must
not be disregarded or trampled upon.
Yet real progress has been made II
having these principles accepted as
elementary, as the foundations of sue.
cessful sclf.government,
| transmit herewith the report of the
governor of Porto Rico, sent to tho
president through the secretary OF
state.
All the insular governments should
be placed in one bureau, either in the
department of war or the department
of state. II Is q mistake not so to ar.
range our handling of these islands at
Washington as to be able to take adj
vantage of the experience gained in
one. when dealing with the problems
that from time to time arise In an.
other.
In conclusion let me express my ad'
miration for the work done by the con-
gress when 1t enacted the law under
which the island is now being admin
istered After seeing the island per-
sonally, and after five years expert
once in connection with its admins.