great mass of the Porto Rican population may be permanently improved. Such an improvement, however, will be difficult and slow, and will be evident only as measured by decades or generations, and not by years. If, however, the island be utilized merely or primarily as a means of providing opportunities for investment and commercial exploitation by American citizens; if the policy of educating the people be held up on account of its expense and alleged uselessness; if the standard of living of the people be not raised, the condition of Porto Rico and of the Porto Rican laboring class after one hundred or two hundred years will be no better than it was in the year 1898, when the soverignty of Spain gave way to the dominion of the United States of America." (See Dr. Weyl's report upon labor conditions in Porto Rico inserted in bulletin No. 61 of the Bureau of Labor, Department of Commerce and Labor, November, 1905, pages 815, 819, and 820.)

Another testimony that we do consider as a fair one and which we do produce herein as an evidence to strengthen our assertions, is the statement from Hon. Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, who has twice visited the island in the years 1905 and 1914, and who has had the opportunity to personally study and investigate the labor conditions of Porto Rico.

The statement from President Gompers is as follows:

"I saw men working in the sugar refineries in Porto Rico 15 and 16 hours a day for 40 cents a day.

"I saw men working on the sugar plantations cutting cane, working and hauling 15 hours a day for 40 to 45 cents wages. Several of the sugar re fineries have a system of truck or company stores, or, as we labor men have designated them, "pluckme stores," where the employers pay this 40 or 45 cents a day with little checks for 15 or 16 hours' work, which checks, of course, are redeemable only at the company's store. The people have no money other than these tokens. The company store sells an inferior quality of the "necessaries" of life and I will try to tell you a little later what are the necessaries of ife as they understand it-at greatly increased price over that which the same articles could be purchased for elsewhere, if the people only had the money and the right or the opportunity to make the purchase.

"As a consequence, these people, even if they had the desire to leave the employment of these companies, could not do so. Travel to another part of the island to what? Find work at somthing else? Impossible, even if they desire to take the chance to find work. How are they going to pay the fare for a coach or upon the railroad with this kind of money? They are as much bound to the soil as were the serfs in the old time guilds when the lords and barons hell their sway.

"I have seen women and girls selecting coffee from 12 to 14 hours a day in the coffee houses for 15 and 20 cents a day. I have seen laborers receive only from 30 to 40 cents a day for 11 or 12 or more hours of labor. Riding along the road from time to time I directed the driver to stop to make an inquiry from the laborers. I often got the answer that they did not know what wages they were going to receive until they were paid.

"I have seen more idle men, more unemployed men, not idle by choice, but because they can find no work to do, in my travels in Porto Rico than I have ever seen among like numbers of people in all my life; nothing to do.

"Not only on the sugar plantations; not only in the coffee fields and mills; not only in the orange groves; not only among the cocoanut trees; not only in the fruit orchards and fields, but in every line of industry. I never saw less building construction nor less repairs going on.

"I never saw more wretched men and children in all my days. I never sav so many poorly fed men, women, and children. I never saw more children clothed only with the atmosphere and sunshine anywhere on earth, and I have seen something of this mother earth.

"In the island, so wonderfully situated, with such a balmy climate, so full of rare sunshine and brilliancy, I never saw so many hovels and shacks where the only ray of light penetrated through small doors, the rest completely ob scured in darkness. There live the father, mother, and children, and sleep and eat and perform the functions of life. I have seen ten or twelve people living in just one small room; not only one, but thousands and thousands of instances. Out of town in the suburbs and along the roads most of the houses are built of stilts, and when I say a house I want you to bear in mind that I refer to shacks, the exterior dimensions about twelve by ten feet, with a height of per haps eight at the highest point, and thatched roofs. They are warmed by the

elements. In the rainy season in Porto Rico we have heard how it rains. My visit was not made during the rainy season. But notwithstanding that, there was not a day while I was there that it did no rain in torrents for an hour, and still I say that was outside of the rainy season.

