more. In many trips about the island the undersigned has found not more than three or four cases in which laborers living in plantation houses received less wages than laborers living outside of the plantations. They are generally paid the same rate of wages. The advantage to the employer is that he has a resident supply of more or less skilled labor upon which he can depend. The one condition upon which laborers occupy such houses is that they must work for the employer when he requests their services. During the last strike many laborers were thrown out of such houses in violation of law. Generally in the sugar-cane sections the houses occupied by such laborers have been erected by the employer and are built of boards and zinc, but in many places they are mere thatched huts erected by the laborers from palm leaves, etc., obtained from the employer's land.

The fifth problem in dispute, that of the hours of work per day, is practically the same in all parts of the island. Laborers usually say that they work from 6 a. m. to 6 p. m., with from one-half hour to one hour off for the noonday meal. Employers say that their laborers do not work steadily all of this time. It is probable that the average working day is approximately 10 hours. The agreements made during the last strike fixed the maximum day at nine hours. J. C. BILLS., Jr.

REPORT OF MR. HOWARD L. KERN, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF PORTO RICO.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE OF PORTO RICO,
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL,
San Juan, April 20, 1915.

The honorable the GOVERNOR OF PORTO RICO,

San Juan, P. R.

SIR: I am inclosing herewith two copies of a report of the fiscal of Humacao summarizing the facts in connection with the riot which occurred on February 16, 1915, in the island of Vieques. Previous to this report the fiscal had made oral reports to this office and had sent a complete copy of the affidavits, in Spanish, taken during his investigation. The present summary, which is dated April 19, 1915, covers the situation up to that time, and I have asked the fiscal to give me complete statistical information of all the cases in the municipal court of Vieques and the appeals to the district court of Humacao as soon as these appeals have been decided by the district court. When this information is forthcoming I will send you a copy.

I have also requested the fiscal of Ponce to send me a complete statement of the number of persons arrested in the riot which occurred in Ponce on March 1, 1915, and the number of persons who were injured in that riot. There was one person killed in this Ponce riot, and I now have a detailed report of the investigation made by the district fiscal of Ponce in regard to this death, and if I ascertain that there is sufficient evidence against one Norberto Quiles, a policeman, who is charged with having unnecessarily caused this death, the fiscal will be directed to proceed with the trial against him.

These two riots are the only instances which have come to my knowledge in which there have been any deaths or serious injuries during the recent strike of the cane workers in Porto Rico. There have been several other disturbances and clashes between the police and the strikers, but none of them of as serious a character as these two. You already have a report by Mr. Samuel Bothwell, who was appointed special fiscal for the purpose of conducting an investigation in regard to the disturbance at Juncos.

In no case has any striker or any other person been deprived of adequate relief in the courts. The trials have all been held, and are being held, in the ordinary course of procedure and the accused are given the rights of bail and appeal. Indeed, if in any case such rights were denied, any person has a right to bring a special proceeding in a higher court to see that these rights are secured, and if in any case evidence was presented to me that these rights were not being granted, I would immediately take steps to see that they were enforced. As you of course know, there is no right to a trial by jury in misdemeanor cases in Porto Rico, and none of the municipal courts have jury trials. All of the crimes of which the persons who were convicted in the municipal court of Vieques were charged were cases of misdemeanor. Many of them have beeen appealed to the district court of Humacao, where they will be tried de novo, but of course without a jury, inasmuch as they are misdemeanor cases. All of the evidence must be produced at this new trial,

and every case must stand or fall upon the merits as presented to the district court. There was a misunderstanding of the municipal judge of Vieques in regard to the right to appeal in some of the cases in which convictions were had in his court, and the municipal judge at first refused to allow an appeal in certain cases where the appeal was not presented within three days, but upon this fact being communicated to me I immediately wrote to him a letter, dated March 20, 1915, in which I cited to him an act approved May 28, 1904, and requested him to study this law thoroughly and to state the ground upon which he had denied these appeals when they were presented within five days from the date of the sentence. I did not, of course, direct the municipal judge to allow these appeals, for that is a matter for judicial determination, and if he wrongfully refused to allow appeals his action could be reviewed by a higher court and he could be compelled to allow such appeals. On March 23, 1915, the municipal judge replied that he had reconsidered his former decision and had decided to allow the appeals.

My information from the various officials of the department of justice is that the strike situation is entirely settled and that at the present time there are no disturbances in the islands, and that all parties are endeavoring to obtain a proper judicial determination holding those persons responsible who have violated the law.

