The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1908-07-11
ISLANDERS ASK FOR FREE TRADE
WITH THE UNITED
STATES.
Claim Justice Requires That They Be
Placed on an Equality With People
Of Porto Rico-Signatures to Peti-
ton Number Over a Hundred Thous-
and Of the Islanders.

Tie rOurlu OIL July CuTOuSuOuC Tie
Philippines was largely devoted to the
ratification of petition from the peo-
pie of the islands to the American peo-
pie, asking for the free admission Of
Philippine products to American mar
kets. The central meeting was held
in Manila, where late this afternoon
thousands gathered at the Luneta to
ratify the petition. simultaneously
meetings were held throughout the
islands and telegraphic reports sent to
the central meeting.
| The number of signatures to the pc
tition exceeds one hundred thousand.
1t is intended to continue its circula-
| ton until the eve of the meeting Of
congress, when it will be presented to
| the president and congress. By that
time it is hoped to have a million
names attached.
A torrential rain dispersed the Lune-
| ia meeting, but later large crowd re-
| assembled. 1t included several dele
cations of workers carrying transpar-
encies reading, 1--WE want justice"
| 1--WE want equal treatment with Porto
| Rico" and other similar devices.
| President Gibson, of the Merchants
| Association, presided. Stirring speech
es in English, Spanish and Tagalog
were made indorsing the petition. At
| the conclusion of the demonstration
| battery fired a salute. The petition
says in part:
I'VE deem it fitting that the Fourth
of July should be the day chosen to
make formal representations to you of
our condition and our needs. While
the sections of the archipelago that
| yield hemp, cOpra and rice have con-
tinued during recent years under a
fair measure of prosperity, the country
has lacked the stimulus of capital, and
the producers of many articles, nota-
| bly, sugar, have labored under condi-
| tons that precluded success, and dur
ing the present year the low prices
| that have prevailed for hemp and
copra, together with a partial failure
of the rice crop, have Frustrated in
dustry and precipitated an acute eco
nomic crisis. We earnestly direct
your attention to these facts: That
while it is true that labor in our fields
is poorly paid, there is good reason
why it cannot be better paid. The
same law that applies to and controls
other industries applies also to the
agricultural industry here. If the cot
| ton trade languishes, the wages Of
your mill operatives are reduced; as
business improves wages are ad-
vanced; and it would be just as rea-
sonable to tell our hemp, sugar and
tobacco planters that if their business
is not paying, then they must turn to
wheat growing or the raising Of cotton
as it would be to tell your cotton mill
owners or your cotton planters that
when the cotton business is depressed
they should turn to making iron and
steel or to raising sugar beets.
1--WE do not charge that the govern
ment of the United States is RESPONSE
BILE for the unhappy condition of indus
| try in these islands, but we do main
tain that as territory belonging to, con-
| trolled by and dependent upon it, a
moral obligation is imposed that may
not be justly disregarded to assist in
every possible way the material inter-
1 ests of the people here.
"We have witnessed the splendid de-
velopment and evident prosperity of
| Porto Rico since that island has en-
joyed the advantages of free trade
with the United States, and we nat
urally feel that If it were justice to so
legislate in the case of Porto Rico,
| then full justice has not been done the
Philippines.
| eve believe that we can pledge to
you for the Philippines an equal return
4 in commerce, in proportion to popula-
| ton, if you will give to us the same
| legislation that was enacted in the
case of Porto Rico, and where the mill
| lion Porto Ricans purchase twenty-five
million dollars worth of goods in the
United States, eight million Filipinos
will, within ten years from the enact
ment of a free trade law, be purchas-
! ing two hundred million dollars worth
/ 1--WE therefore earnestly petition the
people of the United States to influ-
ence the United States congress to en-
act legislation that will give to the
Philippine islands equal trade advan-
| tages with Porto Rico, that the eco
nomic troubles with which we are af-
flicted may be removed and these ISL
ands once more be brought to condi-
ton OF prosperity and happiness"
Passengers From the Tanana.
Nome. July Cone hundred passen-