"5 years of tyranny in puerto rico" - congressman vito marcantonio

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Remarks by US Congressman Vito Marcantonio denouncing murder, corruption and misuse of public funds by the US appointed Governor of Puerto Rico Blanton Winship. (1939)

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Page 1: "5 Years of Tyranny in Puerto Rico" - Congressman Vito Marcantonio

Citation: 84 Cong. Rec. 4062 1939

Content downloaded/printed from HeinOnline (http://heinonline.org)Mon Nov 2 21:12:50 2015

-- Your use of this HeinOnline PDF indicates your acceptance of HeinOnline's Terms and Conditions of the license agreement available at http://heinonline.org/HOL/License

-- The search text of this PDF is generated from uncorrected OCR text.

Page 2: "5 Years of Tyranny in Puerto Rico" - Congressman Vito Marcantonio

APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORDsurplus products for the products of other lands that weneed but do not produce ourselves.

Third. By permitting tariff reductions below the amountof duty necessary to offset foreign cost-of-production ad-vantages, and thereby subjecting our home producers to un-fair competition from the cheap products of other lands, thetrade-treaty program drives our home producers out of busi-ness, takes Jobs away from our workers, depresses our pricestructure, and undermines our American wage and livingstandards.

Fourth. The present program is one-sided and not trulyreciprocal, because the concessions which we make to a par-ticular country in return for concessions from that countryare extended generally to the whole world, save Germanyalone, without requiring these other countries to give us re-ciprocal concessions in return, and despite the fact that inmany instances such other countries actively discriminateagainst American products.

Fifth. The negotiation of the trade treaties is carried onin an arbitrary and high-handed manner. The only oppor-tunity American producers have to be heard on a proposedtreaty is before Its actual negotiation takes place, and thenonly before a "buffer" committee which has nothing what-ever to do with the actual negotiations.

With two amendments to the reciprocal-tariff law, thetrade-treaty program could be made useful and beneficial andfree from most objections which have been leveled againstit. These amendments are: (a) Guarantee American pro-ducers at least an even break with foreign producers in thehome market by maintaining sufficient tariff protection forthat purpose, and (b) provide for congressional approval ofthe trade treaties before they become effective. As an alter-native to the latter, Congress could fix minimum rates of dutyon products which the President could use for bargainingpurposes. Congress having exclusive tariff-making author-ity under the Constitution, it is essential that the legislativefunction be preserved either by setting forth what conces-sions the President can make or by providing for subsequentratification of the concessions he proposes.

The present trade-treaty program will undoubtedly be oneof the big issues in the next election campaign, just as it wasin the last congressional elections. Many of the new Re-publican Members owe their election, in a large measure,to dissatisfaction with the treaty program as now admin-istered. As the legislation authorizing the negotiation of thetreaties expires next year, It is a problem which the Congresswill have to deal with at the coming session. Many of theDemocratic Members who voted for the original legislationdid not vote for its extension, and there is no question butthat it has lost many more friends in the meantime. Vir-tually every one of the 169 Republican Members of the Housecan be counted on to vote against its further extension in itspresent form, and under the circumstances there is at leastsome hope for American producers that the present destruc-tive program may not be continued.

LaGuardia Assails New Deal Crop Policies

EXTENSION OF REMARKSOF

HON. GEORGE H. BENDEROF OHIO

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESSaturday, August 5, 1939

Mr. BENDER. Mr. Speaker, President Roosevelt's woes arenot yet at an end. Despite the adjournment of Congressafter a series of smashing defeats of pet New Deal proposals,the opposition to White House policies continues from ever-increasing sources. Latest of the opponents to arise on thescene is Mayor LaGuardia, formerly one of the most vocifer-ous supporters of F. D. R. In an address before the annualconvention of the Retail Meat Dealers' Association in New

York City this month, LaGuardia bitterly criticized theplow-under program of the Department of Agriculture.

The mayor declared that he did-Not believe in any system that curtails production and destroys

products. It might be necessary to take drastic measures suchas subsidizing exports and by doing that make friends of ourneighbors. I don't believe in destroying what God Almightygave us.

Pointing out the city folks must recognize the needs of ouragricultural population:

City people must realize that prosperity for the farmer is pros-perity for all. The farmer must have a fair return on his productto buy the things we make in the city. They must realize that theAmerican farmer is the best market for American goods.

LaGuardia declared in emphatic terms, "I do not believethat we suffer from any surplus in this country. We havea lack of purchasing power to provide for all the people.When we can return to the old American breakfast and thegood old American diet, then and only then will we see whatsurplus we have. It is not a surplus of meat that troublesus, but it is lack of funds of the average American."

This assault upon the crop-curtailment program is a farcry from the usual LaGuardia outpouring. It indicates oncemore that the people of the Nation are becoming more andmore articulate they have begun to think of their futuremore maturely than in the days of the first depression. Nolonger is there a defeatist attitude toward the needs of ourfuture. Even the most ardent disciples of the New Deal arebeginning to question the wisdom of the "brain trust."When Fiorello LaGuardia leaves the ship even for a mo-mentary excursion of his own it is time for the rest of us toquestion the efficacy of the captain's course.