I scarcely need state that any complaint as to illegal action on the part of any insular official will be carefully investigated, and if found to be true the proper action will be taken.

Respectfully,

HOWARD L. KERN,

Attorney General,

The ATTORNEY GENERAL, San Juan.

APRIL 19, 1915.

SIR Referring to the Vieques riots, I have the honor to submit to you the following report:

On the night of February 16, 1915, I received from the police district chief at Vieques the following telegram:

"A riot has just taken place of a serious character. Policemen and civilians seriously wounded. Your immediate presence urgent to institute criminal proceedings. Bring police reenforcements from Humacao district."

As soon as I received that telegram I tried to communicate by telephone with the police headquarters at San Juan, and I was informed that the chief of the insular police would meet me at Humacao on the following morning with police reenforcements in order to proceed at once to the island of Vieques. On the following morning Col. Shanton arrived at Humacao, and early in the morning we proceeded to Naguabo Playa, but on account of some trouble in the motor of the steam launch that was to take us to Vieques we had to go to Fajardo and there take a steam launch to Vieques. I took with me the stenographer of the district court of Humacao in order to take the testimony of every witness in connection with the investigation. Col. Shanton, myself, and the other members of the party arrived at Vieques at noon on February 17. I took the testimony of the alcalde at once in the hotel, and after lunch we went to the municipal hospital in order to take the testimony of those who were seriously wounded, it being claimed at that time that some of them were in a dying condition.

There in the hospital we found two policemen seriously wounded, named Sergio Brignoni and Sotero Moreira. According to the medical certificates issued on that day by an American doctor, who is the municipal physician of Vieques, named J. S. M. Pressly, Policeman Brignoni had eight wounds, as follows:

Wound No. 1. Incisive wound in the upper portion of the neck, dividing the structure from the vertical column. Closed by five stitches and probably caused by machete.

Wound No. 2. Perforating wound caused by bullet from revolver, fired so closely that grains of unburnt powder were injected into the skin. Point of entrance in the lower left occipital region, passing in hard and finding exit in the midline of the lower occipital region.

Wound No. 3. Incisive and bruised wound, probably caused by blow with club, covering the whole left parietal region. Closed by suture.

Wound No. 4. Incisive wound in crown of head. Closed by suture.

Wounds Nos. 5 and 6. Incisive wounds on external surface, lower part of right forearm. Closed by suture.

Wound No. 7. Incisive wound on external surface of middle part of left forearm. Closed by suture.

Wound No. 8. Incisive wound passing obliquely across part of hand and lower forearm on left side, fracturing the second and third metacarpal bones and the the first phalange of the small finger. Closed by twelve sutures.

I took the testimony of this policeman, who is a strong young man, and, although he was in a serious condition, his head was very clear, and gave a very vivid picture of the riot which had taken place the day before on the afternoon He mentioned the names of practically every one of those who had assaulted him, because, having been born and brought up in Vieques he was familiar with almost everybody, and knew them well. All those who took part in the assault upon him were tried in the municipal court of Viequez for aggravated assault and battery and were sentenced on March 12, 1915, to two years in jail and $2,000 fine each. The trial could not be had before, because the main witness-that is, the injured party-Sergio Brignoni, having been so seriously wounded, was not able to leave the hospital and attend the trial until about that date. On March 15 all of the defendants took an appeal to the district court of Humacao, and on the same date the appeal was allowed by the court and the bond fixed at $2,000, which they have not been able to furnish, and they are in jail, awaiting the hearing of the appeal. All these appeals in cases related to the Vieques riots have been set for the 26th of april, a special criminal term having been called for said date.

The other policeman wounded is named Sotero Moreira, and he had six wounds, as follows:

Wound No. 1. Incisive wound in the left parietal region.

Wound No. 2. Incisive wound in the crown of the head. Closed by suture. Wound No. 3. Incisive wound below the left leg.

Wound No. 4. Incisive wound on the external surface of the lower part of the left arm. Closed by suture.

Wound No. 5. Incisive wound of third finger of right hand, fracturing the bone and almost amputating the finger. All the foregoing wounds were caused by machete.

Wound No. 6. Contused wound on the external surface of the lower part of the right thigh, caused by blow with blunt instrument.

I also took the testimony of this policeman, but he could not mention the names of those who assaulted him, because he had only been in Vieques about three months and was not familiar with the people; but he said that he could identify them if they were brought to his presence.

