{"1": {"fulltext": "V.\\nTHE PORTO RICO BILL.\\nSPEECH\\nHon. JAMES M. E. O GRADY.\\nOF NEW YORK,\\nIN THE\\nHOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,\\nAPRIL 11, 1900.\\nWASHINGTON.\\n1900.\\nJ", "height": "3534", "width": "2286", "jp2-path": "portoricobill00ogra_0001.jp2"}, "2": {"fulltext": "FT\\n,6/3\\nDigitized by the Internet Archive\\nin 2D^%ifh e fL?n r ^ngfro^\\nThe LibJSr^d f CbHgress\\nhttp://www.archive.brg/details/portoricobillOOogra", "height": "3338", "width": "1948", "jp2-path": "portoricobill00ogra_0002.jp2"}, "3": {"fulltext": "k\\nri\\nSPEECH\\nOF\\nHOX. JAMES M. E. O GRADY\\nThe House having under consideration the bill (H. R. 8345) entitled An\\nact temporarily to provide revenues for the relief of the island of Porto\\nRico, and for other purposes\\nMr. 0 GRADY said:\\nMr. Speaker: The bill for the financial l elief of Porto Rico has\\nbeen so exhaustively debated in this House that I would not ven-\\nture to discuss it now were it not for the fact that one or two\\nphases of the question have been but indifferent!} 7 considered: and\\nI do not believe that enough stress has been laid upon the duty our\\ncouutry owes to its own people and its own institutions, while\\naltogether too much importance is put upon what is claimed is\\nour plain duty toward the island possessions held by us now as the\\nfortune of war. Porto Rico came to us unexpectedly, but as the\\nresult of the universal demand of our people that Spanish rule in\\nthe Western Hemisphere should cease. It came to us at the de-\\nmand of an armed and powerful force, led by the commanding\\ngeneral of the American Army. To say it came to us with open\\narms is a pleasant and agreeable fiction.\\nIf the people of Porto Rico met our Army with shouts and ac-\\nclamations, remember that they had few guns and less ammuni-\\ntion, and that they were pursuing the wisest course under such\\ncircumstances. All accounts go to prove that prior to the war\\nPorto Rico was entirely loyal to Spain. There was little, if any,\\ncivil disturbance there even after the intervention of this country\\nin the Cuban insurrection, when Spain s hands were full trying\\nto stem the tide against her. Porto Rico, therefore, stands in ex-\\nactly the same position as any other territory reverting to the\\nsuccessful contestants as the price of peace or the indemnity for\\nwar expense, or the result of the exigency of the situation a sort\\nof geographical necessity. What shall be done with her, andhow\\nbest shall she be aided in working out her destiny and preparing\\nherself for the full measure of American liberty?\\nOn the constitutional questions, Mr. Speaker, my mind is clear.\\nI have studied carefully the opinions of the Supreme Court of the\\nUnited States, upon which the other side of this House relies for\\nits authority, and those upon which the Republican party bases\\nits action. There is some authority on both sides, I admit. But\\nI find. Mr. Speaker, that when I invoke to my aid common sense\\nand the principles of international law and comity and apply\\nthem to the constitutional question, a glare of light is thrown on\\nthe subject, and there is no trouble for me to understand what is\\nmeant by the decisions.\\nThe doctrine that the Constitution ex pjroprio vigore (by its own\\nforce) extended over all territory belonging to the United States\\nwas first invoked in the unholy cause of slaverv. The Western\\n4331 3", "height": "3338", "width": "1948", "jp2-path": "portoricobill00ogra_0003.jp2"}, "4": {"fulltext": "Territories were demanding anti-slavery laws, and the belief that\\nthis iniquitous institution was becoming weaker in what were\\nsoon to be new States caused Calhoun and his followers to discover\\nthat the Constitution had already extended over these prospective\\nStates, in only one particular, however, to the extent of forbidding\\nthe passage of anti-slavery laws by Congress or Territorial legis-\\nlatures. It never was invoked in any serious contention prior to\\nthat; and while the Supreme Court has touched upon it in one or\\ntwo cases since, these are of little consequence, and the court so\\nindicates in its opinions.