Crop curtailment has been frequently criticized as anabsurdity in a society in which millions are suffering fromundernourishment according to social-service workers inevery section of the land. No one ever sought to justify iton any basis other than its necessity as an emergency.Now that the emergency psychology is vanishing, the neces-sity for its continuance has vanished with it. LaGuardia,more New Deal than new dealers, has recognized its fu-tility. The rest of the Nation must join him wholeheartedly.

Five Years of Tyranny in Puerto Rico

EXTENSION OF REMARKSOF

HON. VITO MARCANTONIOOF NEW YORK

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESSaturday, August 5, 1939

Mt. MARCANTONIO. Mr. Speaker, under leave to extendmy remarks on the subject of Five Years of Tyranny inPuerto Rico, granted to me on August 5, 1939, I submit thefollowing:

Ex-Gov. Blanton Winship, of Puerto Rico, was sum-marily removed by the President of the United States onMay 12, 1939. I had filed charges against Mr. Winship withthe President during two visits that I had with him, andsubsequently, on April 27, 1939, I wrote a letter to thePresident filing additional charges in support of my requestfor the removal of Mr. Winship. During my visits at theExecutive Office of the President of the United States Iinformed him of many acts of misfeasance as well as non-feasance, among which were the tyrannical acts of theGovernor in depriving the people of Puerto Rico of their civilrights, the corruption and rackets that existed, and weremade possible only by the-indulgence of the Governor, andthe extraordinary waste of the people's money. In my letterto the President dated April 27, 1939, I specifically pointedout that Mr. Winship had been responsible for the grantingof a contract to draw plans for the graving dock in San Juanto a friend of his, to wit, Frederick R. Harris, in a manner

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APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORDwhich was contrary to the Political Code of Puerto Rico, andhence illegally granted. This cost the people of Puerto Rico$75,000. My written, as well as oral, charges were transmittedby the President to Secretary Ickes, of the Department ofthe Interior, and on May 11, 1939, the President informed meby letter that my charges with regard to the award of thedrawing of the plans for the graving dock in San Juan, P. R.,had been transmitted to the Secretary of the Interior, Hon.Harold Ickes, for investigation.

The Secretary of the Interior, by code, wired Mr. BlantonWinship to return to the United States. In response to thiswire, Mr. Winship came here and visited the Secretary of theInterior. The Secretary of the Interior demanded that Mr.Winship resign. Mr. Winship flatly refused to resign, andstated that inasmuch as he was a Presidential appointee,he would not resign until he had had an opportunity toappeal to the President. After various unsuccessful efforts,Mr. Winship finally saw the President, and pleaded that hebe permitted to remain Governor of Puerto Rico on theground that his resigning while he was under fire might bemisinterpreted. What the President told Mr. Winship I donot know. I do know, however, that he made a very unfa-vorable impression on the President. When Mr. Winship leftthe White House with the bravado which is characteristicof a swivel-chair general, he invited friends of his and news-papermen to visit him in Puerto Rico in September of 1939,thereby giving the impression that he would remain asGovernor.

On May 11, 1939, I took the floor in the House of Rep-resentatives, objecting to exempting Puerto Rico from theprovisions of the wage and hour amendment, and in thatspeech I made an attack on Mr. Winship, and revealed thatI had made charges against him, and stated specificallythat the charges were being investigated by the Departmentof the Interior at the request of the President of the UnitedStates. The following day the President made the an-nouncement that Admiral William D. Leahy would succeedMr. Winship as Governor of Puerto Rico. Up to and includ-ing the time that this terse announcement was made, Mr.Winship had not resigned. Even a school child knows thatthe announcement of one's successor before one has resignedis tantamount to dismissal. Blanton Winship was dismissedby the President of the United States.

I had intended to remain silent and let the dismissal speakfor itself without further comment. However, since the dis-missal Mr. Winship has been hailed by crooked politicians,lobbyists, and by his own entourage of personal appointees asa great Governor. The day he finally returned to the UnitedStates government employees in Puerto Rico were forced toleave their offices and, together with the armed forces of theUnited States, joined in a display of farewell, which wasgrossly exaggerated by the disreputable reporter for the NewYork Times and Associated Press, Mr. Harwood Hull, aboutwhom I shall particularize later on. Upon Mr. Winship'sreturn to the United States he arrogated unto himself a deskin the Department of the Interior and, I have been informed,continued to draw a salary, notwithstanding the fact that hehad no longer any official connection with the Government ofthe United States nor the government of Puerto Rico. Hedevoted all of his time since he was kicked out as Governor totwo tasks: First, to that of self-glorification; and second, tofurther damage the best interests of the people of Puerto Rico.