"But imagine men and women and children living in these little shacks and trying to protect themselves from the rain by getting under the houses. These houses are so dilapidated that everything in the room becomes absolutely saturated with rain, and as soon as the rain is over they must go back to those rooms and eat and sleep and perform all ordinary duties of life therein.

"I saw more misery and hunger stamped on the faces of men and women and children in Porto Rico than I ever seen in all my life, and hope I may be spared from seeing the like again.

"I have been asked several times whether conditions are better or worse in the island now than they were under the Spanish rule, and I want to say this: That having seen the poverty and misery, and the absence of the possibility of modesty under such circumstances, and having seen the myriads of men that are hungered, and women and children, too, dying there of starvation, knowing that there is a constant monthly death rate of 450 to 1,000 people from anemia, in other words, hunger, starvation, I say to you, ladies and gentlemen, it matters little to me under which rule conditions were better or worse. I know that the conditions prevailing in Porto Rico to-day reflect no credit upon our country." (See the editorial of the newspaper "Justicia," dated Jan. 23, 1915. Vol. II, No. 17. Edited at San Juan, P. R.)

Another statement with which we want to cooperate in the verification of our report is that one from Mr. George Williams Perkins, president of the Cigarmakers' International Union, who also visited the island and after having personally learned about our conditions and made the necessary inquiries, is perfectly warranted when stating:

"Porto Rico has been exploited by Spain for centuries, but is now being exploited by rich Americans, corporations, and trusts just as relentlessly and just as brutally as it was under the Spanish monarchial rule. The American Tobacco Company practically owns all the available land suitable for growing tobacco. Prior to American occupation 5,900 acres of land were devoted to the cultivation of tobacco. At the present time 25,000 acres of land are devoted to the growing of tobacco. And the most of these acres are owned and controlled by the trust, the American Tobacco Company. At the time of the American occupancy and control the value of cigars exported to the United States was about $300,000 per annum. At the present time the value of the cigars sent to the United States is about $5,000,000 per annum. Just prior to American occupancy the cigarmakers working in the smaller factories received from $3 to $4 weekly in wages. At the present time cigarmakers working for the smaller factories receive from $2.50 to $350 as weekly wages. Just prior to the American occupancy, the cigarmakers working for the larger factories received weekly wages of from $8 to $10. At the present time the cigarmakers working for the larger factories receive from $5 to $12 in weekly wages. The trust, the American Tobacco Company, employs, in a measure, practically the same methods there that they do here. Their first move was to put in women and children under the bunch break and roll up system, and to gradually reduce wages by the old shell game of changing sizes.

"The great mass of the agricultural workers are illiterate and live in homes that beggar description. It is true that the United States has started a publicschool system in Porto Rico. I personally visited several of the alleged homes in the agricultural districts, which are composed of a small one-room shack with positively no division within the shack and practically no furniture except that of the crudest and barest necessity. None of them had running water or other conveniences of any kind. They go to the nearest river or brook for what little water they use. These shacks, in which the whole family, consisting of man and wife and all the way from five to eight or ten children, are built of crude, cheap boards, with usually a thatched roof made from the bark of trees. These tenants play peek-aboo with the sun in the daytime and with the stars at night through holes through which the rain pours when the clouds weep at their misery. The houses are on stilts and frequently I saw whole families huddled with the pig, the dog, and chickens under the house in order to escape the rain. In one of these alleged homes they were actually drying tobacco on the outside as well as in the inside of the house. The homes of the city workers are some better and in a little more sanitary condition, but still years 38819°-S. Doc. 415, 64-1-vol 11-72

and years behind the proper sanitary conditions. Some of the workers living in the city have two or three rooms, but if they have any more than that they take boarders.

"Some idea of the manner in which these poor people are exploited is portrayed by the following: The Porto Rican Tramways, Light and Cars Company has its head office in Canada; the American Railways Company have their head office in France; and, as you all know, the Porto Rico American Tobacco Company has its head office in Wall Street, New York. The people employed by these trusts, outside of those who are organized in the International Union, receive from thirty cents a day to fifty-two cents per day in wages. I have already told you something of their homes. They live on rice, bread, and fruits, mostly wild fruit.

