Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 64, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 April 1900 — ABOUT PORTO RICANS [ARTICLE]

ABOUT PORTO RICANS

ISLANDS IMPOVERISHED BY EUROPEAN ALIENS. Grasping Foreign Land Owners Have Warehoused Crops Expecting Free Entry Into the United States—ldaho's Mining Biots—Foreign Trade Gains. An important point in the Porto Rican question still seems misunderstood by a large number of people. Three-quarters of the laud in Porto Rico is owned by Spanish grandees and other European aliens, and .who live in Europe, where all of the net earnings from the products of their lands are sent. This is a system that has impoverished the islanders, and brought them to their present unfortunate industrial and social condition. From 15 to 20 cents a day is the average pay of laborers in Porto Kico, and three-quar-ters of the population—if not more —are laborers who cultivate the lands and harvest the crops for their European owners. Two and a half years ago, when our relations with Spain were becoming acute, these Spanish and European owners of the lands in Porto Kico foresaw a probable war, the early withdrawal of Spanish authority, and eventual free trade between the United States and Porto Rico. They therefore have been warehousing their staple crops of sugar and tobacco, so that now vast quantities are in store and accumulating, ready for shipment under free trade with the United States, To some extent American sugar and tobacco trusts have financial interest in, or complete ownership of, these crops. Of this there can be no doubt; the Porto Rican working people have nothing to lose by the imposition of the duty upon the products of their island entering the United States. Their work has been done and paid for at the prevailing rates of wages for labor—from 15 to 20 cents per day. The protests against the tariff that come from Porto Ricans were from those who represented the owners of the lands and the warehoused crops. The protests are not coming from the laboring people of the islands who will be the beneficiaries of the act. The imposition of this tariff creates a fund of several million dollars which is drawn almost entirely from aliens or American trusts. This money goes back to Porto Rico for the employment of Porto Ricans by our Government in the permanent improvement of the island. The wages our Government will pay will be higher than those paid by the land owners, and will tend to permanently raise the rates of wages all over Porto Rico. This would be impossible under immediate fre’e trade; so, it must be plain, free trade would only benefit those whose oppression of Porto Rican labor would remain undisturbed, and who could thus all the better compete with, the products of American labor in the same articles. Immediate free trade could only benefit aliens and trusts. The temporary tariff benefits all Americans and only injures aliens .and trusts. A couple of years of this, and the Porto Ricans will be in receipt of wages approximating to those paid to the laborers on the sugar and tobacco plantations in the United States, from 75 cents to a dollar a day, and at" the end of the two years the tariff is to remain in force the free admission of Porto Rican products into the United States will not have a disturbing effect upon those products of the mainland with which they will compete. It is impossible, in view of these facts, which are confirmed by official reports from the officers of the United States stationed in Forto Rico, for any sincere or informed person to point out where the imposition of the tariff upon the products of Porto Rico for two years will injure either Porto Rican or Americans. On the contrary, it is a distinct benefit to all whom the United States desires to benefit. The more this subject is studied the more this will become apparent. This is a case .where expediency is synonymous of justice to our fellow countrymen in Porto Rico and at home. That is our first duty, and the tariff performs it.

Newspaper Man's Evidence. An interesting circumstantial story of the labor troubles in the Coeur d’Alene ■district, culminating in the destruction of the Bunker Hill and Sullivan mill, has been given to the military affairs committee of the House of Representatives by Conner Malett, a newspaper reporter of the Spokesman-Review of Spokane. He was sent to Wardner on April 25. On arriving there the witness said "he found a serious condition of affairs. Relations betweeu the union and non-union elements were seriously strained, the former alluding to the latter as ‘scabs’ and the latter calling the other faction ‘dynamiters.’ There was no neutral element, and open hostilities threatened at any moment.” An opportunity was given the nonunion men to join the union, of which the latter did not avail themselves. Thereupon an all night meeting of the union men was held and early the following morning a visit was paid to the Bunker Hill and Sullivan mine and the so-called “scabs” were driven out, amid hoots and pistol shots. The witness said he asked President Boyle of the Miners’ Union if any further acts of violence were to be attempted by the union. The latter replied that there would not be, and expressed a fear that the strike"was not to be successful. The witness said he had been approached by Sheriff Young, who had requested him to color his reports favorably to the union. About that time Sheriff Young, President Boyle and others of the miners’ union went to Wallace, and there was an absence of union men for two days from the-town of Wardner, but on the Saturday after, the peace and quiet of the town were seriously disturbed by a report that the ininers of Canyon Creek were -coming down to clean out the Bunker Hill and Sullivan. The witness went to the station, where he found quite a crowd. Shortly afterward he saw a train coming filled with armed men, part of whom were masked. It stopped and aboard a large number of the union men of Wardner, who had been hiding in the bushes. Proceeding to the station the traip discharged its load of human freight and immediately those that were masked formed a procession and marched to the mill, leaving those that were armed but not masked to guard the powder and dynamite being unloaded from the cars. Sheriff Young appeared, mounted the pyramid formed by the boxes of explosives and commanded, as an official of the county, that the 910 b disperse. But nobody except the «heriff dispersed