In the first category he attended cocktail parties, the open-ing of the world's fair pavilion for Puerto Rico, and wasgiven a dinner by the phony Society of the Americas, at whichhe was hailed as a candidate for the Presidency of the UnitedStates. At all of these occasions, where a halo was placed onhis brow, it was done by the representatives of the Wall Streetentrenched interests of Puerto Rico, by his stooges whom hehad led to the public trough, and from which they have beengorging themselves, and as well by those whose jobs aredependent upon the ex-liberal Ernest Gruening.

In the second category, his activities were in keeping withhis 5 years of terror in Puerto Rico. He acted the part of aslimy lobbyist, and fought by means fair and foul to have the

wage and hour law amended so that the sugar companiescould continue to pay 12 cents an hour instead of 25 centsan hour, and thereby gain $5,000,000 a year, so that the ex-ploiters of labor in Puerto Rico could continue to pay theintolerable wages they have been paying, a wage systemwhich was made possible under his regime, so that the systemof abysmal wage slavery could be perpetuated in PuertoRico. Up to the very closing days of Congress this kicked-outGovernor fought to have Puerto Rican workers removed fromthe protection of the wage and hour law. He made a franticappeal to the Speaker, Hon. WIL.IAM BANKHEAD, to suspendthe rules and recognize someone who would offer the amend-ment which would have removed Puerto Rico from the pro-visions of the wage and hour law. This was done after he,together with his stooge and personal lobbyist, James J. Lan-zetta, had made all efforts and failed to have the Barden andother amendments considered by the House, which not onlywould have affected the workers of Puerto Rico but wouldhave also exempted 2,000,000 workers in the United Statesfrom the protection of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Thewelfare of 2,000,000 workers in the United States meant noth-ing to Blanton Winship or his appointee, who incidentally hadhad plenty of experience in the matter of lobbying, as wasindicated in the proceedings of the trial of the convictedWilliam Buckner, chief lobbyist in the Philippine railroadbond scandal.

The sacrificing of 2,000,000 workers in the States and thesacrificing of labor's welfare in the States as well as in PuertoRico meant nothing to these gentlemen who were hell-benton doing the bidding of the financial and industrial corpo-rations of Wall Street that have kept the workers of PuertoRico in the tentacles of imperialism and wage peonage. Itake this occasion to praise the patriotism and statesman-ship of our Speaker, Hon. WILLIAM BANKHEAD, who treatedthe dismissed and disgraced ex-Governor of Puerto Ricowith a fiat and patriotic "no." This "no" was given afterI had spoken to the Speaker who had promised me thatthere would be no suspension of the rules or the consider-ing of any legislation that would exempt Puerto Rico fromthe provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act at this sessionof Congress.

In the face of these activities, treacherous and detrimentalto the people of Puerto Rico, I felt that I should no longerremain silent. I felt that I should not permit this ex-Governor or his stooges to any longer use the prestige of hisoffice which he so disgraced, to the benefit of the exploitersof the Puerto Rican people. I would be derelict if I did nottear off the cloak of virtue in which this destroyer of lib-erty, protector of grafters, and exploiter of the people ofPuerto Rico had enshrouded himself. Therefore, Mr.Speaker, here is his record:

1. CIVIL RIGHTS AND MURDER

In his 5 years as Governor of Puerto Rico, Mr. BlantonWinship destroyed the last vestige of civil rights in PuertoRico. Patriots were framed in the very executive mansionand railroaded to prison. Men, women, and children weremassacred in the streets of -the island simply because theydared to express their opinion or attempted to meet in freeassemblage.

Citizens were terrorized. The courts became devoid ofany prestige because of the evil influence exerted uponthem by politicians who acted with the connivance and con-sent of Mr. Winship. American workers were persecutedand shot down whenever they sought to exercise their rightto strike or to organize and protest against the abomi-nable wages that were paid to them by Mr. Winship's pals.The insular police was militarized and transformed froman honest police organization to an. organization of provo-cateurs and murderers, such as existed in the darkest days ofczaristic Russia. The gestapo of Hitler could learn manylessons of torture and cruelty from Mr. Winship's so-calledpolice. Nero played the fiddle While Christians were mas-sacred in the days of ancient Rome. Winship drank cock-tails and danced in the Governor's palace while the policeruthlessly killed and persecuted Puerto Rican citizens. The

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APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORDfollowing are just a few cases illustrative of Winship'sNeroism. Neither time nor space permits me to give a fullhistory or the list of victims of which the American peopleknow very little or nothing at all.

On Palm Sunday, March 21, 1937, in Ponce, the secondlargest city in Puerto Rico, the police forces fired with ma-chine guns, rifles, and pistols into a crowd of marching Na-tionalists. Seventeen were killed, more than 200 wounded.The Nationalists were going to hold a meeting and a paradein Ponce on March 21. The mayor, Tormes, issued a per-mit. One hour .before the time set for the parade andwhen the demonstrators were ready to march, the mayorcanceled the permit on frivolous grounds. As Winshippointed out in a statement issued after the massacre, theparade was called off by the mayor at the request of Qov.Blanton Winship and Police Chief Colonel Orbeta.

