FEDERACION LIBRE DE LOS TRABAJADORES DE PUERTO RICO Mr. SAMUEL GOMPERS, President A. F. of L., Washington, D. C. APRIL 29, 1914. DEAR SR. AND BROTHER: I am in receipt of your kind letter of April 15 with which you included a copy of the letter sent to you by Hon. Jose de Diego, speaker of the house of delegates, as well as the reply you made to him, stating that you would make a further inquire concerning the question of citizenship for the Porto Ricans. You, at the same time invite me to give this matter the most serious consideration and to forward you a reply at my earliest opportunity. The resolution approved at the convention of organized labor held in San Juan, March 31 ult., requesting "that Mr. Samuel Gompers, president of the A F. of L., present at this convention, urge upon Congress the granting of collective citizenship for the people of Porto Rico," is but a ratification and the repeated petition which the Federacion Libre de los Trabajadores de Puerto Rico, has constantly approved, year after year at its annual meetings and presented each time in the conventions held by the A. F. of L., and favorably endorsed by such conventions at the wish of the workingmens' delegation from Porto Rico. The Federacion Libre has not only believed but still believes this petition for citizenship to be inspired by the noblest purposes, but it understands and has emphatically declared that collective American citizenship, upon being granted by Congress declares and completely defines the status of the People of Porto Rico, and it further consolidates for all time the peaceful revolution brought about by the United States Government upon its taking possession of this island in 1898, that it upset the monarchical régime, annulled military and clerical despotism and bureaucratic insolence and in their place establishes civil liberty, liberty of thought, of the press, of free speech, and association. Collective citizenship for Porto Rico means its opportunity for complete political liberation as a people aspiring to constitute itself after a democratic form of government, thus obtaining the guarantees for the present and future, all of which will be enjoyed by the laboring masses in their development toward their social and economic welfare and social and human justice. Mr. de Diego is unable to ascertain whether the immense majority of Porto Ricans wish to keep their Porto Rican citizenship and refuse American citizenship. Truth of the matter is that the vast majority of the people of the island stand positively by the American institutions and have constantly been asking for the right of being made American citizens. The only persons whose attitude has changed in regard to this matter, whether on account of sentimental or other causes, are the leaders of Unionist Party and even some from the Republican Party. Mr. de Diego, like other prominent leaders, has been asking for collective citizenship for several years; they now refuse this privilege. We, the organized workingmen, are decidedly in favor of collective citizenship and have absolutely no reason to change our attitude or opinion. On the contrary, we affirm that the people of Porto Rico ought to be granted American citizenship through Congress collectively, because it is justice. This is what we have been asking for for 16 years, even before the organization of the Republican Party on the island, and even before the Unionist Party was what it is to-day, and even before Mr. de Diego was elected speaker of the house of delegates. Mr. de Diego puts forth as an argument that American citizenship would not be conceded as a source of rights and liberties, but as a chain which will tie us forever to a perpetual colony, but we affirm that there is only one class or kind of American citizenship in the United States, and that is the only one which Congress can grant to us. The idea of Mr. de Diego and others is that they confound American citizenship with the form of local government which Congress might make for the people of Porto Rico and this form may be more or less democratic or advanced, but which in the end can be nothing except a temporal and not a permanent form. American citizenship is permanent. As to whether we shall be recognized as a State of the Union, this is a proposition which can not be decided at this time and nobody is prepared to say what the future representatives of the American people would or would not do. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, and other States of the Union had to wait a long time, perhaps one or two generations, before they were taken in as States. Therefore, this argument is very premature at this time and we give it absolutely no importance. It is our opinion that the first step toward the freeing of Porto Rico is that it should be granted collective American citizenship, omitting those who do not choose to become such in just form as proposed in the inclosed bill, and which is none other than a part of the general bill of reforms reported favorably to the House by Chairman Jones at the present session of Congress. Senator Shafroth's bill proposes individual citizenship and Mr. de Diego admits that, because he is confident, undoubtedly, that the great ignorance of the countrymen and poorest workingmen will contribute to their not adopting it. And, besides, with individual citizenship a very deep division would be established, fed, as it were, by the elements who are interested throughout the island in keeping away the people of Porto Rico from the beneficial influence of the people of the United States. Mr. de Diego lays before you the convenience for the American Federation of Labor in Porto Rico not to meddle with politics either with one party or the other, and precisely in this matter of American citizenship, because it was understood that when we stood for collective citizenship, it was understood that we favored the Republican Party. The Federacion Libre was established before either of the parties in Porto Rico, and this petition for American citizenship is older standing than the opinions of both parties, and, besides, this is a question