El Mundo. [volume] (San Juan, P.R.) 1919-1990, 1924-12-17


forts so far made by you. looking to
the early passage of the Porto Rico
bill now pending in the Senate, and
to assure you that your continued
interest III this matter, SO vital to the
people of: Porto Rico, will receive our
unqualified support and Will forever
be looked upon by us as a just cause
for extending to you our everlasting
gratitute. H.
1t would seem idle for me to state
to you. who. as Chairman of the Com
mittee on Pacific Islands and Porto
Rico of the Sanate, are 50 familiar
with this measure and the conditions
which it intends to remedy, the rea-
sons why the overwhelming MAJORITY
of the Porto RicanS earnestly urge
the early enactment of this legislation.
But a desire to add if this be possible,
emphasis to the numerous statements
and petitions on record presented to
your Committee and ia the Commit
tee on Insular Affairs of the House i'll
support of this bill by representative
men and organized bodies in the is
land, and the hope that this letter
may also merit, beside yours, the at
tention of some of your colleagues in
the Senate who are not as we'll ac
Quainted as you are with our pro-
blems, impel me to refer briefly here
in TO some Of those reasons.
The overwhelming MAJORITY of the
Porto Ricans support and urge the
prompt passage of this bill-H. X.
9533-as it now stands, with the
amendments recommended by the
Joint Commission, which recently ap-
peared before your Committee on be-
half of the principal political parties
of the Island, now united in the en-
dorsement of this legislation:
Gi.-Because this measure would
grant US an elective Senate, which
would exercise, in addition to the
customary functions of a purely le-
gislative character, the power to con
firm the majority of appointments in
the proposed Governors Council
thus giving the PEOPLE of Porto Ri
ECO not only direct control of the local
Legislature, but also, through their
representatives in the proposed new
Chamber, a large participation in the
important matter of selecting the high
or administrative officials of the
Government whereas, under the pre-
sent law, the Upper House of the Ie
gislature of Porto Rico, known as the
Executive Council, is appointive body,
in the choice Of whose members-the
majority of whom are also Heads of
Departmcnts-that element of POPU-
LAR intervention is absent.
(2(.-Because the bill, as it has
been reported by your Committee,
would authorize the creation of a Pu-
blic Service Commission entrusted
with the power to grant all franchi-
ses, rights and privileges of a public
or quasi-public nature, with two po-
pular representatives among its mem
berS; while under the law now in
force, this important function, the
exercise of which would in many eases
bind the resources of the Island for
long periods of time, deyolves upon a
body of men, none of whom derive
this commission at present from di.
rect mandate of the PEOPLE;
(3).-Because the assurance convey
cd to the people of Porto Rico through
the grant of American citizenship
contained in this measure, that the
great American people consider us
worthy of the enjoyment of their
highly privileged status as citizens Of
this glorious Republic is regarded
among us, as it would be among any
liberty-loving people, as the beStowal
of a great honor, which, however,
would not by itself, in the view of
enlightened public opinion, prevent the
determination by Congress, in the
future, of the ultimate status of Por-
to Rico, as regards her political rela-
tions with the United States, in the
| light of the interest and welfare of
both countries.
In fine, the great bulk of the po-
pulation OF Porto Rico earnestly hope
that this bill may soon become a law,
|
! because, as said by the President in
his last Message to Congress, the
present laws governing the Island and
regulating the rights and privileges of
its people are not just, and although
---in the words of the late Honorable
Luis Mufoz Rivera, for the las Six
years Resident Commissioner from
Porto Rico to the United States, and
for thirty years the undisputed lea
der of his people, whose death clothed
in mourning forever the heart OF