Governor Winship went out of San Juan. Colonel Orbetawent to Ponce and concentrated there a heavy police force,among which he included all the machine gunners. Formany days the government had been planning action inPonce.

Chief of Police Guillermo Soldevilla, with 14 policemen,placed himself in front of the paraders; Chief Perez Segarraand Sgt. Rafael Molina, commanding 9 men, armed withThompson machine guns and tear-gas bombs, stood in theback; Chief of Police Antonio Bernardi, heading 11 police-men, armed with machine guns, stood in the east; andanother police group of 12 men, armed with rifles, placeditself in the west.

The demonstrators, at the order of their leader, and whileLa. Borinquena, the national song, was being played, beganto march. Immediately they were fired upon for 15 minutesby the police from the four flanks. The victims fell downwithout an opportunity to defend themselves. Even afterthe street was covered with dead bodies policemen continuedfiring. More than 200 were wounded; several were killed.Men, women, and children, Nationalists and non-National-ists, demonstrators, and people passing by, as well as thepeople who ran away, were shot. They were chased by thepolice and shot or clubbed at the entrance of the houses.Others were taken from their hiding places and killed. Leo-pold Tormes, a member of the legislature, told the reportershow a Nationalist was murdered in cold blood by a police-man, after the shooting, in his own arms.

A 7-year-old girl, Georgina Maldonado, while running to anearby church, was shot through the back. A woman, Ma-ria Hernandez, was also killed. Carmen Fernandez, aged 33,was severely wounded. After she fell down a policemanstruck her with his rifle, saying, "Take this; be a Nation-alist." Marie Hernandez was a member of the RepublicanParty, and while running away was clubbed twice on herhead by a policeman. Dr. Jose N. Gandara, one of the phy-sicians who assisted the wounded, testified that woundedpeople running away were shot and that many were againwounded through the back. Don Luis Sanchez Frasquieri,former president of the Rotary Club in Ponce, said that hehad witnessed the most horrible slaughter made by police ondefenseless youth. No arms were found in the hands of thecivilians wounded nor on the dead ones. About 150 of -thedemonstrators were arrested immediately afterward, severalof them being women. All the Nationalist leaders were alsoarrested. They were released on bail. More than 15,000, aswas reported by El Mundo, a Puerto Rican newspaper, at-tended the funerals at Ponce, and more than 5,000 at Maya-guez.

The above is not a description of the Ponce events by aPuerto Rican Nationalist. It is quoted from a speech ofRepresentative John T. Bernard, of Minnesota, in Congressand appeared in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD of April 14, 1937.Does not this bring to mind the Boston massacre in 1770 andthe shooting of Russian peasants by the Czar in 1905? Re-membering the events of Easter Week in Dublin, 1916, donot you agree with Jay Franklin, Washington'commentatorfor the Stem papers, that Puerto Rico is the Ireland of theCaribbean?

April 16 is a legal holiday in Puerto Rico. It is the anni-versary of the birthday of Jos6 de Diego, former speaker ofthe House of Delegates, noted orator, poet, jurist, and out-standing advocate of independence. Every year the Nation-alist Party celebrates a mass, a demonstration, and a meet-ing in his honor. Wreaths of flowers are deposited on histomb. Another demonstration and a meeting are held tohonor Manuel Rafael Suarez Diaz, a martyr of the cause ofindependence. Flowers are deposited on his tomb also.

In 1937, a few weeks after the Palm Sunday massacre, thecity manager of San Juan, under Winship's pressure, deniedpermits for these meetings and demonstrations. As was evenreported in the New York newspapers, although the ecclesias-tical authorities gave authorization to hold the mass on the16th, the cathedral was closed, and policemen posted atits doors. The cemeteries were closed and the Puerto Ricanpeople forbidden to go in groups larger than two to depositflowers on the graves of the patriots. General Winship againmobilized the Regular Army and National Guard, subject tocall.

Arthur Garfield Hays, attorney for the American CivilLiberties Union, went to Puerto Rico and investigated thePalm Sunday massacre, and his conclusion as reported in thereport of the American Civil Liberties Union was as follows:

The facts show that the affair of March 21 in Ponce was amassacre.

This committee, headed by Arthur Garfield Hays, wascomposed of emminent and responsible citizens of PuertoRico, to-wit: Emilio S. Belaval, secretary, president of theAntheneum, San Juan; Mariano Acosta Velarde, president ofthe Bar Association of San Juan; Fulgencio Pinero, presidentof the Teachers' Association of San Juan; Francisco M. Zeno,editor of La Correspondencia, San Juan; Antonio AyusoValdivieso, editor of El Imparcial, San Juan; Jos6 DavilaRicci, editorial staff of El Mundo, San Juan; and ManuelDiaz Garcia, past president of the Medical Association ofSan Juan.