\\nTo this doctrine of Calhoun I can make no better answer and\\nin no stronger and clearer terms than that of the Republicans of\\n1858 and 1860 assembled in national convention. In 1856 the He-\\npublican party in its national platform declared:\\nResolved, That the Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign power\\nover the Territories of the United States for their government, and that in\\nthe exercise of this power it is both the right and the duty of Congress to\\nprohibit in the Territories those twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and\\nslavery.\\nIn 1860 the Republican party again in no uncertain language\\ncondemned Calhounism in these vigorous words:\\nThe new dogma, that the Constitution of its own force carries slavery into\\nany or all of the Territories of the United States, is a dangerous political\\nheresy, at variance with the explicit provisions of the instrument itself, with\\ncontemporaneous exposition, and with legislative and jtidicial precedent, is\\nrevolutionary in its tendency, and subversive of the peace and harmony of\\nthe country.\\nOn that platform the country was carried and Abraham Lincoln\\nelected, and a bloody war placed the deadly seal of its disapproval\\nupon that doctrine.\\nMr. Speaker, what is meant by the terms sovereign power, the\\nsovereignty of the people, national sovereignty? Ourfriendson\\nthe other side seem to think that they are terms of limitation and\\nand intended to curtail the power of the American people. I can\\nnot place this interpretation upon them.\\nThe best lexicographers define sovereign as supreme power;\\npossessing supreme dominion; not subject to another; the power\\nexercising supreme control or dominion and to which allegiance\\nis due.\\nCooley defines sovereignty as the supreme, absolute, uncon-\\ntrollable power by which any State is governed.\\nHalleck calls it the political authority, whether vested in a sin-\\ngle individual or in a number of individuals, to order and direct\\nwhat is to be done by each individual in relation to the end and\\nobject of the state. Thus in the United States, sovereignty is\\nvested in the body of adult male citizens.\\nMaine says that this person or combination of persons has in all\\ncommunities one characteristic common to all the shapes sover-\\neignty may take, the possession of irresistible force. The sover-\\neign, if a single person, is a monarch; if a small group, the name\\nis an oligarchy; if a group of considerable dimensions, an aristoc-\\nracy; if very large and numerous, a democracy.\\nMr. Speaker, in all of these definitions we find one essential to\\ncomplete sovereignty power unlimited within the sphere of gov-\\nernmental influence. Is a government of the people any less potent\\nthan that of a usurper? Is the United States lacking in some of\\nthe attributes possessed by other nations? To admit that is mon-\\nstrous. It would prevent us waging a defensive war. Because,\\n4331", "height": "3338", "width": "1948", "jp2-path": "portoricobill00ogra_0004.jp2"}, "5": {"fulltext": "if engaged in sucha war, we could never enter the enemy s coun-\\ntry to drive him from it or to crush his armies. The contest would\\nalways have to be upon our own territory for fear that the end of\\nthe war might find us in possession of some of the enemy s coun-\\ntry, and this conquered country could never, according to the\\norators on the other side of this Chamber, be submitted to a period\\nof probation and instruction.\\nSuch a contention carries its own refutation. No loyal Ameri-\\ncan, if he will but stop to think, will subscribe to it for a moment.\\nUnder its teaching American liberty and American institutions\\ncould never be spread upon the face of the earth; but hedged about\\nby this incomprehensible, indefinite limitation of national power,\\nthe great American Republic must lay supine and helpless before\\nthe world. I never will admit that my country lacks in national\\nattributes or is inferior in national power, in peace or in war, to\\nthe other great powers of the world; that the Republic of the peo-\\nple is not the equal of monarchical England, autocratic Russia,\\nimperial Germany, or republican France.\\nIf the people of the United States, in whom rests the great\\npower of the nation, can not avail themselves of the rights of\\nnational conquest, why did we dare go to war with Spain, even\\nin a just cause? Are the people free, independent, and self-\\ngoverning, less potent than when they are bound in the debasing\\nfetters of autocratic or imperial statehood? Is the gladiator with\\nevery muscle in full play weaker in some intangible way than\\nwhen loaded with chains? In our brief history we have fought\\nsuccessfully four foreign wars and one great civil war, for no one\\nof which there would be the slightest justification were the con-\\ntention of the opponents of this measure to be admitted. The\\nonly logical deduction is that the Constitution is extended to\\nnewly acquired territory only by specific enactment of Congress.