Clean Sweep

Four hundred and fifty-five years after Columbus discovered the island, Puerto Rico at last elected its own governor.* Last week's election brought neither surprises nor upsets; somber-eyed Luis Munoz Marin, leader of the Popular Democratic Party, rolled to victory with 62% of the 629,000 votes cast.

Trailing far behind were Chief Justice Martin Travieso, whose platform called for statehood, and Dr. Francisco M. Susoni, who had plumped for immediate independence of the U.S. Though virtually all Puerto Ricans wanted one or the other of these things, most had been convinced that Munoz' moderate program of industrialization and economic development was a surer way of getting them.

Most important problem of Munoz' administration would be relations with the new U.S. Congress (the Republican-controlled 80th had passed the law which made his election possible). Washington thought that U.S. legislators might balk at authorizing Puerto Rico to write its own constitution, as Munoz has recommended. But there was a good chance that Congress would give Puerto Rico a healthy economic boost by extending the Social Security Act to the overpopulated island. That would fit right into Munoz' plans for a more prosperous Puerto Rico.

* In its 50 years as a U.S. possession, the island has had three military and 15 civil governors, all presidential appointees. Rexford G. Tugwell was the last mainlander to hold the job, Jesus T. Pinero (1946-48) the first native-born governor.

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