Governor Winship tried to cover up this massacre byfiling a mendacious report. Mr. Ernest Gruening, who IsDirector of the Division of Territories and Island Possessionsof the Department of Interior and mentor of BlantonWinship since 1936, sought to use this fake report as acover-up. However, the photographs that were brought toSecretary Ickes by a committee consisting, among others,of former Congressman Bernard, of Minnesota, and myself,photographs of children shot in the back and of police wan-tonly firing on unarmed people from four sides, could not beignored. What did the tyrant do? Instead of ceasing theterror, he continued it, and immediately had arrested thefriends of people who had been killed on charges of con-spiracy to commit murder. Two trials were held. The firsttrial resulted in a mistrial, and in the second trial thedefendants were acquitted.

In the meantime the reign of terror continued. Whilethe victims of the Ponce massacre were being tried for mur-der, the police forces were given a free hand to continue theorgy of murder. A policeman by the name of Ramon Virellaviciously killed two peaceful and honest citizens and seri-ously wounded a third one at a public market in Rio Piedras,P. R. Virella asked one of the traders in the market,called Matias Gonzalez, to take his bags from the sidewalkhe happened to pass by at that moment. As Sanchez did-not obey his order promptly, Virella shot at him severaltimes, killing Sanchez and a bystander named MarcelinoPerez. Another bystander, Ramon Galvarin, was seriouslywounded. Virella was promoted, in spite of public protest,and was retained in the active service of the general policeheadquarters at San Juan, P. R. This tragic episode tookplace on September 23, 1937. The Governor ignored publicclamor, following the same policy adopted when the personsmassacred were nationalists. The victims in the above casewere nonpolitical.

On the 19th of October 1937, while the trial of the sur-vivors of the Ponce massacre was still going on, the chief ofpolice of Manati, P. R., Juan Martinez, shot at and killed his

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APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORDsubordinate, Jose Vicente Serra. He was promptly exon-erated by Gov. Blanton Winship, despite the public demandfor an investigation. By this time Winship had been able toput over his suggestion to abolish the remnants of the in-stitution of the grand jury in force in February 1936, whichprovided for the investigation and indictment of public offi-cers, including the Governor, by a grand jury.

Under such a provision the murderers of Elias Beauchampand Hiram Rosado, charged with the killing of the late chiefof police, Col. Francis E. Riggs, an incident which I shalldescribe later on, were indicted of first-degree murder. Anindignant public opinion forced the Government to convenethe grand jury, which, after investigating the case, bitterlyassailed the practices of the police and tried to determine theresponsibility, if any, of the Governor in that case. Theyleft the door open for further inquiries. Governor Winshipgot the law repealed soon afterward. So that at the time ofthe Ponce massacre, denounced in this House by Congress-man John T. Bernard on April 14, 1937, in the brilliant andmoving speech which appears in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORDof that date, page 4499, and to which I referred above, thedistrict judges of Ponce denied a petition made by prominentcitizens of that community, who represented every sector ofpublic life, when they asked for the convening of a grandjury to investigate the case. As the law now stands, thecitizens are helpless when the aggression originates with thetop public officials, because the prosecutors are appointed byand are to a great extent responsible to the Governor.

On October 25, 1937, the trial of the survivors of the Poncemassacre was still going on when a policeman named VictorMartinez shot to death in the police station of Toa Alta thejudge of the municipal district of the towns of Toa Alta, ToaBaja, and Dorado. Attorney Antonio Novarro Ortiz, whowas a brother of the district judge of Mayaguez, P. R., Fran-cisco Navarro Ortiz, and a member of the Union RepublicanParty.

Meanwhile, in Camp Buchanan and during the last daysof August 1937, the police forces were trained in the use ofthose arms used by G-men in their fights against gangsters.Mr. Edgar K. Thompson, who was at that time at the headof the Division of Federal Investigation in Puerto Rico, andMr. Myron E. Gurnes served as special instructors. Thepolicemen were trained in the use of machine guns, equipped

-with luminous bullets which enables one to locate the enemywhile aiming at him and at the same time to shoot from aplace of safety, a place protected by the shadows.

Public indignation reached its highest peak with the murderof Judge Navarro Ortiz. Col. Enrique Orbeta, the insularchief of police, who planned with Winship the Ponce mas-sacre, complained that he had "too much responsibility andtoo little authority," and orally resigned before GovernorWinship, as reported by the press, but finally agreed to con-tinue in his post. Now Frankenstein was turning against itsmasters.

On June 29, 1938, Capt. Rafael Igaravidez, while chief ofpolice of Ponce, P. R., was killed by one of his men, Police-man Ramon Cruz Reyes. Orbeta was quoted in El Mundoas saying that the murder of Igaravidez was the result of aconspiracy plotted by the police force at Ponce. The san-guinary nature developed in the police corps under Winship'sinfluence provoked a state of profound general unrest in theentire Island.