There were five persons accused of aggravated assault and battery upon this policeman, and they were tried on the 12th of March and sentenced on the same date to two-years in jail and $2,000 fine each, and they all appealed on the 15th of March, and the appeal was allowed on the same day and the bond fixed at $2,000, which they have not been able to furnish. Some of the defendants in this case are also defendants in the other case above mentioned. Policeman Sergio Brignoni being a very important witness in this case, trial could not be had until he was able to leave the hospital.

I found in the hospital five peons wounded, named Augustin Ortiz, Bruno Gonzales, Zoilo Sanchez, Rafael Perez, and Ceferino Morel. Augustin Ortiz had two bullet wounds, and died on February 20, 1915; Bruno Ganzales had one bullet wound; Zoilo Sanchez y Cordero had one bullet wound; Rafael Perez had several gunshot wounds; and Sergio Morel had two gunshot wounds. With the exception of Agustin, who died as above stated, all the others recovered.

After examining those who were in the hospital we proceeded to the cemetery, and there we found three dead peons, named Cruz Lavita, Bernabe de Santiago, and Mario Lopez. A post-mortem examination was made of their bodies, and, according to the certificate issued by Dr. Pressly, they died from hemorrhage caused by bullet wounds.

I at once started to take the testimony of the different persons who had been arrested in connection with the two riots which had taken place on the 16th of February, one in the country and the other in the town of Vieques. This examination continued until about eleven o'clock p. m., and on the morning of February 18 we rode out to the place where the riot had taken place, and there on the spot we examined some witnesses, and I obtained a very graphic description of the occurrence.

I took the testimony of 118 persons between February 17th and February 18th, and on this day at three p. m. I finished the investigation and we sailed back to Porto Rico about five p. m., leaving some police reinforcements in Vieques to keep law and order. Before my return I set at liberty the following persons who had been arrested the day before in connection with these riots: Jose Maria Samuel, Qumersindo Rojis, Juan Parrilla, Nolasco Navarro, Avelino Roman, Francisco Garcia, Juan Gautier Colon, Leonardo Bermudez, Pablo Burgos, Dionisio de Santiago, Domingo Huertas, Anastasio Gautier, Sabat Lugo, Tiburcio Garcia, Genaro Melendez, Francisco Santiago, Luis Melendez, Manuel Rivera, Genaro Morales, Nepomuceno Lopez, Alfredo Esquiaron, Evaristo Camacho, Evaristo Mercado, Otilio Casillas, Julian Ayala, Atanasio Rivera, Agustin Garcia, Inocencio Torres, Santiago Aponte, Rufino Velazquez, Juan Encarnacion, Francisco Delgado, Isidoro Garcia, Senobio Laureano, Roman Ramos, Ruperto Tirado, Juan Carrasquillo, Nicolas Melendez, y Saturnino Huertas.

There remained in jail 21 persons accused of participating in the riot which took place in the town of Vieques on the 16th of February and 34 accused of participating in the riot which took place out in the country the same day. There remained also in jail seven persons accused of assault with intent to kill Policeman Sergio Brignoni.

From the testimony of all the witnesses it was evident that a very serious riot had taken place in Vieques on the 16th of February, 1915. It seems that there were two big crowds of strikers parading through the town of Vieques and through the country roads trying to pick up more laborers to join the strike. One of these crowds was composed of about 200 or 300 persons, laborers armed with machetes, clubs, and the leaders with revolvers. The other crowd was of smaller size and was unarmed. Policemen Sergio Brignoni anl Sotero Moreira were detailed by the district chief to accompany the unarmed parade, and they went out to the country, and at a certain plantation or barrio called Trianon, belonging to Mr. Murraille, the unarmed parade met the armed parade; then they halted and leaders of the armed parade tried to go through a cane field crossed by a private road belonging to Mr. Murraille, and these two policemen advised them to go on through the public road and not to trespass upon a private land and break through a private road. The leaders refused to obey the instructions from said policemen, who were riding on horseback, and after inciting the crowd they urged them to go through the private road if necessary by force and told them that they could overpower the two policemen, because they were very much larger in number. When the two policemen noticed the attempt made by the leaders and those who were walking in front of the parade to use force in order to cross that private road, then they rode back and dismounted and the crowd avalanched upon them and they were compelled to use their rifles and revolvers to repel the attack; and a real battle with revolvers, machetes, and clubs ensued, in which three laborers were killed, five were seriously wounded, and the two policemen were so seriously wounded that they were left there as dead. This is called the country riot. Another riot took place afterwards, in which this same crowd took part. This second riot is called the town riot.