The,explosives were then carried to the mill, placed under the machinery and the buildings were fired. The witness was seized and taken to a bluff overlooking the scene. The innocent spectators, closely guarded as himself, were cruelly treated by their guardians. Some were ordered to run and immediately the order was countermanded, not, however, before two took to their heels and were shot' at. One of these subsequently died. As a result of the fire and explosions, he said, three large buildings and two smaller ones were destroyed. No official attempted to preserve order or prevent these acts of violence. Terror reigned in Wardner for three days following this, attack, or until the Federal troops arrived. There were frequent rumors that the Canyon Creek miners were going to return to sack the town and business was suspended. The witness said he talked with the members of both factions and had been told by Mike Flynn, the committeeman of the union, that it was their intention, had he not escaped, to blow up Mr. Burbidge with the mill., The reporter was sure that the prisoners had-not been subjected to inhumanity or caused needless suffering after their arrest. He had partaken of their food and had camped within a short distance of the so-called ’“bull pen’/ and was satisfied that if there was any comparison as to the rations and quarters of the imprisoned miners and the troops it certainly was iii favor of the former. Of his own knowledge no prisoner had been denied the counsel of a minister or priest and he had been personally informed by Father Becker that Devine, the prisoner who committed suicide, had made no request for spiritual comfort. Every statement made by the witness tended to emphasize the necessity for maintaining Federal troops in the Coeur d’Alene district and to, hold the miners’ union directly responsible for the lawlessness which prevailed last April.

Onr Lake Commerce. The steady growth of prosperity under the protective tariff and sound money is illustrated by some facts just made public relative to the commerce on the great lakes since 1870, and which were compiled by the treasury bureau of statistics. The great articles eutering into the commerce on the lakes are wheat, flour, and other grains, coal, iron and lumber. The statements of the quantities of these articles passing through the Soo canal illustrate the growing utilization of this great water route for transportation of these articles so readily transported in bulk. In 1871 the number of bushels of wheat passing through the canal was 1,370,705, while in 1899 the number of bushels was 58,397,335, or more than forty times as much as in 1871. Meantime the receipts of wheat at Buffalo increased from 14,000,000 bushels in 1872 to 83,000,000 in 1898, while the total receipts of grain of nil kinds (including wheat in the form of flour) received at Buffalo by lake increased from 02,000,000 bushels in 1872 to 207,000,000 bushels in 1898. The exportation of wheat and wheat flour increased from 39,000,000 bushels in 1872 to 232,000,000 bushels in 1899, the increase in transportation by lake thus being much greater proportionately than the increase. in exports from the seaboard. Transportation of flour through the Soo canal has increased with even greater rapidity, growing from 130,411 barrels in 1872 to 7,114,147 barrels in 1899; while grain other than wheat increased from 445,774 bushels in 1872 to 30,000,000 bushels in 1899. In metals and minerals the growth of transportation on the lakes is quite as striking as in breadstuffs, the quantity of coal carried on the Soo canal having increased from 80,815 tons in 1872 to 3,940,887 tons in 1899. Coal from the Pennsylvania and Ohio fields is supplied at low freight rates to the Lake Superior region, where coal production is light and fuel greatly in demand, as the vessels which carry the iron ore, grain and flour' from the Lake Superior region enrry coal on their return trips at nominal freight rates. As a consequence the coal passing through the Soo canal has increased from 80,815 tons in 1872 to 3,940,887 tons in 1899. The product of the Lake Superior region which is poured through the Soo canal in increasing quantities every year is, after grain and flour,' which have been already mentioned, chiefly iron ore, copper and lumber. Tbe iron ore shipments througiw the canal increased from 383,105 tons in 1872 to 15,328,240 tons in 1899; copper, from 14,591 tons in 1872 to 120,000 tons in 1899, and lumber, from 1,742,000 feet in 1872 to 1,038,057,000 feet in 1899. The report from which these figures were obtained indicates that they also include the traffic through the Canadian canal, lying just alongside St. Marys Falls canal, which was opened to commerce Sept. 9, 1895.

Foreign Trade Gains. Total exports of American products and manufactures in March, as shown by the figure# of the treasury bureau of statistics, were $134,313,348, against $104,559,0tj9 in March of last year, $75,574,185 in March, 1890, and $00,810,571 in March, 1893. Thus last month’s exports were more than double those of March, 1893 and 25 per cent greater than those of March of last year, and larger than those of any preceding March in our history. The total exports in the nine months ending with March, 1900, were $1,053,832,075, against $047,919,405 in the corresponding months of last year', $925,905,326 in March, 1897, and $515,499,036 in the same month of 1886, having thus doubled in fifteen years and increased 53 per cent since 1898. Exports of agricultural products are about the sume as lust year, the notable increase 6t more than 100 million dollars in the nine months in question being largely in manufacture#. v It is apparent that the total exports of the fiscal year 1900 will, exceed those of ’any preceding year in our history. Imports also show a marked increase over last year, the principal gain being in manufacturers’ materials, while manufactured articles for use in the mechanic arts also show an iincrease. Thus the return to a protective system is followed by enormous gains in our exports and by increased activity in our manufacturing interests at home, and a consequent increase of employment and wages. ' American Manufacturer*. The details of our foreign commerce for the eight months ending with February are as remarkable and as gratifying as those relating to the grand total for that month. In the twenty-eight days of February the importation of manufacturers’ materials amounted to $25,930,001, or nearly