Early this year a sergeant of police committed anothercrime so shocking and unbelievable that one cannot imaginehow a person can be so devoid of moral principles. The caseis as follows: Three youngsters were arrested at Vega Baja,P. R., on charges of stoning the father of Sgt. JuanCorrea, who was serving at Barrio Obrero, Santurce. Theaggressors were set free on bail after being accused of assaultand battery. Several days later Sergeant Correa receiveda telegram at his post informing him of the death of hisfather. He immediately departed for Vega Baja. He wentto the police station, explained the case to the policemanon duty, took him in an automobile, and went in search of

LXXXIV-App----256

the three men; and when he found them he took them tothe police station. As soon as they returned, so it was re-ported, Correa killed the three prisoners in the presence ofthe chief of police in service at Vega Baja at that time, AngelPerez Segarra, who had been in charge of the machine-gununit of nine men that gunned from the back the paradersmassacred on Palm Sunday in Ponce, P. R., in 1937, as de-scribed above. The policeman who aided in the arrest wasalso a witness to the horrifying triple murder. Later it waslearned that the medical certificate showed that the ferocioussergeant, even accepting for the sake of argument the re-pugnant rules of the savages, did not have any basis for thisaction as his father did not die as a result of the woundsinflicted upon him but of an infection.

Another incident illustrative of the cruelty of Mr. Winship'styranny occurred on February 22, 1936, when two men werearrested for the killing of former Police Chief Francis E.Riggs. Elias Beauchamp and Hiram Rosado were brought tothe police station and there shot down in cold blood by thepolice.

A frame-up "a la Medici" was something at which Mr.Winship would not stop. Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos, a Har-vard graduate and leader of the Nationalists, together withseveral of his followers, were indicted under a post Civil Warstatute of a conspiracy to insurrect against the Governmentof the United States. They were framed at the Governor'spalace. Mr. Rockwell Kent, famous American artist, describeswhat took place at a cocktail party in the Governor's palaceimmediately after the first trial, and I quote from his letter toSenator HENRY F. ASHURST, chairman of the Senate JudiciaryCommittee, dated May 21, 1939:

I was present In San Juan during the progress of the first trialof Alblzu Campos for treason, and I was a guest of Governor Win-ship's at a cocktail party on the terrace of his residence a fewhours after the conclusion of that first trial through a disagree-ment of the jury. The party was a large one and the guests weremainly Americans-tourists and residents of San Juan-and upper-class Puerto Ricans. There was naturally a great deal of talkabout the trial, and much of this talk centered about JudgeCooper, who had presided. The comments were heatedly pro gov-ernment; and in my hearing condolences upon the miscarriage ofjustice were repeatedly voiced to the judge. These were receivedwithout rebuke. At that party a Puerto Rican friend of mineintroduced me to a Mr. Cecil Snyder as the prosecuting attorneyin the Campos case. We three withdrew for conversation to acorner of the terrace. My friend complimented Mr. Snyder uponhis brilliant summing up and deplored the jury's failure to bringin a conviction. Mr. Snyder assured him that he had alreadyreceived a despatch from Washington telling him to go ahead witha new trial and that the Department of Justice would back himuntil he did get a conviction.

Mr. Snyder drew a paper from his pocket and handed it to myfriend, saying "This Is to be my next jury. What do you thinkof them?" I recall that my friend was familiar with the nameand position of all but one of those listed, and that he assuredMr. Snyder that they could be counted upon for a conviction.This appeared to agree with Mr. Snyder's own knowledge. Thejury of the second trial of Albizu Campos contained several menwhose connections were identical with those in the list sub-mitted to my friend by Mr. Snyder. How the prosecuting attor-ney could determine in advance who would compose his nextjury, I don't know. I do state as fact that Mr. Snyder said, "ThisIs to be my next jury." I have subsequently given this informa-tion all possible publicity. The defense counsel at the Poncetrials asked me to come to Ponce to testify to what I knew aboutFederal prejudice. I was accompanied on the plane by the Fed-eral marshal of San Juan. He spent literally hours of the tripattempting to persuade me not to go to Ponce, not even to leavethe plane at San Juan. He urged me to put myself under hisprotection, to stay with him at the Condado Hotel, to meet hisfriends, who, he said, were the people I ought to know in PuertoRico, and to avoid association with friends of the defendants. Hewarned me that my life would be in danger from the moment Iset foot in Puerto Rico. From the moment of my arrival inPuerto Rico I was viciously attacked In the government-controlledevening paper. Before my appearance on the witness stand, itwas published that Cecil Snyder and the prosecuting attorney ofPonce, after a session together of some hours the night before,had agreed that I should not be permitted to testify. It wasrumored in Puerto Rico that if I did testify, I would be Imme-diately arrested.

