INDEPENDENCE TREND IN PUERTO RICO

...Tug well's management of the island, but wish him to continue as such at least until the Congress passes the now pending legislation giving the Puerto Ricans the right to elect their of governor...

...Victory For Tugwell Thus a great majority of the Puerto Ricans has made Munos-Marin the outstanding political figure in Puerto Rico and has notified the whole country that they not only stand for Gov...

...It will make the sugar barons, whose lands are now being gradually taken away from them because of a constitutional provision enacted in 1900 but never enforced until recently, more than ever certain that their interests are in jeopardy...

...But if the Puerto Ricans as a whole are unhappy in their relationship with us, they will undoubtedly be willing to take chances of every kind if they can snap the ties with us...

...It means that they not only approve all of the so-called socialistic measures enacted of late years increasing the functions of government in numerous directions, but that they want much more of the same kind...

...They do not face the problem of where they can obtain the necessary working capital to tide themselves over until they can build up—if possible—a sustaining tra4e with other countries, where they can find the money to buy ships and make up for the loss of the many millions poured into the island every year by the United States Government—$60,000,000 was the estimate given me last Spring as the contribution that Washington might make in 1944 to the upkeep of the island...

...Undoubtedly it may lead capitalistic interests to withdraw their investments from the island if they can...

...Adequately to equip the island with homes and the necessary adjuncts, such as schools, health and police stations, hospitals, etc., would call for an investment of at least $300,000,000, and the dreadful annual increase in population would require more and more capital investment of this type...

...Now that he is completely in control of the Government, with only four voices in the entire legislature to oppose him, he will, of course, be held responsible by the outright Independentism for'the carrying out of his pledge...

...the island could get on...

...j Serious Economic Obstacles The economic obstacles are very serious...

...I spent an evening with a group of some 28 clergymen and representatives of church organizations, professors in the divinity school, and others, and found that only three or four in the group believed that the bulk of the Puerto Rican workers would desire separation from the United States even if the economic obstacles which would jeopardize a free Puerto Rico were removed...

...the independence question he refused to reply on the ground that his Party had not taken a definite official position...

...When I talked with Munos-Marin in Puerto Rico last Spring as to how he stood on...

...He did, however, during the campaign go so far as to declare that if his party won the election he would insist upon a plebiscite to ascertain the will of the Puerto Rican people just as soon as was possible, pointing out, however, that that might not be until the end of the war...

...This was perhaps because of the absence from the country of so many young men in the Army and Navy...

...It is more than that—it is a remarkable upholding of the hands of Gov...

...More than that, we have allowed the island to run down so that it is desperately in need of decent housing, as more than 70 per cent of the homes are not fit for human habitation or need far reaching repairs...

...It is true that that was not an issue...

...The conservatives will, I am sure, cite all this as fresh proof that the Puerto Ricans are unfit for self-government...

...On the other hand, there is a great stirring among the students in favor of independence, and one of the largest mass meetings ever held on the island took place last August in favor of freedom for Puerto Rico...

...The leaders of the independence movement are perfectly certain that if Puerto Rico's harbors could be thrown open to the ships of all the world and our severely hampering coastwise shipping laws were no longer controlling, they could speedily build up adequate trade with the rest of the world and particularly with such nearby neighbors as Haiti and Santo Domingo...

...The outcome amazed the Populares leaders, though they were confident of victory...

...Some of them have been threatening to move to Florida or Santo Domingo, especially since the sugar mills were made public utilities and placed under the complete control of the Public Service Commission...

...Thus, if in letting the island go, the United States should exclude it from our tariff laws, as it proposes to exclude the Philippines by putting on 5 per cent of the existing tariffs every year for 20 years, it is difficult to see how...

...They can properly read in the returns proof that their day of controlling the life of the island is just about at an end...

...Most significant of all is the fact that the outcome of the voting will be a tremendous stimulus to the movement for the independence of the island...

...Tug-well who has been closely associated with Munos-Marin in all the reform proposals enacted by the legislature since the Governor was appointed...

...When it is considered that all the big business men, both from the continent and in the island, have strongly opposed the Puerto Rican New Deal measures, and that prior to the election the Populares had lost control of the lower chamber of the legislature, the importance of the sweep stands out even more clearly...

...To this must also be added the defeat of the reactionary Resident Commissioner in Washington, Bolivar Pagan, who was absent from his post six months during the Winter of 1943-44, by a much more liberal and punctual delegate, J. T. Pinero...

...There is no use trying to speculate how the Puerto Ricans will vote if the issue of cutting loose from the United States is fairly presented to them...

...It resulted in a complete sweep for the Populares Party headed by Luis Munos-Marin, which won every seat in the House of Representatives with one exception and all but two in the Senate, thus overwhelmingly defeating the conservative coalition parties opposed to them...