which is not and never can be a local proposition of party politics, but rather a national issue of the greatest importance for the entire population of the island of Porto Rico, and above all for the working classes. We are convinced that the guarantees, rights, liberties, and progress of the working classes of Porto Rico depend largely upon the influence and power lent to it from time to time through the American Federation of Labor, by the American people and National Congress. The Unionist Party, the Republican Party, the house of delegates, and the government of the island itself have paid some attention to the demands of the workingmen, not through any self or spontaneous initiative on the part of the political leaders or representatives of the local government, but through the determination of obtaining justice by the initiative of the organized workers of Porto Rico, assisted, as it were, in a determined and powerful manner by the American Federation of Labor at Washington, and also through the influence of ideas, aspirations, and the powerful example given us every day by the laboring people of the United States, struggling daily for their rights and well-being; if the working people of Porto Rico must be sure of not being persecuted and outstripped in this country, they must be closely united with the labor army of the Nation just as is represented in the American Federation of Labor. The secret, and not frankly expressed policy of Mr. de Diego is to ultimtaely arrive at a situation of independence of the people such as Cuba, Santo Domingo or Venezuela, and we cannot for obvious reasons stand for any such thing as that. If you authorized me to participate in the public hearings that are to take place in the Senate and before the Committee on Pacific Islands and Porto Rico when the Jones bill for Porto Rico comes in approved form from the House, I would go to Washington myself at the proper time to present a statement regarding all these very important matters to Porto Rico laboring men, and I would, before all, do my best endeavor to have all demands of our fellow workers including in the new organic act under directions of yours and legislative committee. Your story of the travel to Porto Rico has been received and read with very much interest. With best regards, I am, Mr. SANTIAGO IGLESIAS, SANTIAGO IGLESIAS, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR, Organizer, American Federation of Labor, Bor 897, San Juan, P. R. DEAR SIR AND BROTHER: I have read with a great deal of interest your letter of April the 29th which has just been received. You state the Porto Rican situation clearly and forcefully. As to your suggestion to come on to Washington to appear before the Senate Committee on Pacific Islands and Porto Rico when the Jones bill is taken up, I would say that your coming on is utterly impractical at this time, because what with the Mexican situation, the canal repeal tolls proposition, and particularly in so far as labor legislation is concerned, it is hardly probable that Congress will take any action at this session on the Porto Rican bill. You may rest assured that the legislative committee of the A. F. of L. will not neglect the matter. With best wishes, and hoping to hear from you whenever convenient, I am, IGLESIAS EXHIBIT NO. 17. GOVERNMENT HOUSE, PORTO RICO, MY DEAR MR. IGLESIAS: Replying to your letter of the 28th instant, asking an expression of my opinion in regard to the granting of collective citizenship by the Congress of the United States to the people of Porto Rico, I beg to inform you that I am unreservedly in favor of such action. I believe that the granting of full citizenship of the United States to the people of this island is the paramount political consideration now pending in their behalf; that it would have a far-reaching beneficial effect upon their lives and activities; contribute more than anything else to their happiness and contentment and thus promote the progress and prosperity for their native land, which has become, through the interests of all affected, an inseparable part of the United States. The people who await this act of justice are sympathetic, lovable, and loyal; there is nothing in their character incompatible with our national life, and their blending into it will add a note of comingled sweetness, patience, and idealism that will perhaps be a beneficial admixture with our more rugged temperament. They and their country have become a part of us and our country; they need and are entitled, from every consideration, to all of the benefits of our institutions, sentimental and otherwise, that such affiliation should bring. They came into our country, as a whole, willingly and gladly more than thirteen years ago, but no opportunity has yet been given them to become citizens without traveling fifteen hundred miles from their present residences in American territory to another part of the United States, which is of course out of the question for the mass of the people, while during that time many thousands of foreigners, with to say the least, no better qualifications than they have emigrated to the United States and individually become citizens thereof and are to-day exercising their rights as such. That this inconsistancy is understood by the people of the mainland, and will be eventually reconciled, is shown by the fact that both of the principal political parties of the United States, in 1906, incorporated into their platforms clauses indicating their intention to support the granting of citizenship to the people of Porto Rico. That such action has not yet been taken is probably due to the fact that the measure has not yet been presented opportunely or in proper form to secure its passage. The people of Porto Rico have made their desirs for citizenship manifest to all men in high governmental positions who have visited the island, and prac tically all of such officials, including President Taft and his predecessor, President Roosevelt, have recommended to Congress that it be granted, but measures before Congress or any other legislative body for that matter, must be followed up by