A suggestion as to the origin of these rumors is contained ina statement attributed to Cecil Snyder and published in a recentissue of Ken. I was not permitted to testify, although theentire matter of my testimony was put into the record by thedefense counsel. You will recall that the Ponce trials resulted

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APPENDIX'TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORDin the acquittal of all the defendants. As a result of these ex-periences my own feeling is, naturally enough, one of serious dis-trust of Federal law enforcement in Puerto Rico. That this dis-trust is felt by innumerable thousands of Puerto Ricans we know.As an American citizen deeply concerned with the well-being ofAmerican citizens of all classes and races, and particularly con-cerned at this time with promoting the unquestioning loyalty ofall the American people to the principles of democratic govern-ment, I beg you to reflect seriously upon the reappointment ofJudge Cooper and of all or any of those Federal officials inPuerto Rico whose tenure of office has been coincident with, andwhose acts have presumably contributed to the growing populardistrust of our Federal Government which appears in Puerto-Rico today. We have a situation there that must be changed. Thewisest step would be a clean slate for a new clean start.

Sincerely yours,ROCKWELL KENT.

The trial took place, and by a prejudiced jury, by jurorswho had expressed publicly bias and hatred for the defend-ants, Campos and his colleagues were railroaded to jail.Mr. Speaker, these innocent men languish in Atlanta Peni-tentiary today because they Were convicted by a fixed jury,a jury representing the economic interests of Wall Streetin Puerto Rico. They did the bidding of Blanton Winship.An idea of what took place in the jury room is contained inthe following letter to President Franklin Delano Rooseveltby Elmer Ellsworth, one of the jurors.who convicted Cam-

pos:

DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I understand that a petition is being sub-mitted to you in behalf of clemency for the eight Puerto RicanNationalist prisoners, headed by Dr. Albizu Campos, now servingterms for seditious conspiracy in Atlanta prison. As one of thejurors who convicted them, I feel it is my duty to lay before you

* certain facts in connection with the jury's deliberations which mayenable you better to weigh the merits of their conviction. Imme-diately when the jury went out to deliberate I found myself to be-alone among the 12 men in opposing a conviction. In the 8 hoursof discussion the voluminous evidence was whittled down to fourfactors--one, a speech by Dr. Albizu Campos; another, a resolution

.of the Nationalist Party; third, an article by one of the defendantsin one of the party papers; and, fourth, a leaflet, signed by two of.the defendants. I finally agreed with my fellow jurors that ifTrial Judge Cooper held any or all of this evidence to be in viola-tion of law I would vote for conviction, and they, on their part,.agreed that if the judge held this evidence not to constitute aconspiracy they would vote to acquit. The form of question putbefore the judge was agreed upon and the foreman presented it tothe judge in open court. The judge expressed himself on thequestion in such language that I was obliged to arise in the jurybox and ask him whether he meant yes or no. Confronted withthe necessity for a definite answer, he finally replied in the affirma-tive. The jury thereupon retired and brought in a verdict inaccordance with the agreement. In making this statement to youconcerning the jury's deliberations, I cannot refrain from sayingthat my associates on the jury seemed to be motivated by strong,if not violent, prejudice against the Nationalists and were preparedto convict them, regardless of the evidence. Ten of the jurors wereAmerican residents in Puerto Rico and the two Puerto Ricans wereclosely associated with American business interests. It was evi-dent from the composition of the jury that the Nationalists did notand could not get a fair trial.

Very sincerely yours,ELMER ELLSWORTH.

This frame-up is one of the blackest pages in the history ofAmerican jurisprudence. The continuance of this incarcera-tion is repugnant to our democratic form of government; itis repugnant to our Bill of Rights and out of harmony withour good-neighbor policy. There is no place in America for

* political prisoners. As long as Puerto Rico remains part of

the United States, Puerto Rico must have the same freedom,the same civil li berties, and the same justice which our fore-fathers laid down for us. Only a complete and immediateunconditional pardon will in a very small measure right! thishistorical wrong.

Following the conviction of the Nationalist leaders, Gov-ernor Winship had his job-controlled and corrupt legislatureabolish the grand jury. Will not my colleagues be amazed toknow that there is no longer any grand-jury system in PuertoRico? It is significant to note that the grand jury hadexisted as an institution to investigate illegal practices ofpublic officials and Governors. Naturally Mr. Winship did notwant a grand jury. He did not want any investigation of hispublic officials, and particularly did he not want any investi-gation of himself, for he too well remembered that one of hispredecessors, former Gov. E. Mont Riley, had been indicted by

a grand jury. I am reasonably certain that despite thestrangle hold that Winship had over law-enforcement officialsin Puerto Rico, that if a grand jury had been in existenceduring the last year and a half, that Mr. Winship would havebeen indicted. I am certain that Benigno Fernandez Garcia,attorney general of Puerto Rico, would have had to act inresponse to the great public clamor that existed againstBlanton Winship's tyrannical activities, just as he acted inthe murder of Rosado and Beauchamp.

