THE PRINCIPLES OF COLONIAL POLICY

PORTO RICO, CUBA AND THE PHILIPPINES

Extract from the Report of the Secretary of War for 18991 HE Treaty of Paris provides:

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The civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants of the territories hereby ceded to the United States shall be determined by the Congress.

I assume, for I do not think that it can be successfully disputed, that all acquisition of territory under this treaty was the exercise of a power which belonged to the United States, because it was a nation, and for that reason was endowed with the powers essential to national life, and that the United States has all the powers in respect of the territory which it has thus acquired, and the inhabitants of that territory, which any nation in the world has in respect of territory which it has acquired; that as between the people of the ceded islands and the United States the former are subject to the complete sovereignty of the latter, controlled by no legal limitations except those which may be found in the treaty of cession; that the people of the islands have no right to have them treated as states, or to have them treated as the territories previously held by the United States have been treated; or to assert a legal right under the provisions of the Constitution which was established for the people of the United States themselves and to meet the conditions existing upon this continent; or to assert against the United States any legal right whatever not found in the treaty.

I assume, also, that the obligations correlative to this great power are of the highest character, and that it is our unques

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tioned duty to make the interests of the people over whom we assert sovereignty the first and controlling consideration in all legislation and administration which concerns them, and to give them, to the greatest possible extent, individual freedom, self-government in accordance with their capacity, just and equal laws, and opportunity for education, for profitable industry, and for development in civilization.

The people of the ceded islands have acquired a moral right to be treated by the United States in accordance with the underlying principles of justice and freedom which we have declared in our Constitution, and which are the essential safeguards of every individual against the powers of government, not because those provisions were enacted for them, but because they are essential limitations inherent in the very existence of the American Government. To illustrate: The people of Porto Rico have not the right to demand that duties should be uniform as between Porto Rico and the United States, because the provision of the Constitution prescribing uniformity of duties throughout the United States was not made for them, but was a provision of expediency solely adapted to the conditions existing in the United States upon the continent of North America; but the people of Porto Rico are entitled to demand that they shall not be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, that private property shall not be taken for public use without compensation, that no law shall be passed impairing the obligation of contracts, etc., because our nation has declared these to be rights belonging to all men. Observance of them is a part of the nature of our Government. It is impossible that there should be any delegation of power by the people of the United States to any legislative, executive, or judicial officer which should carry the right to violate these rules toward any one anywhere; and there is an implied contract on the part of the people of the United States with every

man who voluntarily submits himself or is submitted to our dominion that these rules shall be observed as between our Government and him, and that in the exercise of the power conferred by the Constitution upon Congress, "to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States," Congress will hold itself bound by those limitations which arise from the law of its own existence.

The problem of civil government in the islands yielded or ceded by Spain presents itself in the simplest form in the case of Porto Rico. That island is fully and without question under the sovereignty of the United States. It came to us not only by legal right, but with the cheerful and unanimous desire of its people, who are peaceful and loyal and eager for the benefits to be derived from the application of American ideas of government. There is no obstacle in the way of our providing for Porto Rico the best government which we are capable of devising for people situated as are the inhabitants of that island.

The questions presented by the consideration of the measures which ought to be taken for the government of Porto Rico are threefold: (1) What form of government shall be established, and what participation in that government shall the people of the island have? (2) What shall be the treatment of the municipal law of the island, and how far shall the laws which now regulate the rights and conduct of the people be changed to conform to the ideas prevalent among the people of the United States? (3) What economic relations shall be established between the island and the United States?

(1) In determining the question as to the form of government, and the participation of the people of the island therein, the most important fact to be considered is that the people have not yet been educated in the art of self-government, or any really honest government. In all their experi

ence and in all their traditions, law and freedom have been ideas which were not associated with each other, but opposed to each other; and it is impossible that a people with this history only ten per cent of whom can read or write should ever have acquired any real understanding of the way to conduct a popular government. I do not doubt their capacity to learn to govern themselves; but they have not yet learned. There are among them many highly educated and able men, public-spirited and patriotic, and these show what their people are capable of becoming; but there are not enough of them to make a working government which would be anything but an oligarchy, and many of them have merely a theoretical rather than a practical acquaintance with the processes of government.

The difficulty does not consist merely of a lack of familiarity with the methods and processes of government; it lies deeper than that in the fact that the Porto Ricans, as a people, have never learned the fundamental and essential lesson of obedience to the decision of the majority. They have had no opportunity to learn and they never have learned. There can be no free government without a loyal, voluntary personal subjection to the peaceful decisions reached by lawful processes.

In the experiments which have already been tried in municipal elections, and toward government by municipal boards, the minority which is voted down almost invariably refuses to participate further in the business of government.

The attitude of the defeated party is precisely that which causes the continual revolutions in the government of other West Indian islands and the Central American states in the same latitude. This habit marks a rudimentary stage of political development, and before the people of Porto Rico can be fully intrusted with self-government they must first learn the lesson of self-control and respect for the principles