Conservative *
that enthralls us , it is mere incubus ; the
nightmare , from which the first stir wo
make will set us free. Let a man count
'
? I honest republicans he knows who
1
> . Juld rush to vote for an Olney , the
true old democrats who would spring to
the support of a Reed , and ho may find
a hint for action , even within the short
limit of the present canvass.
THE
THE PORTO
RICANACT.TIVE thl8
gives a resume of
the Porto Bican act. The bill as finally
passed , differs quite materially from the
original measure drafted by Chairman
Payne of the ways and means com
mittee. This was a free trade measure
framed in accord with the "plain duty"
ideas of the president as communicated
to congress in his message of December
the 19fch. Owing to the opposition , the
free trade suggestion met with from the
protected interests , notably the sugar
and tobacco trusts , the chairman of the
ways and means committee , with
astonishing alacrity , reversed himself
and recommended a tariff , consisting of
16 per cent of the Dingley schedule , on
goods coming from Porto Rico to the
United States. This passed the house
but met with a storm of criticism
throughout the country which was par
tioularly severe on the part of a number
of prominent republican newspapers
on the ground that it was a violation of
our "plain duty" to Porto Rico , so
forcibly pointed out by the executive
In deference to this popular disapproval
the senate amended the bill to its present
form , making the tariff a temporary
expedient to continue until the local
government of Porto Rico shall devise
other means of raising revenue.
The act as it now stands is markedly
different , however , from former legis
lation for terri
The TariftSection. , . T , . , ,
tones. It is the
first time congress has imposed a tariff
upon the commerce between parts o :
the territory belonging to the United
States. Heretofore congress has held
the provision of the constitution , pro
hibitiug trade restrictions , to apply alik
to states and territories of the Unitei
States. The constitutionality of thl
feature of the law will probably b
questioned and finally determined by
the supreme court.
Another unique provision of the law
is the manner of choosing the upper
branch of the legis-
The Legislature.
council. It consists of eleven members ,
appointed by the president , only five of
whom are required to be natives of Porto
Rico. Hitherto , both branches of terri
torial assemblies have been elective and
the members chosen from the actual resi
dents or citizens of the territory. All
important legislative and exeoutive
functions , such as the granting of con
cessions and franchises , are exercised by
the executive council. The governor
and a majority of this council , the real
governing body , need not , and un
doubtedly will not , be citizens of Porto
Rico. The government is thus taken
out of the hands of the people and
placed under the supervision of the
president who exercises his prerogative
through the medium of imported officials ,
a repetition of the "carpetbag" system of
the reconstruction period. Representa
tives at Washington , from the other
territories , are called delegates to con
gress. They have the privileges of the
floor of the house but cannot vote. The
representative from Porto Rico is called
a commissioner and can neither vote nor
participate in debate. His only privi
lege is to appear before the departments
that have to do with insular administra
tion. The bill is in striking contrast
with the spirit of our institutions. It
denies to Porto Rico the privilege of
local self-government. It is a mere
makeshift , un-American and unjust.
Its construction was a dwarfish attempt
at statesmanship. Its enactment into
law was the acme of political imbecility.
FRAUDULENT
PENSIONS. Evans United
States Commis
sioner of Pensions , in The Independent ,
calls attention to the pension frauds and
how the law encourages them. Most of
the frauds arise under the act of 1888 ,
which provides that widows' claims
shall commence from the date of death
of the husband regardless of the date of
filing. As many soldiers died in the
service without leaving any one entitled
to a pension , the amount of back pen
sion now due a claimant runs up in the
thousands. Some attorneys make a
business of looking up such cases and
securing women to put in claims as wid
ows of the deceased soldiers. It is al
most impossible for the pension depart
ment to disprove a marriage alleged to
have token place 80 or 40 years ago.
"Not long since , " says Mr. Evans , "we
sent a number of people to the peni
tentiary for making fraudulent claims.
Among those convicted was a woman
about ninety years old. She had been
drawing a pension for about thirty-five
years to which she was not entitled. As
a result of this law she had been per
suaded to file a claim purporting to be
the widow of one Andrew Jackson ,
when really she was the wife of another
man. A pension was allowed her , the
first installment of which covered some
twenty-five years , and continued to
draw until the fraud was discovered.
A flagrant case was detected during the
last year. The claim of an alleged
widow , which , if granted , would have
amounted to $4,000 , passed the ordeal of
a special examination and a certificate
was about to be issued to her. For ad
ditional security the cose was committed
to another special examiner who exposed
the fraudulent character of the claim
and secured the woman's confession ,
showing that she was induced to apply
by parties who were making a business
of filing fraudulent pension claims
under the act of June 7th , 1888.
"These and other facts show that a
pension ought not to go back of the date
upon which it is filed. If it is not worth
filing it is not worth having. I have , u1 >
therefore , urged the repeal of what I | ,
consider a bad law , which encourages
crime and makes it difficult for the
bureau to protect the interests of the
government and the honor and integrity
of the pension roll. "
THE CONSERVATIVE believes , with Mr.
Evans , that the law of 1888 , which has
been so productive of fraud , should be
repealed and commends his course as
both wise and patriotic , in the interests
of the honest pensioner and just to the
government. '
TAKIFF-MADK
TRUSTS. man , whoso letter
on trusts is pub
lished in this issue of THE CONSERVA
TIVE , is one of the best known writers
and speakers in this country. He is ,
perhaps , Brooklyn's best known citizen ,
and has been widely and favorably
known since the famous Beecher-Tilton
trial , about thirty years ago , in which
he was Beecher's attorney.
It does not take Mr. Shearman long to
find the heart of the trust question.
"The great monopolies of this country , "
he says , in the letter which we print
this week , "owe their existence to special
unjust privileges , conferred upon them
by a course of legislation which the
people of the United States adopted of
their own free will and which are still
maintained by the votes of the very
people who most loudly declaim against
monopolies. Foremost among these are
the tariff laws , the internal revenue laws
and the patent laws. "
"The tariff is , " he says , "the.most
fertile source of American monopolies.
During the last thirty or forty years
hardly an instance has been known in
which an American monopoly has been
denied any part of the benefits which it
has demanded in the enactment of tariff
laws. * * * Tariffs are always made
up by the very parties who are interested
in preventing foreign competition and
in securing for themselves a monopoly
of the domestic trade. "
The mere statement of these well-
known facts should leave no doubt in
ordinary minds as to the close connec
tion between tariffs and trusts. The
only wonder is that a majority of the
voters of this country did not long ago
discover the connection and destroy it
by doing away with the tariff. Mr.
Shearman does not try to destroy the
trusts by mere violence of speech , but
suggests a sensible and logical method of
eradicating the evil of them ,