\\nAnd now, Mr. Speaker, what are the provisions of this bill now\\nbefore the House for approval? It may be treated under two gen-\\neral heads: First, the raising of revenue for temporary purposes,\\nand, second, the proposed scheme of government for the is] and.\\nLet us consider for a moment the revenue feature of the bill.\\nIt is provided that there shall be a duty amounting to 15 per cent\\nof the rates prescribed by the Dingiey tariff upon all goods enter-\\ning Porto Rico from the United States and upon all goods enter-\\ning the United States from Porto Rico, except only such articles\\nas have heretofore been placed by Executive order upon the free\\nlist. Not 15 per cent flat, understand, but 15 per cent of the ex-\\nisting tariff rates of the Dingiey law.\\nIt is further provided that there shall be a 5 cents per pound\\nduty on coffee imported into the island to protect the coffee raised\\nthere, which is of a higher quality and could not exist in compe-\\ntition with the cheap coffee of the South American countries.\\nSince we have had possession of Porto Rico and it has been under\\nmilitary law, there has been established by order of the President\\na free list of articles which pay no duty. In the present bill this\\nfree list is continued in operation. It is well to examine it for a\\nmoment. From time to time there have been included plows, cane\\nknives, agricultural implements, books and maps, quinine, fresh\\nfish, machinery for agricultural and sugar-refining purposes,\\nflour, rice, codfish, pork, bacon, rough lumber, fresh beef, mutton,\\nsugar bagging, ccopers wares, sugar casks and materials to make\\nthem, and school furniture.\\n4331", "height": "3338", "width": "1948", "jp2-path": "portoricobill00ogra_0005.jp2"}, "6": {"fulltext": "6\\nIs there any hardship to Porto Rico here? Does not this list\\ninclude all the necessaries of the people? What food stuff is\\nomitted? What necessity of life lacking? All these articles are\\nto continue to be admitted free of any duty whatever. Again,\\nwhenever the legislative assembly of Porto Rico shall provide a\\nsystem of local taxation to support the government, the tariff of\\n15 per cent shall cease, and in any event there shall be no tariff\\nafter March 1, 1902. And still again, the proceeds of the 15\\nper cent tariff, not only that which is to be raised in Porto Rico\\nbut likewise the gross amount of all such duties received at the\\nUnited States ports, are to be reserved for the exclusive benefit of\\nPorto Rico and to be used for the expenses and needs of the island\\nalone.\\nWhat more generous treatment could the island obtain from\\nany country? We did not do this in the case of Louisiana or\\nFlorida or California or the Gadsden purchase or Alaska. In\\nthe case of these Territories the receipts from tariff taxes were\\ncovered into the National Treasury for the benefit of the whole\\ncountry. But in the case of Porto Rico every dollar goes back to\\nthe island and for its own domestic purposes.\\nNow, let us see if the method of raising the revenue is unjust\\nor a hardship to the island. Revenue must be raised from some\\nsource and in some practical way. It seems to me that we are\\nlimited to one of three or four methods, namely, either by a di-\\nrect appropriation from the Treasury of the United States, or by\\ndirect taxation upon land, or by a loan, or the method contem-\\nplated by this bill\u00e2\u0080\u0094 that is, a low tariff on imports and exports\\nthat will distribute evenly and lightly the burdens of supporting\\nthe government. Our people would not be willing to see a direct\\nappropriation from the Treasury for the benefit of Porto Rico.\\nIf the island is to be self-supporting, let it be so from the start; if\\nit can not maintain itself now and at once, we were much better\\nrid of it.