"The chief industries in the island are tobacco, cigars, sugar, coffee, and fruit. The best of the land is owned by a few trusts. The most of the people live in huts and receive wages from thirty to fifty-two cents per day.

"While, in my judgment, Porto Rico can never be a manufacturing country of the variety and scope of countries of the Temperate Zone, it nevertheless, under proper management and laws calculated to be beneficial to the mass of the people can enjoy a condition and standard of living which would be eminently satisfactory to the great mass, who could live in contentment and prosperity. Porto Rico is in the Tropical Zone; its lands are fertile and require little attention; no fuel and mighty little clothing is required, hence with the proper disposition of the land and the opportunity to till it in their own interests the masses would enjoy a reasonable degree of prosperity. It is a shame to permit them to be exploited for the sole benefit of a few soulless corporations and trusts located in America and other countries." (See the Cigar-Makers' Official Journal, published at Chicago, Ill. Issue of May, 1914, pages five, six, and seven.)

The foregoing statements, which, in our opinion, will offer no doubt to the men in charge of weighing our arguments, have been published by the signers. and with the sole purpose and aspiration of having for the workingmen of the island the due justice and redress to which they are entitled.

IGLESIAS EXHIBIT NO. 13.

REPORTS FROM THE POLICE HEADQUARTERS PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS.

[Taken from La Democracia.]

LAST NIGHT'S FIRE.

Shortly before 11 o'clock an attempted (conato) fire broke out in the store of Messrs. R. Suarez & Co., popularly known as Canel de Panama. The fire was put out shortly afterwards by the men of the pump station.

[La Correspondencia, April 2, 1915.]

COLONY ON FIRE.

In colony knwon as “Vasca," at Yabucoa, a fire broke out. Some 80 cuerdas of cane were burned. From reports given out the fire was accidental.

[Union Obrera, April 5, 1915.]

TEN HOUSES BURNED AND 4 RUINED.

At 5 a. m. the bells at the fire station awoke the people, and it was evident that fire had broken out somewhere. We ran in the direction of Rosa Street and saw the house of Esteban Carduche afire. The fire spread from the first house to about nine more, almost all of which were insured. The house where the fire there originated was being repaired; we are not sure whether there was any insurance on the same, but the house next door was insured.

[The Times, May 11, 1915.]

FIRE AT CAGUAS.

On the 8th day of this month, and at night, a big fire started and burned the grandstand of the B. B. league. The police are investigating the case.

[La Correspondencia, May 8, 1915.]

FIRE AT AGUADILLA.

Early in the morning on this 5th day a big fire broke out at barrio Victoria, which destroyed two houses pertaining to Mr. Aniceto Ceide. Both were insured for $3,000 by the Commercial Union Insurance Co. and the London Assurance Co. The municipal judge and police are investigating this affair.

Reports coming from Guayama have it a big fire broke out in the cane fields of " Reunion," Josefa and Melania colonies. This took place at 4 a. m. Losses were approximately 93 cuerdas of cane.

FIRE AT ARROYO.

APRIL 15, 1915.

A big fire occurred in the cane fields of Central Machete. Losses reported to be 4 cuerdas of cane. Matter is being investigated.

[Taken from La Correspondencia, May 7, 1915.]

BURNED THROUGH CARELESSNESS.

A telegraphic dispatch from Yabucoa states a peon yesterday at the Yabucoa Central lighted a cigar which had fatal consequences. Result, 10 cuerdas of the plantation were burned.

FIRE IN A CANE FIELD.

From Lares comes the news that on the 12th, p. m., quite a serious fire took place in the cane fields of Hacienda Dolores (Guanica Centrale). About 40 cuerdas of cane were consumed. The matter is being investigated.

[From the Ponce Eagle, April 24, 1915.]

FIRE IN CANE FIELD.

Eighteen cuerdas of cane field were burned at Hacienda Barrancas pertaining to the Guanica Centrale. The Hacienda Barrancas is situated in barrio Machnelo Arriba, this municipality. The police are aware of the event, and the corresponding investigation will be practiced.