those at interest and their friends upon the ground to prevent their being overlooked. Trusting, therefore, that your organization, representing as it does the largest class of people in the island, who are not less interested than all other classes, will adopt such means as may be deemed proper and efficacious for procuring the early consideration of this just and wise measure by Congress, and assuring you of my full cooperation in that behalf, I am, GEO. R. COLTON, Very sincerely, Hon. SANTIAGO IGLESIAS, Governor. President Federacion Libre, de los Trabajadoes de Puerto Rico, San Juan, P. R. 1 Includes additional appropriation of $528,250 granted by the legislature of 1913. Hon. ARTHUR YAGER, TRAVIESO EXHIBIT NO. 2. SUPREME COURT OF PORTO RICO, MARSHAL'S OFFICE, SAN JUAN, PORTO RICO, February 10, 1915. Governor of Porto Rico, San Juan, P. R. SIR: I have the honor to report an investigation made by me at Juncos at your request regarding the fight between the police and the strikers at the Juncos Centrale. My opinion, after the investigation, is that not only were the police fully justified in what they did, but that they are entitled to very high praise in not hurting more of the strikers and in greater degree. Briefly, as it seemed to me, the situation was this: The strikers of Juncos desired to march to Gurabo. From Juncos to Gurabo the carretera is the logical, best, and straightest line, and known by all to be a public road. The parade turned from this road to the Juncos Centrale with the intention of passing to Gurabo by a trail road which runs between or over the several estates between the Juncos Centrale and Gurabo. This road is variously called in different parts by the names of the adjoining estates. The sworn reason for wishing to go by this road, according to one of the directors of the labor party, was to withdraw from the fields laborers who had not as yet joined the strike. It seems that the day before this parade the director of the Juncos Centrale. Tomás Survirana, had asked the chief of police of Juncos for police protection from these same strikers. Three policemen had been sent there with orders from the chief to protect the property of the centrale. The manager of this centrale told these policemen that this road was the private property of the centrale and that he wanted it protected, and that under no circumstances should they allow any labor parade to pass over it. The parade, when it reached the entrance to this road, was stopped by these three policemen and informed that it could not pass over this road. A commission from the parade then went to the office to ask from the administrator of the centrale permission to pass over this road. This permission was refused. Then the parade turned back and went toward Juncos, a distance of from thirty to forty meters. Some hot-heads in the parade urged and insisted that the parade return and attempt again to pass the police. On their second return they were again stopped by the policemen who insisted that they should go away and not attempt to force a passage through the road. Near to where the strikers were stopped were the piles of firewood for the boilers. Perhaps as a means of intimidation to the three policemen who were there alone, or perhaps with the intention to use them as weapons, a number of the strikers seized these logs of wood. The directors of the labor movement busied themselves in taking the clubs from the members of the parade and by voice attempted to persuade all to drop their clubs and stones. Just at this instant the bookkeeper of the centrale, Simón Lizarribal, came running down with a revolver in his hand and pointed it at the strikers. Notwithstanding the threatening attitude of the strikers against the police, the police took time to shove this bookkeeper with his revolver in the storeroom and shut the door on him. This unfortunate interruption of the police at the moment that their attention to the strikers was most necessary and important gave a chance for the row to begin, so that after they had shut the bookkeeper in the storeroom the fight had begun, and in order to prevent the parade from marching over the road they were compelled to use force. I don't think that the strikers in marching through there had any desire to fight, and I am sure, from the action of the police, that they used every means in their power to prevent a row, and that they did their duty in the very mildest possible manner under the circumstances to give the protection to the property, for which purpose they were there. It must not be overlooked that there were but five policemen all told at this point (the Chief of Gurabo and one policeman from Gurabo arrived just as the row started and joined the other three), facing this crowd of from five hundred to one thousand men, all armed with clubs or stones, or at least the clubs and stones so closely available that they only had to be picked up. At the very beginning of the row there were very few of the strikers who had weapons in their hands. My impression is that if it had not been for the interference of the bookkeeper with his revolver that there would have been no clash of a serious nature between the police and the strikers. It can be said in this connection that when the police were fighting the strikers the bookkeeper and other employees of the centrale were safely shut up in the storeroom and took no part in the fight. I wish to say that I took quite a number of affidavits from all sides which I believe will sustain my conclusions in the matter. They are filed in the attorney general's office with a report which I am submitting to him regarding these same matters and one or two incidental questions which came up. Respectfully, S. C. BOTHWELL. Hon. HOWARD L. KERN, TRAVIESO EXHIBIT NO. 3. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE OF PORTO RICO, Attorney General, San Juan, Porto Rico. SIR: Answering your letter dated the 18th inst., relative to the details of the riot which took place in this city on the night of March 1, 1915, I wish to inform you that Messrs. Santiago Iglesias, Santiago Carreras, Francisco Paz |