\\nDirect taxation will not do, because, according to General Davis,\\noutside of the municipalities there is but little to tax, and since\\nthe terrible hurricane the rural communities are without the\\nmeans or ability to pay direct taxes; nor is there any method by\\nwhich direct taxes can be equitably distributed among all the\\npeople. General Davis says that 75 per cent of the males over 21\\nyears of age are abjectly poor.\\nThey live in huts made of sticks and poles covered over with thatches of\\npalm leaves. A family of a dozen may be huddled together in one room,\\noften with only a dirt floor. They have little food worthy of the name and\\nonly the most scanty clothing, while children of less than seven or eight\\nyears are often entirely naked. A few may own a machete or a hoe, but\\nmore have no worldly possessions whatever. Their food is fruit, and if they\\nare wage-earners, a little rice and codfish in addition.\\nIt is useless to talk about direct taxation with such a people as\\nthis unless time is taken to develop some new and equitable sys-\\ntem, and to educate the people to understand and submit to it.\\nAs far as a loan is concerned, in order to make one there must\\nbe a government in Porto Rico in working order with all its ma-\\nchinery, such as is provided by the Senate bill. In order to obtain\\na reasonably low rate of interest there must be a regularly estab-\\nlished government of sufficient stability to insure a proper return\\nof the loan.\\nIndirect taxation is therefore the only logical and feasible sys-\\n4331", "height": "3338", "width": "1948", "jp2-path": "portoricobill00ogra_0006.jp2"}, "7": {"fulltext": "tem of raising this necessary revenue. There is certainly no\\nhardship about it, and it can be terminated under the bill just as\\nsoon as the Porto Ricans themselves desire it and manifest by\\ntheir votes and voices a wish to substitute some other method of\\ntaxation. In every State of the Union indirect taxation is being\\nresorted to to lighten the burdens of direct taxation which weigh\\nso heavily upon land. To say that temporarily, until the in-\\nhabitants can be adjusted or adjust themselves to American\\nmethods of living and learn how to enjoy benefits of American\\ncitizenship, the Porto Ricans can not raise their revenue in this\\nway is to subject them to hardships that we would not force upon\\nour own people.\\nThe methods of taxation in Porto Rico have always been what\\nare known as tariff taxes, most of them unjust and burdensome.\\nThese have been largely abolished because of then- hardship. To\\nintroduce a new method of internal taxation will require time\u00e2\u0080\u0094 at\\nleast a year, possibly longer. Experts are now in the island or on\\ntheir way there, called for by the military governor to advise with\\nhim concerning the new methods and new ways of raising in-\\nternal revenue. Shall we refuse them a reasonable time for their\\ninvestigation?\\nOur Democratic friends on the other side of the Chamber have\\nbeen denouncing the tariff as having been imposed in the inter-\\nests of the trusts. If this were true, it would be very wicked and\\nreprehensible. But inasmuch as they are always making us out\\nto be the champions of evil things, the accusation from their lips\\nfalls flat and does not ring true. The two trusts that are aimed\\nat by their clamor are presumably the sugar and tobacco trusts.\\nBy what process of reasoning can it be conceived that the sugar\\ntrust is in favor of a duty on its raw sugar, the only sugar product\\nthat Porto Rico will bring to the United States market?\\nAnd how can a tariff upon the tobacco grown in the island help\\nthe tobacco trust? Is it not to the plain interest of both of these\\ntrusts to demand no tariff at all on its raw sugar and its raw to-\\nbacco? As a matter of fact, they are behind the movement in\\nfavor of free trade, because they see very plainly that under this\\npresent tariff bill they must pay their share toward the expenses of\\nthe island and help bear the burden that they prefer to shirk to the\\nbacks of some one else. Is it not plain to the most casual observer\\nwho stons to consider the subject but for a moment that when we\\ngive to Porto Rico the President s free list, and return to them\\nevery dollar collected from the tariff and indicate in no uncertain\\nterms that this plan is but temporary and to last only so long as the\\nisland is in the transition stage from Spanish to American citizen-\\nship, that Congress is extending to them a helping hand in the\\ntrue spirit of the brotherhood of the great Republic?