Unwanted Freedom

In 1898 a high-minded Congress of the U. S. resolved that the people of Cuba "are and of a right ought to be, free and independent." To prove that this declaration was not empty rhetoric, the U. S. soon thereafter went to war with Spain. Results of that 100-day conflict: 1) Cuba got its independence, 2) the U. S. paid Spain $20,000,000 as a fair price for the Philippines, 3) Spain handed over to the U. S. as an indemnity the Islands of Puerto Rico and Guam, 4) the Era of Manifest Destiny dawned as the U. S. launched its first important colonial program with foreign races.

Last week that program passed a historic milestone when Chairman Millard E. Tydings of the Senate Committee on Territories & Insular Affairs quietly rose on the Senate floor and announced: "Mr. President, I shall send to the desk shortly a bill proposing to give the people of Puerto Rico the option of becoming independent as a result of a national referendum. . . . The bill will be introduced with the support of the Administration."

These words, coming without warning, shocked and surprised both Washington and Puerto Rico. U. S. management of Puerto Rico, like U. S. management of other colonies, has been neither very good nor very bad. Puerto Rico has given the Washington government a few mild aches & pains but nothing officially serious enough to indicate that President Roosevelt was even considering a quick amputation from U. S. sovereignty of this Caribbean territory.

Puerto Rican politicians long ago discovered the conviction that the people of Puerto Rico, like the people of Cuba, of a right ought to be free and independent. But this traditional tenet of the Liberal Party which ruled Puerto Rico for years was largely an academic issue which failed to rouse the drowsy insular population to thought or action. The only violent advocates of independence have been the Nationalists, a small minority party led by Pedro Albizu Campos. Two Nationalists recently assassinated Colonel Elisha Francis Riggs, chief of the insular police and personal friend of Senator Tydings. Last week six Puerto Rican policemen and officers were indicted for the murder of the two Riggs murderers, who were mysteriously shot down in the police station when they tried to seize arms after their arrest. Such events, however, were by no means crucial in a colonial regime which has bungled along for almost 38 years.

Senator Tydings' bill to free Puerto Rico was modeled on his Philippine Independence Bill. It provides that on Nov. 2, 1937, Puerto Ricans shall be invited to vote on the question: "Shall the people of Puerto Rico be sovereign and independent?" If a majority vote "Yes" a convention is to be called within seven months to draw up a Constitution to be submitted, within one year, to the President of the U. S. Then a commonwealth would be set up for four years and immediately appropriations of U. S. money for the islands, with certain minor reservations, would cease. There would be free trade between Puerto Rico and the U. S. for one year, 25% of existing tariff duties for the second, 50% for the third year, 75% for the fourth. On the fourth day of July, immediately following expiration of the four-year period, Puerto Rico would become independent. Thereafter Puerto Rican imports to the U. S., like those of any other foreign country, would pay the full duty.

Briefly Senator Tydings explained: "One reason why the option is proposed to be given to the people of Puerto Rico is that it is in line with present-day American policy. . . . There are other reasons, however, which impel the introduction of the measure at this time. First of all, the chief of police was recently assassinated in Puerto Rico. The conduct of trials in Puerto Rico has been the subject of some criticism not only outside of the island but in the island as well.

"Then the election machinery in the island is not complimentary to the island at all, because the recent registration of voters in Puerto Rico shows that out of 852,832 persons over 21 years of age in the island, 852,904 of them are registered voters. In other words, there are about 100 more people registered in Puerto Rico and qualified to vote than there are people of both sexes over 21 years of age in the island.*

It has always been the policy of this government not to interfere in the local and internal affairs of any of the people who happen to be under our flag, but certainly so flagrant a case as this which apparently is receiving no remedy in that island, makes us question the worth of American institutions as being adapted to the people of Puerto Rico and to the conditions under which they live. . . ."

Immediate and violent was the Puerto Rican reaction to this unexpected offer of freedom. Puerto Rican Senator Luis Munoz Marin, a leader of the Liberal Party, was in Washington when the surprise struck. Cried he angrily: "It provides for ruining the people of Puerto Rico entirely before the date set for the beginning of the independence. . . . The bill is not worth being taken seriously, either by Puerto Ricans or continental Americans. A bill worthy of consideration would have to determine a relationship whereby Puerto Rican consumers could buy first from Puerto Rican producers, second from the United States producers."

Said President Rafael Martinez Nadal of the Puerto Rican Senate, head of the Republican (Statehood) Party: "The bill puts a premium on assassination of American officials by Nationalists. Because one official was slain by the Nationalists Tydings would give us our independence in four years. If the Nationalists kill three or four others he would give it to us in 24 hours. . . . The bill is a triple betrayal of the Puerto Rican people."

Only Puerto Rican publicly to rejoice was Pedro Albizu Campos. He predicted that if the referendum on independence were put to the people, they would vote 90% for freedom.

Significance-- Simple was the explanation of Puerto Rican chagrin: 90% of the island's exports (chiefly sugar, tobacco, citrus fruits) go to the U. S. Most welcome of the island's imports are dollars from the U. S. Treasury. Independence would cut off both.

Actual purpose of the independence bill was hinted by Director Ernest Gruening of the Interior Department's Division of Territories and Island Possessions: to remind Puerto Rico that, although U. S. colonies perpetually grumble, the colonial arrangement usually works much more to their profit than to the profit of the U. S. Said Dr. Gruening last week: "Nothing could be further from the spirit and purpose of this Administration than to keep a people, not consulted originally about its annexation, under our flag if they do not desire to be there. ... If, on the other hand, they decide to remain American citizens under the American flag it will settle the question which has agitated the island during recent years."

In Washington on insular business, Governor Blanton Winship of Puerto Rico called in the Press, gave them a glowing report on conditions in the island, belittled recent disturbances, ducked any direct mention of the Tydings bill. Said this onetime soldier: "The past two years in Puerto Rico have been free of serious trouble. Too much publicity has been given to the assassination of Colonel Riggs. . . . The relations between private employers and employes are of the best. There is no rift between Capital and Labor on the island; there never has been and there never will be."

*An understatement by Senator Tyding The calculation that 852,832 adults exist in Puerto Rico was made by counting everyone over 15 who whas recorded by the cencus of 1930, but making no allowance for any deaths in the last five years In one municipality where census showed 9,775 people over 15 in 1930, there are now 14,144 registered voters.

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