CHAPTER IV

GOVERNMENT OF PORTO RICO: INSULAR GOVERNMENT

TURNING from the mainland and Hawaii to the territory acquired from Spain in 1898 as the result of the successful war with that country, we leave the field of history and enter upon a consideration of problems now actually confronting the United States. These problems are in every way more complex and difficult than those that have been presented in the case of prior annexations. The reasons for this lie, partly in the physical conditions presented by the new territories-their distant location, tropical climate but illy suited for permanent occupation by American men and women, and novel industrial and economic features-but much more in the fact that these islands, instead of being new and unsettled countries, are already thickly populated by races of foreign blood, speaking a foreign language, and in possession of complete systems of government, administration and laws, the principles underlying which are radically different from those upon which are based American institutions. Instead of an open field offering every facility for the building-up of American communities with American institutions and laws, the United States, in Porto Rico and the Philippines, thus, has to do with countries fully occupied and already completely equipped as regards public institutions.

These conditions in themselves are enough to make the task of the United States one of great difficulty, even were its effort limited to taking things as it finds them and continuing the administration of affairs along the lines to which the islands have for years been accustomed. When, however, instead of doing this the United States has adopted, as the most essential feature of its policy, the transformation of existing institutions, so as to bring them into conformity with those of its own, it is evident that the difficulties of the task are multiplied many fold. The United States has, in fact, assumed the task of demonstrating its ability not only to govern over-sea possessions, but to do so through the application of American principles. It should be noted, moreover, that in all prior annexations the United States, after the comparatively simple problem of devising a form of central government for the new territory had been accomplished, had to concern itself but little with its subsequent administration. In Porto Rico and the Philippines, however, but a beginning has been made when that has been done, the infinitely more difficult task remaining of administering the governments so established, and, through them, of making provision for the reorganization of local governments and the many vital matters connected with the conduct of internal affairs.

Occupation of Island, and Organization of Civil Government. For various reasons a study of the steps that up to the present time have been taken for the government of these dependencies should begin with an account of

what has been done in respect to the island of Porto Rico. Not only are the difficulties that have there had to be met far simpler than those existing in the Philippines, but much greater progress has been made in overcoming them. It is in this island that the United States has made its first essay in the field of the government of a dependency partaking of the essential character of a colony. The policies that have there been adopted and the methods that have there been followed have, therefore, necessarily exerted, and will continue to exert, a great influence upon the management of affairs elsewhere. In many respects the United States in Porto Rico has worked under favorable auspices. It has had to do with but a single island,1 lying within a few days' sail off the shores of the United States, with an unusually salubrious climate, and occupied by a population fairly homogeneous in character and all speaking the same language. Finally, although acquired by force of arms, American rule has been acquiesced in, and, indeed, received with more or less enthusiasm. Porto Rico is the fourth island in size of the West Indies. It is nearly rectangular in shape, having a length east and west of about one hundred miles and a breadth north and south of thirty-six miles, and has an area of approximately thirty-six hundred square miles. According to the careful census taken under the supervision of the secretary of war, in November, 1899, its popula

1 There are several small outlying islands, chief among which are Vieques, Culebra and Mona, but they are of comparatively little importance and in no way complicate the task of government.

tion then numbered 953,243, of whom 589,426 were returned as "White," 304,352 as "Mestizos," 59,390 as "Negroes," and 75 as "Chinese." The most significant feature of these figures is that the United States has to deal with a people in which the whites considerably predominate.

Porto Rico was occupied by the United States' forces under General Miles on July 25, 1898, but full possession was not formally assumed until October 18, 1898. The first government of the island under American auspices was, therefore, that organized by the War Department acting through the general commanding. This régime lasted for a little over eighteen months, being supplanted on May 1, 1900, by a purely civil government created by virtue of an act of Congress approved April 12, 1900. During this period the War Department made little effort to effect any radical reorganization of the machinery of civil government or to make any great changes in the general body of the laws under which the people lived. The Act of April 12, 1900, or, as it is more popularly known, "The Foraker Act," after the name of its author, constitutes the organic act or constitution of the island. It has been slightly amended; once by joint-resolution, approved May 1, 1900, relating chiefly to the conditions under which franchises and privileges shall be granted; and once by an amending act, approved March 2, 1901, relating to certain details of the administration of the courts of the island. Neither of these amendments, however, effected any change in the system of government proper that had been provided by the organic act.

This act is in every respect an important document. It may be said to stand to our new insular possessions in much the same relation as the Northwest Ordinance did to our dependent territory on the mainland. As in the case of that ordinance, Congress, in its passage, had to break new ground, with the certainty that its action would not only affect the territory directly legislated for, but would have great influence upon all future action for the government of other distant territory. Much the most interesting aspect in which this new legislation can be studied, therefore, is that of the extent to which, on the one hand, methods that have found application in the past have been made use of, and, on the other, resort has been had to distinctly new provisions in order to meet the different conditions that have had to be taken into consideration.

Governor and Executive Departments. For the administration of the executive, the organic act provides for the appointment by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, of a governor and six heads of administrative departments: a secretary, attorney-general, treasurer, auditor, commissioner of the interior, and commissioner of education. All of these officers are appointed for a term of four years. and until their successors are appointed and qualify. The governor receives a salary of eight thousand dollars and has, in addition, the use of the executive mansion; the salary of the treasurer is five thousand dollars, and that of the other heads of departments four thousand dollars, per annum. The governor is