Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-02-23
Under Spanish Regime.

which has adopted them. lie was one
| of the principal witnesses before the
committee.
Under Spanish Regime.
when the Spanish autonomous gov
eminent was constituted in 1897 said
Senior Iglesias, discussing the progress
of the island in connection with the
prospect for the passage of the bill.
land American liberties did not exist.
and the enemies of American institu-
lions We're in charge of the government.
we had oppression of the press, oppreS-
sion of speech, abridgement of the right
of association, religious persecution,
military oppression and bureaucratic
oppression Under the Spanish autono-
nous government worklngmen were
to all intents and purposes legal cnat-
tells Socially and clviliy we working
men lived as outcaStS.
The country was always in poverty
and without credit. Rulers were all
powerful. their orders royal DEGREES.
Under American institutions capita!
came; factories sprung up: the era of
profitable business began: importations
and expectations increased: the grand
principle of legal equality was enforced
the disorderly bands OF political possism
disappeared; property began to rise mar
velously in value: purchases and sales
augmented: the development or industry
and commerce was remarkable; suaran-
| tees and self-respect appeared; towns be-
gan to project and construct aqueducts,
sewer system, and hospitals: approprfa-
tions were covered with extreme ease, old
public debts redeemed; credit gushed, as
| it were. out of the fountain OF developed
work. We live in order. peace and the
frank, serene bourgeois contentment en-
gendered by plentifulness and well-being
| in societies of satisfied traders of all ma
tionalities.
Commerce Increases.
1.-THE islands exterior commerce has In
creased In value from s17,JoO,OOO in the
years prior to the establishment Of free
| trade to 500, 100000 in 1911-12. Nearly 30
per cent of this trade is with the United
States The value of the merchandise
| and products of all sorts imported into
| the island increased to more than S4o-
100000 The school system has been eX
pa nded till now the enrolment has reach
| ed the number of 10000 children as
against 10000 in former times. The
| island then, is today an emporium of
wealth.
This is what Amercanization means.
| And it needs not restore old systems or
| make promises What it did from 1910
| to 1912 it will do after 1912 It's past an
swers for its future. Rich in achieve
| ments it does not have to sho" itself
rich in words. The country knows 1T
and loves it. 1t is American institutions
which advance looking up, always up.
toward the summit sof legal equality
which advance. looking up, always up,
later-Till be climbed by workingmen
who have convictions of their own.
Changes Upon Island.
And then American institutions. in
their eagerness for continued progress
and common well-being decreed the civil
liberty Of 100 towns, established a faculty
of agriculture in the University of Porto
Rico and are going to establish schools;
urged on the construction of insular
buildings, for which large sums of
money were spent; reorganzed the police
as an Independent body; framed mu-
nicipal law on bases that have allowed
and allow the municipalities to acquire
an honest credit and considerable tinan-
cial ease; established long distance
| telephone service: regulated the civil
service founded on merit as determined
| by examinations; decided to maintain in
| the United States. San Juan. Ponce,
| MayagueZ and Rio Piedras a large num-
| Der Of students. rich and poor, boys and
girls at the expense of the treasury;
| worked for and obtained an approprla-
| ton in the federal budget of Sloo.pD
| for the dredging of the port of San Juan;
pushed on the construction of roads so
| energetically that today there is not a
| single town without durable and solid
| roads: increased a hundred-fold school
| establishments: multiplied the anemia
stations; decided to irrigate the dry
| southern coastal plain with the waters of
| five rivers; accomplished in short YER
| liable transformation OF Porto Rico,
| which will soon make the island as much
an emporium of wealth and industry as
it has been from the beginning of the
| world a paradise of fertility and beauty.
And this metaphorphosis cannot be
compared to any other more essentially,
more deeply and more directly due to
| American institutions.
Sentiments of Taft.
! In his reply to a letter from Senior
IpleSiaS President Taft exDreSsed his