1938: Puerto Rico

Political Disturbances.

Evidence of a terroristic element in the Nationalist party, in spite of the party's resolution of a year ago opposing acts of violence, was manifested in the unsuccessful attempt, on July 25, to assassinate Governor Blanton A. Winship. Three of the Governor's assailants, all Nationalists, have been given a life sentence; one of these had earlier been acquitted on a murder charge following the Ponce Palm Sunday massacre. Ten other Nationalists, also indicted for the Ponce killings, have been acquitted. Arthur Garfield Hays, counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, challenged the Governor to take action against the Insular police responsible for twenty-one deaths in the Ponce demonstration. Plans to arouse American support for civil rights on the island are being prepared by a Committee for Fair Play for Puerto Rico, created by the Union. Eight Nationalists were convicted on Jan. 10 of an attempt on the life of Judge R. A. Cooper in June 1937. A ten-year prison sentence has been upheld by the Insular Supreme Court for a Puerto Rican who tried to assassinate Resident Commissioner Santiago Iglesias during his defense of the régime in the 1936 campaign.

Such incidents indicate the unsatisfactory status of this island possession of the United States. The heads of two of the three major political parties, the Union Republican and the Liberal, petitioned Congress, through the Senatorial sub-committee, headed by Senator Edward R. Burke of Nebraska, which was in Puerto Rico in January to look into the question of increasing the number of Supreme Court judges, for a liberalization of the Organic Act, in the direction of an elective governor without veto power, and for a plebiscite as to Puerto Rico's ultimate status. The Union Republican party aims at statehood; the Liberal party at independence. The death during the year of Senator Antonio R. Barcelo, who had led the Liberal party for twenty-two years, necessitated the choice of a successor. In November José Ramirez Santibañez was unanimously elected president of the party. At the same time Puerto Rico's only woman Senator, Sra. Maria Prez de Almiroty, was chosen vice-president.

Population Question.

A test case involving a fundamental approach to the island's serious problem of over-population came up in the indictment on Dec. 16 of six directors of the Child Health Association for violation of the Federal birth control law of 1873 which prohibited traffic in contraceptive devices. Although Puerto Rican law had been amended two years before to permit the dissemination of birth control information and materials, under medical direction, a later law directed the Insular Health Department to close birth control clinics. There have been recurring demands, also, stimulated chiefly by the Catholic Church, that the Child Health Association's activities be stopped.

Agriculture.

Far-reaching implications for Puerto Rican economy may result from a decision of the Insular Supreme Court, handed down Aug. 1, upholding the land law limiting to 500 acres the lands held by agricultural corporations. This provision was incorporated in the Organic Act of 1917 and was implemented in 1935, but it has been generally ignored or evaded. The decision applies immediately to the San Vicente Central, a company owning 12,188 acres, against which suit was brought last year. Since most of the sugar land in Puerto Rico is owned or controlled by a few large continental companies, this case, which is subject to appeal to the Federal courts, is of extraordinary significance. Government intervention on behalf of the farmers growing sugar cane was sustained in a decision rendered by the San Juan District Court at the close of 1937, denying an injunction to the Plata Sugar Company to restrain the enforcement of a law assuring the farmers, in their contracts with the sugar centrals, 65 per cent of the sugar produced from their cane. Domination of the island's sugar industry by some forty centrals has frequently worked injustice to the farmers. By an agreement signed Jan. 12, a 10-per cent wage increase was granted to field workers and a 5-per cent increase to factory workers in the sugar industry. Other provisions of the agreement include a minimum wage, an eight-hour day and no piecework.

Labor Situation.

The sugar workers, like most of Puerto Rican labor, belong to the A.F. of L., but the successful outcome to Labor of the longshoremen's strike, which, lasting from Jan. 3 to Feb. 10, isolated Puerto Rico for six weeks, has greatly increased the influence of the C.I.O. in the island. This orderly strike was effected through the cooperation of the rival North-American labor organizations. The peace proposal, accepted in February, granted a 25 per cent wage increase pending further negotiations, a permanent rate to be fixed by an arbitration board appointed by the Governor. As an aftermath of the strike, the Puerto Rican House of Representatives unanimously voted to appoint a committee to consider government ownership of the docks. Renewal of the strike in April, this time for complete unionization of all shipping workers not covered in the stevedores' union, was ended by an order of the arbitration board warning that another unauthorized strike would terminate efforts to reach a new wage agreement. Shipping conditions are so vital to Puerto Rico, which imports most of its food, and whose industrial life is dependent on the smooth flow of exports, that serious economic consequences resulted from these disturbed conditions. Unemployment was increased as, during the strike, almost all the workshops and industrial establishments, except the sugar mills, closed down. Due to inability of the farmers to export their produce, agricultural losses were very heavy. A decline in public revenue of over $1,000,000 has been attributed to the strike.

Industry.

Puerto Rican industry, particularly the needlework trade, has been affected by the Federal Wages and Hours Law, applicable to Puerto Rico. Production in this second industry of the island is reported to have dropped 65 per cent, partly in consequence of this measure, since it is maintained by employers that neither the needlework nor the tobacco industries can pay the minimum wage of twenty-five cents an hour. The Labor Commissioner, Prudencio Rivera Martinez, suggested the exemption of Puerto Rico from the Act. On the other hand, the Federacion Libre, affiliated with the A.F. of L., requested that it be enforced. One estimate puts at 107,865 the workers who would presumably be affected by the law, at least 70,000 of them needleworkers, most of whom are employed at home.

Finance.

A permanent credit agency has been proposed for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands in a plan, approved in principle by the Secretary of the Interior, for the creation of an agricultural and industrial credit corporation, modelled after the Farm Credit Administration. This body, to be known as the Insular Reconstruction Authority, with an initial capital of $50,000,000, to be contributed chiefly by the Federal Government but, in part, through local participation, would attempt a more basic reconstruction than it has been possible to effect through relief funds; some $125,000,000 having been spent in this way in the last five years with disappointing results. Congressional action on the proposal will be attempted in 1939.

The 'Little TVA' bill, passed at a special session of the Insular Legislature in September, was pocket-vetoed by Governor Winship, presumably because in its amended form it would have placed the Water Resources Authority under 'inadvisable' local political control. The original bill, which had the approval of the Interior Department, created a Puerto Rican Water Resources Authority, a $10,000,000 insular government corporation, which would take over and operate the island's water resources and undertakings such as the irrigation services, hydroelectric power, and distribution systems. In June, President Roosevelt signed a bill authorizing the establishment of a Puerto Rican Housing Authority, which, in September, petitioned for $15,000,000 for slum clearance and low-cost housing. The United States Housing Authority has already earmarked $3,000,000 for Puerto Rican housing.

Strong representations have been made to the United States State Department against the proposed tariff reductions on Cuban sugar and rum (see CUBA) as harmful to Puerto Rico's chief industry, which is already suffering from a reduced quota, resulting in production greatly under the island's capacity. The quotas for Puerto Rico provided under the 1937 Sugar Control Act are: for raw sugar, 819,344 short tons; for refined, 126,933 tons. Since Puerto Rico would like to expand its refining operations, the latter is particularly distasteful to the sugar interests. Benefit payments annually to Puerto Rico from the proceeds of the processing levy on raw sugar amount to about $9,000,000.