The appointment of Guy J. Swope as Director of Territories and Island Possessions of the Department of the Interior shortly after his inauguration as Governor left a vacancy in the governorship of Puerto Rico, which was filled in July by the nomination of Dr. Rexford G. Tugwell to the post. The close vote of confirmation in the Senate reflected political criticism of the social and economic views of this original New Dealer, who was responsible for the Rural Resettlement Administration (now the Farm Security Administration). Earlier in the year Dr. Tugwell conducted a survey in Puerto Rico, for Secretary Ickes, of means of enforcing the 500 acre-limit land law (see below). He had also been chosen chancellor of the University of Puerto Rico, a post he retains, though on leave of absence during his governorship, and, as such, has developed a six-point program for reform of the University.
The most important piece of legislation during the year was the Land Authority bill, signed by Governor Swope on April 12. The Land Authority, composed of seven members, is charged with carrying out the Congressional resolution of 1900, limiting corporate land holdings to 500 acres. Land is to be purchased, as corporate estates are liquidated, and redistributed to purchasers on a long-term basis in parcels of from ten to not over 100 acres. Expropriated owners may appeal the prices set for their lands but may not enjoin the expropriation procedure. An appropriation of $2,000,000 is made for the initial financing; the proceeds of a subsequent bond issue and other specified funds are set aside for future costs. The large sugar companies will be principally affected by this new attack on latifundia. In July, Russell and Company, owning 21,000 acres of sugar lands valued at $3,000,000 and growing crops valued at $2,000,000, sought an injunction against enforcement of the law.
The Land Authority Act asserts that 'land in Puerto Rico is to be considered as a source of life, dignity and economic freedom for the men and women who till it.' In this may be seen the guiding hand of Luis Muñoz Marin, President of the Senate and head of the Popular Democratic party (the Populares), which won control of the Insular legislature by a tiny margin, late in 1940, on the slogan 'bread, land and liberty.' He called the law a fundamental step towards Puerto Rico's rehabilitation. Another step is the diversification of crops, advocated by the retiring Governor as essential if the natives' dependence on sugar is to be reduced and the heavy importation of foodstuffs to be avoided. This last evidence of an unbalanced economy is particularly serious in wartime, when transportation of the island's food supply becomes precarious. Encouragement of the production of many tropical products, among them vanilla, spices and quinine, is found in the WPA fund of $41,000 for field experimentation and in the research of the Puerto Rican Agricultural Experiment Station. Other important legislation enacted by the Puerto Rican legislature this year includes a minimum wage law, with a wage board to fix wage scales; a drastic increase in income tax rates; and a law prohibiting nepotism. Governor Swope reported improvement in the island's productivity, with general economic conditions more favorable as sugar, coffee and tobacco prices have risen and as the disappearance of many foreign sources of supply has increased the demand for Puerto Rican needlework.
The key position of Puerto Rico in hemisphere defense was indicated by Governor Swope in his inaugural address. The increasing world crisis has caused a speeding up of the three-year defense program for the island, and rapid progress has been made towards the completion of the Isla Grande naval air base in San Juan harbor and of the eight army air bases and emergency fields. The new Puerto Rican bases push the defense front more than 500 miles east of Guantánamo, Cuba, which for over forty years has been the Navy's only base in the Caribbean. Puerto Rico has, thus, become a key link in the chain of Caribbean bases now guarding the Atlantic approach to the Panama Canal. The number of troops on the island has been vastly increased.
In a message to President Roosevelt on Dec. 8, Senator Muñoz Marin pledged Puerto Rico's support to the United States 'in defense against treacherous aggression.' The leader of the Populares, though long an independence advocate, asserted early in the year that the question of the island's political status is not an issue at present. The Coalition party of the Resident Commissioner, Bolívar Pagán, and of the minority leader, Senator Rafael Martínez Nadel, who died this year, expressed the intention to continue working for statehood. Ramón Medina Ramírez, acting president of the Nationalists, whose chief party plank is unconditional independence, was found guilty of conspiring to prevent operation of the Selective Service Act because of a proclamation calling on Puerto Ricans not to register. Eleven Nationalists failed to register in January, on the ground that they were 'citizens of the Republic of Puerto Rico' and the United States was a 'military usurper.'
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