The Connecticut labor news., 1925-02-14
GROWTH OF PLANTATION SYSTEM IN WEST INDIES TURNING PEOPLE
 INTO LANDIESS DAY LABORERS
Catholic Welfare Conference Reports Control By Americans Brings
 Misery to People.

Washington, D. C.. Feb. 14-Charges that American capitalists have exploited and ground down the workers of Porto Rico and other West Indian Islands are supported in full by report just made by the Department of Social Action of the National Catholic Welfare Confer ence.
 For years the American Federation of Labor and the Porto Rican Fedora ton of Labor have been protesting against conditions in Porto Rico and appealing to Congress to investigate the situation and right the wrongs that exist in Porto Rico
 Santiago Iglesias, president of the Porto Rican Federation of Labor and a member of the Porto Rican Senate, has repeatedly come to Washington on behalf of the Porto Rican workers. He is now in Washington to press de- mand for congressional investigation of frauds committed at the last election an has appealed to President Coolidge and Congress for investigation of the charges of fraud and of the condition of the Porto Rican people Tn an inter view with President Coolidge, Mr Ig
 lesias told the Chief Executive that ele- i mentary justice to the people of Porto I Rico demanded an investigation of the
 misehry and wretchedness that exist on
 the island
 l Commenting on the report of the
 National Catholic Welfare Conference,
 MT Iglesias told International Labor
 News Service that the report confirmed
 charges that have been made by orga-
 nized labor regarding conditions in the
 West Indies and lent further strength I to the demand for a thorough investi- gation. The report, said Mr. I&esias.
 constitutes severe indictment of thole irresponsible for the appalling condition Tn Porto Rico
 A summary of the report follows:
 American control and penetration of
 Porto Rico has turned most of the peo- tple into landless day laborers on sugar. tobacco and fruit plantation and aIIicd | industries. To less degree the same lis true of Cuba The same process is
 in an earlier stage of development in
 the Dominican Republic and Haiti. These conclusions are reached after a s personal investigation of these four
 countries for a period of two months ! and half by representative of the
 Social Action Department of thet Ma tional- Catholic Welfare Conference "A less highly developed plantation system existed in Cpba and Porto Rico , before the Ameriqans came. American l business men built upon this, extended it widely, bought out and forec1osed na- . tive land owners, opened up new lands
 and got possession of irrigated districts They are now the dominant element in , sugar and fruit in both countries, cer- tainly the dominant element in Porto Rican tobacco and probably so also in Cuban tobacco Porto Rican coffee has livery little market in the United States
 and is not controlled by Americans. They have a strong inside hold in bank
 ing but here they have able competi-
 tors, some foreign and others native. Porto Rico is superhcially prosper ous but the masses of the people arc wretched They are landless in an az ricultural country. Some of them are
 allowed minute patch of ground on a
 plantation. In return they are expected to work on the plantation for small | fI., 1I,1 Others are merely day laborers and
 when there is no work on the plantations they are left to shift for themselves. They are freer than the peons but their poverty is all the greater, for work is
 seasonal and there are long stretches . when no work is at hand
 "The kind of houses families live in is a sign of their poverty both in Cuba
 and in Porto Rico. They are crowded and damned together in inside court , yard rooms in the cities of both coun- tries. In Porto Rico many live in the . poorest of one and two-room shacks both in the country and in the marshy
 lands in and near the sea coats cities , and towns. Their poverty Is vile "The Dominican Republica and Haiti I had been republics for many years be- I fore the American intervention. Both 2 peoples are the descendants of slaves, a Haiti entirely and the Domoican Repub-
 lie almost entirely. When they freed t themselves from slavery, they abanl e doned plantation agriculture, but thes y had not the training to build up goot }. system of farming in its stead n ''In the Dominican Republic Ameri = cans are slowly creating plantations an.
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