Flamburg American Line. 

 La Veloce, vapores italianos. 

 New York y Portorico Steamship Com- 

 pany. 



Vapores de Sobrinos de Herrera entre 

 Cuba y Puerto Rico. 



Linea cSerra:^. 

 Munson Steamship Line. 

 Galveston y P. R. Steamship Line. 

 Vapores costaneros de la New York y P. 

 p. S. S. Co. 



EN MAYAGUEZ 



Hamburg American Line. 

 New York y Portorico Steamship Com- 

 pany. 



Linea «Serra». 



Vapores de C. Prats y Compania. 

 Galveston y P. R. Steamship Line. 

 Vapores costaneros de la New York y 

 Puerto Rico S. S. Co 



EN MAYAQVEZ: 



Corresponsales del Ntionoal Board of 

 Underwriterd. 

 EN FONCE: 



Corresponsales del Board of Underwri* 

 ers. 



Idem del West India & F^anamd Cable Co 



JRepresentantes G enemies de las siguientes 

 Companiasde Seguros 

 contra Incendios 



La Hamburgo Bremense, de Hamburgo. 

 La Bailose, de Basiiea. 

 La Aachen y Munich de Aachen. 

 North Britihs & Mercantili Insurance 

 Co, Londres. 



ASEGUROS MARITIMOS 



Unicos imfpairtadores en Puerto-Rico de la 

 afanmda Harlna de trkjo marca «ESTIIELLA», 

 de Oulvestoii^ TexasS 



Constante surtido de arroces y provisiones 

 de todas clases. 



Giran por cable sobre Nek- York 

 y las principales plazas de Eurapa. 



"La Villa de Paris" 



Ofrece un selecto surtido de telasde color, 

 propias de camisas, recibidas expresamerite pa- 

 ra su Taller de Carnlseria, donde sirven los en- 

 cargos de este ramo con esmero y prontitud. 



En cuellos y punos reciben mensuaimente 

 los Altimos modelos. Camisetas, Calcetiaes y 

 g6neros de punto las hay a escoger. 



Fernandei Hermano, 



San Juan. 



me pah 



few weeks and their critical effect upon the 

 destinies of two countries which are, by virtue 

 of authorized pledges, actual and implied, one 

 and the same, it is expedient that the people 

 of the United States should become aware of 

 the memorable pledges made in their behalf 

 at the time of the occupation of our Island; 

 v/hat the National Legistature is doing regard- 

 ing the fulfilment of those obligations; and, 

 lastly, what the people of the Island have a 

 right to expect by way of civil rights and pri- 

 vileges—what they may equitably demand not 

 only for the restoration of their former pros- 

 perity, but for the preservation of their very 

 existence. 



In the summer of 'ninety-eight Gen. Nel- 

 son A. Miles and a small army accomplished a 

 practically bloodless victory over an island 

 which had been four hundred years under the 

 yoke of Spain misrule. Instead of enemies, 

 he found only friends; instead of shot and 

 shell, only cheers of v/elcome, and planting 

 there the flag which was hailed as the symbol 

 of a pleople's deliverance, he promised ''pro- 

 tection not only to the Islanders but to their 

 property''; and ''to promote prosperity, and 

 bestow upon them the immunities and bles- 

 sings of the liberal institqtions of the Ameri- 

 can Government.^' 



Not content, however, with allowing the 

 people of Puerto Eico to remain in ignurance 

 of their exact status as either citizens or sub- 

 jects of their adopted country; deaf to their 

 cries of distress and blind to their imperative 

 needs, the National Congress now^ proposes to 

 add ignominy to sorrow and injustice to afflic- 

 tion by imposing upon the Island, systems of 

 taxation and vassalage as inmoral in principle 

 as they are questionable in purppse; as odious 

 to freedom-loving Americans as they are ob- 

 noxious to the people they oppress, and iden- 

 tical with those which drove the American 

 patriots of *7G to resist and destroy by force of 

 arms the tyrant that imposed them. 



