Word: porto
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Dates: during 1900-1909
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...cannot meet our obligations to Porto Rico in any other way. We must enact duties which shall secure prosperity to the islanders. Our own customs laws will not accomplish this. They were devised to protect a manufacturing country that presents an almost complete contrast to Porto Rico, a purely agricultural island. In the parts of our country where the economic conditions approach those of Porto Rico, in the southern plantation states, the opposition to our tariff has been increasing for seventy-five years...
...like manner we are supported by the reports of the insular commission and of Special Commissioner Carrol, which declare that the future prosperity of Porto Rico is absolutely dependent on its being treated as an integral part of our country. We are supported, moreover, by the military governors, Generals Brooke, Henry and Davis, who have urged upon our government, that, as we value the welfare of this people, we must grant them the privileges and immunities the rest of our territory enjoys. We are supported, finally, by the published and uncontradicted utterances of our secretary of War and our President...
...great industrial need of Porto Rico is capital. Any policy by which we expect to solve the Porto Rican question must provide for the introduction of capital and the resulting commercial development. To place Porto Rico within our customs boundary is the very policy which meets this requirement. It is the only measure which guarantees permanent economic conditions, without which capitalists will never invest. Second, it provides that the capital attracted to the island shall be American, and that Porto Rico shall be developed along American lines...
...Ours is the measure of permanence, for it is the only measure that contemplates equal treatment for Porto Rico and for us. Congress can never follow a permanent, consistent policy when asked to provide separate and distinct tariff legislation for two peoples, to one of which it is responsible and to the other not. The only permanent tariff measure for Porto Rico is the one which gives the island the privileges and responsibilities we enjoy and bear. No more and no less...
...Finally, we must not forget that the island of Porto Rico is to be Americanized, or its possession will prove a source of weakness. If we place it within our customs boundary the capital which will flow there is sure to be American, and every commercial influence will make for assimilation. Not until this policy is carried out shall we see an Americanized Porto Rico...