New Britain herald., 1917-01-05
HOME RULE FOR PORTO RICO.
To Be Taken Up In the Senate-Pro-
 visions of the Bill.

visions of the Bill.
 Washington Letter to the Newark
 News).
 Four years of fervent importantly by the people of Porto Rico at last
 finds President Wilson in his annual address to congress recommend1n that the senate pass the "home-rule' bill for that dependency the measure having been passed by the house in the last session, and now holding a place of vantage on the calendar of tho senior chamber.
 And should this bill now be enact ed into law, over 100000 persons in the island, who now are not ctt1- zens of any nation on this green earth will become automatically American citizens except such as may prefer to renounce such citizenship, who will be given the opportunity for so doing. Although transferred from Spain to the United States as the result of the Spanish war, the people of Porto Rico never have been made American citi- zens, nor have they been permitted to retain Spanish citizenships-polit- ically speaking, they are neither fish nor flesh nor good red herring. By another provision of the bill, an insular senate will take the place of the governors council, and will be elected by the people, just as the house is now. To the great disgust of many Porto Ricans, the power of veto will be vested in the governor who is appointed by the president of the United States, subject to con- frmation by the senate. Arthur Ya- ger of Kentucky is governor of the dependency, and it is understood he may continue in his place four years more if he may become a candidate for governor of his home state. But while most of the chief off, cials such as department heads, still I will be appointed by the president or by the governor of Porto Rico, others will be chosen by the people, or by the governor by and with the con- sent of the insular senate. Also, in many other ways the people will bA 1 given almost as much home rule~ as Is enjoyed by the people of the Philippines.
 Hope prevails that the passing of l this bill will discourage, if not en- l tirely stif1e, an Independence" move ment in the island, through which l some of the leading men of the de- 1 pendency seek freedom from Amer 1 ican control and the establishment of | a republic like that of Santo Domin- go.
 The debate on the measure in the l senate will be marked by prohibi- l tion fight, Senator Asle J. Gronna and several other "drys" being deter
 mined, if possible, to tack on an amendment imposing prohibition on 1 the dependency. Although a pro- l fessed prohibitionist of the first wa | ter,' Gov. Wager Is greatly opposed to such an amendment on the argument l that the island needs the revenue it
 receives from the liquor interests On
 the other hand, the prohibitionists of l the island have been using the "eco- 1 homie" argument far more effectively 1 than Gov. Wager and the "wets." Fig ures will be presented to the senate ] to prove that the bitter poverty of l hundreds of thousands of the people 1 is due to the fact that they spend vir- ] tually all their money for rum, and to 1 show that they could spend only 10 1 per cent. of such money in taxes and l yet provide more for the government l than now comes from the liquor in- l terests.
 As their trump card however, the l "wets" will urge that as this is a
 "home-rule" bill, the people them ! selves should be permitted to vote on
 the question, as is done in the indi- 1 vidual states of the Union.