[The Times, April 26, 1915.]

At barrio Machelo Arriba, Ponce jurisdiction, 18 cuerdas of sugar cane were consumed by the fire at Central Barrancas. This cane was the property of Guanica Centrale.

[La Correspondencia, April 17, 1915.]

A FIRE.

At Hacienda Dolores, in the town of Lajas, a fire broke out which burned up some 40 cuerdas of sugar cane.

FIRE.

APRIL 3, 1915.

The Guayama police report that on March 30, p. m., a fire broke out in the cane field of Central Lafayette. Result, 2 cuerdas of cane burned out.

The next morning another fire broke out in the cane fields again at Colinia Esperanza, the property of Central Machete. Then cuerdas of the plantation were destroyed.

IGLESIAS EXHIBIT NO. 14.

SUMMARY.

This petition for habeas corpus was presented to the supreme court of Porto Rico on May 7, 1915, in behalf of 26 prisoners from Vieques who had been sentenced in connection with the strike by the municipal court there and who were afterwards retired for the same offenses in the Humacao district court and sentenced for a second time to imprisonment.

The request for the writ of habeas corpus briefly states as follows: 1. That all of the said petitioners are illegally deprived of their liberty. 2. That the petitioners Esteban Huertas, Santos Torres, and Aquilino de Hoyo were so deprived of their liberty by sentence, imposed upon them by the Humacao district court on April 23, 1915, condemning them to two years' imprisonment each for assault and battery to the police on February 16, 1915, at 3.35 p. m., at the place known as Trianon. Vieques, when the same parties had been previously sentenced by the same very court and for the same offense, and notwithstanding that they had been sentenced also by the municipal court at Vieques to 60 days' imprisonment for the very same deed and offense; that is to say, for carrying concealed weapon, and notwithstanding further that they were retried again on April 29, 1915, by the above-mentioned court— Humacao district court-again for assault and battery and given two year each.

3. That the petitioners Francisco Encarnación, Rafael Pere, and Higinio Colon are serving sentence imposed by the Humacao district court on April 29, 1915, giving them one year each for rioting at the same place and hour mentioned above, when they had been previously tried for the same offense under the charge of carrying concealed weapon and given 60 days imprisonment each.

4. That the petitioners, Pedro Encarnación, Marcelino Melendez, Manuel Ojeda Iro, and Narciso Encarneción, are now confined by virtue of sentence imposed by the Humacao district court on April 29, 1915, giving them two years each for assault and battery to the police at the same hour and place already mentioned, when these same parties had already been tried and sentenced by the Vieques municipal court for the same offense under the charge of carrying concealed weapons.

5. That the petitioner, Derfin Arizmendi, is now confined, due to a sentence of 3 months imposed by the Humacao district court on April 28, 1915, for rioting at the same hour and place already mentioned, when the very same court had previously passed sentence of 30 days upon him for the same offense under the charge of carrying concealed weapon.

6. That the petitioners, Martin Rivera, Juan Casillas, Julio Almestica, Evaristo Camacho, Juan Becerril, Alfredo Augustin, Lucas Zelardo, Nepomuceno Lópéz, Juan Torres, Matias Ramos, Juan Velez, Julian Torres, Alfredo Isidoro, and Ramón Figueroa, are serving sentence of 3 months each for rioting, imposed by the Humacao district court on April 30, 1915, the offense being alleged to have been committed at the aforementioned hour and place, when these parties had been previously tried by the Vieques municipal court and given 30 days each for the same offense, under the charge of carrying concealed weapons.

7. That from the records it appears that there had been a previous convic tion of these parties for the same offense and for the same substantial act. 8. That it is prohibited by the Constitution of the United States to prosecute and punish twice or more for the same offense.

9. That the application for the writ is not only made to the supreme court by virtue of its original jurisdiction in such case, but also for the purpose of defeating the jurisdiction of the Humacao district court in sentencing and de