Against the express will and wish of the 

 Chief Executive in his last iressage to Con- 

 gress ;against'the solemn vows of thesoldier who 

 lirst hoisted the flag oi* freedom over Puerto 

 Rican soil; against the advice of the honor- 

 able Secretary of ^Var; the Governors Gene- 

 ral of the Island; the recommendations of the 

 President's Special Commissioner; and the 

 United States Consul General to Puerto Rico; 

 against the just demands of the Puerto Rican 

 Delegates; and above all against the combin-' 

 ed sentiment of the representative press and 

 seventy-five millions of people, whose expon- 

 ent it is, — an unjust and odious tax measure 

 has passed the House of Representatives, and 

 it is now^ even proposed to set aside all meas- 

 ures establishing civil government for the Is- 

 land. 



The American people and the press, Vv^ho, 

 thrusting aside all Constitutional questions 

 and all subterfuges or sophistries, have recen- 

 tly, almost with ont^ voice, emphatically dem- 

 anded for Puerto Rico as Jier right, free com- 

 merce with the United States, will be starteed 

 and indignant beyond measure to learn that 

 it is now proposed to fling the reduced tariff , 



soTt^ 



of the American flag? 



It arouses the ""utmost indighation that a 

 millionMntellig^nt Christian people, nearly! 

 eighty per cent, of Caucasian birth, lono- ia 

 the enjoyment of the highest rights of repres- 

 entation in the National Cortes of Spain; \yL 

 have had universal suffrage, municipal autol 

 omy, and (substantially) free commerce with] 

 their sovereign country for years; a commu-i 

 nity whose thrift, freedom from debt, virtue,] 

 and achievements bespeak its charactei^ 

 which freed its slaves on its own motion, aif 

 paid for them without murmur; whose stJ 

 adfastness gave it the name, even in SpaiJ 

 of «The Ever Faithful Isle,:?^ must now pleal 

 for those fundamental civil rights which thl 

 Fathers of the great Republic declared to b 

 «the inalienable right>» of every man. I 

 To deny immediate stable civil governnl 

 ent to Puerto Rico means (beside the vio enc! 

 done the overwhelming and unanswerabl 

 moral considerations which demand it):— | 

 ^ First. To continue upon a million peopk 

 without defensible warrant or excuse, thj 

 always blighting and repressive effects of m 

 htaiy government, alike abhorrent to thj 

 people of the United States and of Puerto III 

 CO, for military government is repugnant 

 Amer can ideas, is never progressive, "and ci- 

 at most only hope to maintain order and prl 

 serve the status quo. It breeds distrust, sui 

 presses ambition, stimulates resentment, an 

 destroys every incentive an hope: I 

 Second, It means to prevent the invesj 

 ment of capital, the extension of trado-entel 

 prises, or the development of the resources < 

 the island. Capital will not venture whci 

 trade-conditions, government, and laws a 

 not stable and without capital to rehabilita 

 her ruined interests, restore her Industrie 

 and develop her resources, Puerto Rico mil 

 revert to a state of nature, which in the tropil 

 It requires but a few months of neg-lect I 

 effect: f 



Third It means the absence of adequd 

 law to protect person and propertv, reguht 

 society, and advance agriculture*' and co] 

 merce : 



^ Fowrtli, It means that no authority el 

 exist for the negotiation of a Territorial Ic 

 wnereby the Island, pledging its credit and 

 resources, can alone raise the funds ahsoluf 

 e^seiitua for the maintenance c^f public wo] 

 and improvements, educational advantafj 

 and assistance to the ruined agriculturil 

 upon whose prosperity the very life of n 

 Island must depend. It w^as to enable Congif 

 to authorize and arrange this loan in 

 interests of agriculture that the Presid] 

 extended for six months, the prorogation' 

 mortgage foreclosures : 



FlftK It means idle and wasted plant 

 tions, deserted sugar mills and faetoriesi 

 stagnant commerce, a v/andering and starvfl 

 peoplet--an utterly and cruelly desolated a^ 

 ruined Island. *' I 



Taken by the war-power of this Republ 

 — the mostenlightened, resourceful and pow^ 

 tul of the Nations— into its possession, w^ 