After the armed parade left the two policemen as dead in the country, then they planned to come to the town and take the police station by assault. They did come to town armed with revolvers, machetes, and clubs, shouting through the streets, "Down with the police! Let us take the station by assault!" And the police was notified of those shouts, and then the four or five policemen who were in the station lined up on the street armed with their rifles, and when the crowd came near to the station they shot through the air and dispersed the mob and arrested a good many of them.

From the information which I got in Vieques there is no doubt that on account of the violent conduct of the leaders the laborers on strike were in a very turbulent mood. When I was there there were two fires in can plantations in one night, and there had been ten fires in a week.

The conduct of the strikers was so violent that I was told by witnesses that when they passed through the different plantations if they found any laborers working they would go into the cane fields and compel them by force to quit work, and in the case of cartmen they would cut with machete the rope that held the yoke to the oxen, and in that way set the oxen free and compel the cartmen to abandon the animals, the loaded cars, and quit the work, leaving the oxen alone to eat the cane and destroy the property. I am told by trustworthy witnesses that property owners did not dare to go upon the road, because

they were afraid of being assaulted, and the overseers did not dare to go out of the cane fields alone without risking their lives.

On account of the riots which took place out in the country there were 53 defendants sentenced to different periods in jail from six months to two years and fined from $250 to $1,000. And on account of the riot which took place in the town there were 31 defendants sentenced likewise.

There were 38 cases for carrying concealed weapons, of which 30 resulted in conviction and 8 in acquittal, and of the former in 17 cases appeals have been taken to the district court of Humacao. There are 15 more cases for carrying concealed weapons in which trial has not been had, because the defendants can not be found. Of all the foregoing cases the records of the two cases for riots have already reached the district court of Humacao, and also the records of the appeals taken in the two cases for aggravated assault and battery upon Policemen Brignoni and Moreira. The records in the other cases for carrying concealed weapons are being prepared with all possible haste by the clerk of the municipal court of Vieques, and undoubtedly every appeal in connection with the Vieques disturbances will be heard in the district court of Humacao at the special criminal term called for the 26th of April, 1915. As soon as the appeals are decided I will submit to you a tabulated statement of the disposition of said cases. I want to call your attention to the fact that in accordance with our laws a second appeal may be taken to the Supreme Court of Porto Rico. Respectfully,

J. HERNANDEZ USERA,

Humacao District Fiscal.

RESOLUTION ON ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF PORTO RICO.

[Free Federation of the Workingmen of Porto Rico.]

SAN JUAN, March 1, 1914.

Honorable members of the Legislature of Porto Rico: Pursuant to Gov. Yager's recommendations, seconded by petitions from corporations and money, labor, and land monopolies of Porto Rico; and

To judge from the declarations by some of your representative members, in passing the resolution naming a commission to investigate the departments of the insular government, the purposes of the legislature seems to be to effect important economies in public services, and to lower taxation, though in so doing governmental institutions which are instrumentalities for progress and public justice may have to be dispensed with or crippled.

In the years from 1903 to 1911 we have in all sold $29,291,424 more than our purchases.

During the fiscal year 1912 the island purchased in the United States and foreign countries $42,926,473 and sold to them $49,705,413. So that that year

alone witnessed a balance of trade in favor of the country of $6,778.940. In short, according to official figures, the island had netted the handsome profit of $36,070.364 up to 1913. Never before had work in the country been rewarded by such a balance of trade for a like period.

The total taxable wealth of the island, which amounted to $90,000,000 in 1898, rose to $178,275,130 in 1912. Thus, in that year the total wealth had doubled, while the population had increased but 17 per cent. Yet in 1913 one of the facts best known to all was that there were an alarming decrease in the money in circulation and a loss of credit.

And this was not due to a want of duly incorporated banks to supply the community with money and credit for its business operations. In fact, such private concerns have doubled, being now 11 in number instead of 5 as formerly. Nor is it due to a want of corporations whose object is to profit by encouraging production that we all feel now this lack of money and credit; for, indeed, in the fiscal year 1912 private corporations reached their heyday. In that year alone there were registered in the secretary's office as many as 12 foreign and 40 domestic corporations, with an authorized capital stock of $1,481,500 and $6,903,000, respectively. So that these corporations, together with the many others registered during the preceding 11 years, should have insured many additional millions for business transactions.

Nevertheless, neither the money in circulation increased nor credit was available at lower rates of interest. On the contrary, while credit was con