\\nI would be the last one, by my voice or vote, to countenance for\\none moment the exploitation of this new Territory for the benefit\\nof the United States. I am unalterably opposed to such a course.\\nI would never vote for this bill did I believe that such a motive\\ndictated its passage. I feel that Providence has placed in our\\nhands this opportunity of demonstrating to the world that the\\nAmerican idea of liberty and freedom can flourish in tropical and\\nsemitropical lands, and, true to their traditions and teachings, I\\nfeel that the American people will rise to their opportunity, and\\nwith the dawning of the new century there will burst upon the\\ndowntrodden and oppressed in every land, east and west, north\\n4331", "height": "3338", "width": "1948", "jp2-path": "portoricobill00ogra_0007.jp2"}, "8": {"fulltext": "LIBRARY OF CONGRESS\\nllll II Hill Hill II\\n009 109 502 6\\n8\\nand south, the knowledge that the brotherhood of man is the only\\ntrue sign of liberty and hope of future earthly progress.\\nI lack the time to enter into an exhaustive treatment of the\\ngovernmental features of this bill. Other men who, because of\\ntheir special work in connection with the plans of Territorial gov-\\nernment proposed for Porto Rico and Hawaii, have given study\\nto the subject will doubtless expound its various features. It is\\nenough to say that the best precedents furnished by the action of\\nCongress in the case of former territorial acquisitions have been\\nfollowed. No innovations are attempted. In dealing with this\\nisland and its psople the fact should be borne in mind that it has had\\nno preparation for American government. Four hundred years\\nit has been Spanish, and it is to-day Spanish in customs, in man-\\nners, in morals, and in ideals. If it is ever truly American, all of\\nthese conditions must be completely changed and many of them\\nabsolutely eradicated.\\nWe believe that they all wish to become good American citi-\\nzens, but it is our bounden duty to discourage any hesitancy\\nupon their part. We will find at every stage discouragements\\nand disappointments. But we can not turn back, We must im-\\npress upon them kindly but firmly that for them Spain is a tra-\\ndition, America a reality. Our citizenship and our institutions\\nwill impress themselves upon the Porto Ricans slowly. They\\nwill doubtless regret often their former relationship with easy-\\ngoing, decaying old Spain. Their regeneration will cost them\\nmany a pang. But the helping hand and the guiding voice of\\nthe American people will be always present to them.\\nUnder the terms of this bill theymaj 7 with unprecedented celer-\\nity assume to govern themselves. Whether they will at an\\nearly date avail themselves of the opportunity is accompanied\\nwith grave doubts. The experience is not encouraging in this\\ndirection. In the face of great public interest a municipal elec-\\ntion in one of the towns developed a vote of less than 5 per cent\\nof the voting population was polled. Bu t t by this bill we give\\nthem the opportunity and can only trust that it will be quickly\\nembraced.\\nAs I conclude, Mr. Speaker, I may be pardoned the observation\\nthat were we not on the eve of a Presidential election there would\\nnot be a party alignment on the passage of this bill. In all the\\ndebate there has been had in opposition to it I have not heard a\\nsingle alternative suggestion from the opposition. No substitute\\nmeasure is proposed. As usual, all they wish is to break down\\nthe affirmative legislation. Their voice is negative. But I am\\nnot fearful of the result of this bill. I have an abiding faith in\\nthe American people, in their judgment and their common sense.\\nThey will know whether justice or injustice has been done.\\nThey will be quick to discern whether an honest effort has been\\nmade to meet an unusual situation, and with that fairness that\\nalways characterizes them they will brush aside the sophistry and\\nvagaries of Democratic oratory and pin their faith in the future\\nas in the past to the party that dares to do right. It is not the\\nfirst time that Republican policy has been assailed and maligned.\\nbuX.Republican policy has always triumphed and has never failed\\nto become the country s policy and the national law. [Loud ap-\\n-pKuseK)n :the Republican side.]\\n4331\\nO", "height": "3338", "width": "1948", "jp2-path": "portoricobill00ogra_0008.jp2"}}