a million dollars a day, and tSe exportation of manufactured goods amounted to $34,226,128, or,, in round terms, a million and a quarter dollars for every day in the month. In the eight months ending with February the exportation of manufactures averaged $1,000,000 a day (including Sundays and holidays),'while in the corresponding months of the preceding year the average daily exportation of manufactures was only $551,700. In the corresponding months of 1896-97 it was but $700,000, and in the same months of 1895-96 but $593,000. The exportation of manufacture during the eight months ending with February, 1900, are double those of the corresponding months ending ( with February, 1896, while the importations of manufacturers’ materials in the eight months ending with February, 1900, are 25 per cent in excess of those of the corresponding eight months ending with February, 1896, and nearly double* those of the eight months ending with February, 1895.

To Corner Cotton. Not content' with controlling trade in their own country, the latest effort of a free trade trust is to corner the cotton supply of the world. This is the task undertaken by an English combine, headed by Coat's (Limited) of Paisley, and the British Fine Spinners’ Co. This trust made its first deal by securing control of one-seventh of the entire Egyptian cotton crop. There is one English firm in Egypt that can handle the entire output' of that country, and the reason for wishing to do this is because Liverpool has for some years been losing its hold on the cotton market? of the world. They can always exert a greater “bear” influence upon the Liverpool market than any other, and they fear that Liverpool’s loss of prestige mentis permanently higher prices for the American cotton grower which will, of course, affect the English manufacturers. A Glasgow paper says: “If the’Egyptian crop can be controlled to the extent of the requirements of the powerful combination named, we see no reason why the English users of American cotton, who are already combined in the several associations of employers, should not unite, and, by agencies in the cotton States, secure all their requirements at the beginning of the season, when prices are lowest and qualities are best. Why should a vast buying agency, backed by the combination of the spinners, and controlling the market with large financial resources, not be instituted?”

Democratic Changes. If consistency is any sort of a jewel, after all, it is a little puzzling to account' for the antics of some of the Democratic newspapers at this time. Many of these papers four years ago were the organs of the gold Democrats, who frankly admitted that' the great majoroity of their aid associates in the Democratic ranks had wandered away after the false gods jof cheap money and there was no health in them. Some of these papers went so far as to accuse the free silver wing of their party of dishonest intentions. Others went so far as to declare that their former compatriots had been seized with a wild hallucination and AA-ore then roaming about making free silver speeches from a kind of madness against Avhich they advised the country to protect itself by voting for Mr. McKinley atid the gold standard. What is so puzzling now is that these same papers are beginning to appeal to the public to put their trust in precisely the same men who, according to their OAvn declarations, were sheer daft on the money question four years ago. The only difference in their mental attitude then and now consists in their having put by for the moment their cry against the gold standard and taken up that against "imperialism” aud the “trusts.”

McKinley Prosperity. In 1895 the hardware business was in a deplorable condition—which continued until early in >lß9B—during which year the busiuess was in a fairly satisfactory condition. The year 1899, however, 1 am happy to state, has been universally declared to have been, without exception, the most profitable year enjoyed by the presont generation of hardware merchants and manufacturers. —T. James Fernley, secretary-treasurer the National Hardware Association of the United States. An International Trust. Consul General Guenther writes from Frankfort, March 8, 1900: "According to the Cologue Gazette, a draft of by-laws for an international plate glass trust has been unanimously agreed to by the German plate glass manufacturers. As it has already been approved by the plate glass manufacturers of France and Belgium, the international trust cun be considered a fact.” Is the American protective tariff responsible for this European trust? Southern Steel Goes North. « Last week a train of twenty-one cars, containing 402 tons of steel billets, was shipped from the Alabama Steel and Shipbuilding Co.’s works at Ensley to the American Steel and Wire Co.’s works at Worcester, Mass., to be used in the manufacture of wire. The steel is the product of Alabama red ore, and was made by the open hearth process. It can be made cheaper and sold at a lower price than the Northern product.

American Ships Wanted. Congress cannot, do a more necessary, nor a more patriotic, act than to provide at the present session for the upbuilding of our merchant marine in the foreign tra<je. The attempt to make a partisan question out of the shipping question, which is a wholly national matter, is bound to fail. . The entire American people are a unit in favor of an American merchant marine, just as quickly as Congress can provide us with it. Why They Prosper. During the last half century British steamships have received in subsidies for carrying British mails $250,000,000. Consequently British steamships are more numerous than those of all other nations combined. Packed. The Democratic national committee is calling on the party workers to instruct the delegates to vote for Mr. Bryan. The man with the unhampered mind will not be very much in evidence at Kansas City in July. American Shipping. The Democratic leaders deny that they are opposed to the encouragement of American shipping, but their denials cannot offset the opinions created by their vote*. t