The massacres and killings which I have just describedfollowed such massacres as occured in Rio Piedras on Octo-ber 24, 1935, when four Puerto Rican Nationalist leaderswere killed by the police in a closed automobile and onewas badly wounded. Mr. Winship incidentally provokedthe Puerto Rican people in his speeches by his insults andhis intolerance. He must assume full responsibility for allacts of violence. Tyranny brings violence. Insults consti-tute provocation. Terror and persecution cause desperation.When we ask ourselves, "Can it happen here?" the PuertoRican people can answer, "It has happened in Puerto Rico."

2. MISRULE IS THE TWIN BROTHER OF TYRANNY

A comparative study of the reports of the attorneys gen-eral of Puerto Rico shows that under the administrationof Mr. Winship crime has increased about 50 percent.Instead of dealing with strikes in the American way, he at-tempted to call out the troops to suppress the dock strike,which was a peaceful strike. He deliberately sabotaged thewage-racket investigation. He was the spearhead of theconspiracy against the enforcement of the Fair Labor Stand-ards Act in Puerto Rico. He advised employers to ignorethe provisions of the law. He deliberately informed themto disregard the efforts of Dr. Robert W. Claiborne, who wasTerritorial representative of the Wage and Hour Divisionof the Department of Labor. In fact, he went so far as totry to frighten Dr. Claiborne by saying to him that he wouldnot be responsible for his personal safety if he tried toenforce the wage and hour law. Dr. Claiborne, incidentally,has been shot at three times since Mr. Winship's threats weremade. In fact, Winship went further, and on one occasionhe attempted to intimidate him. As I stated above, afterWinship was removed from office he exerted all efforts tohave the Fair Labor Standards Act amended so that itwould no longer protect the Puerto Rican workers.

He sabotaged the investigation of the racket in the legisla-ture. In a report filed by Campos del Toro, who is the FirstAssistant Attorney General of Puerto Rico, with the Secretaryof the Interior, Harold Ickes, on February 14, 1939, We find oneof the most shocking conditions in the history of contemporarygovernment. From this report we learn the following:

The investigation reveals that in the insular senate certain sen-ators, employees, and officers incurred irregularities, sets of misfea-

•sance, and law violations. As to the irregularities we may mention,among others, the following:

1. Failure to keep a register or record showing the domicile andresidence of each employee working in the insular senate.

2. Conferring verbal appointments to employees to do overtimework.

3. Failure to keep a record of the overtime work done by theemployees.

4. Failure to require that the interested party himself sign andcheck the pay roll showing his work.

5. Delivery of checks to persons other than the interested parties.6. Submitting to the office of the auditor of Puerto Rico uncertified

pay rolls.7. Submitting to the auditor's office pay rolls lacking the signatures

of the interested parties.8. Allowing that the interested party or employee testify by him-

self to the pay roll showing the work done by him without anyprevious investigation by a higher-up officer.

9. Certifying pay rolls signed by employees in the name of others,no one person appearing to be responsible for the presentation ofsuch pay rolls.

10. Approval of pay rolls without checking the items containedtherein in connection with overtime work.

11. Appointing persons to positions for which they were notadequately qualified, thus resulting that a person was appointedas a stenographer without knowing stenography and a person wasappointed as clerk without knowing how to read or write.

12. Approval of pay rolls of employees who did not attend thesenate to work or who were absent from Puerto Rico or workingI the P. R. R. A. or for private enterprises.

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APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD13. Appointment of persons as employees who had been con-

victed of public crimes and could not lawfully draw any com-pensation from the insular government because of their incapacityresulting from their not having been reinstated to the enjoymentof their civil rights.

The following are acts of misfeasance:1. Appointment of persons as employees who received compensa-

tion from the government without having rendered any servicetherefor.

2. Payment of salaries to women employees who did not renderany services to the people of Puerto Rico and unduly collectedsuch salaries through the influence of their senator friends or otherpersons.

The acts of infringement or violation of the law can be condensedas follows:

1. Appointment of employees to be paid from the "incidentalexpenses" in violation of the provisions contained in paragraph 11of article 34 of our organic act.

2. Appointment and payment of employees for overtime workwho are not employees of the insular government, thus contra-vening the provisions of section 2 of the Budget Act of 1938, whichauthorizes the auditor to pay extra compensation at the rate of75 cents per hour to those employees of the insular governmentwho may be utilized as such by the insular legislature or by thecommittee thereof. The validity of the said legal provisions ismuch debatable and doubtful. In our judgment it should beeliminated from the budget act.

3. Failure to take the oath of office and allegiance to the Con-stitution of the United States and laws of Puerto Rico beforetaking possession of the office or employ, as required by act No.93, approved May 13, 1936. In some instances, the oath wastaken after we required a certified copy thereof of the secretaryof the insular senate. In other cases, when we required a copyof the oath, it appeared that the oath had never been taken,although the employee had been acting as such for more than 8months. In a specific instance, the oath was never taken, and afterthe employee had been out of his employ and as a result of theinvestigation, the employee was called to take the oath, which wasmade effective as of the date on which he had been appointed.

4. Employees who did not render any service for which theycollected (sec. 83 of the Penal Code).

5. Employees and one senator who filed in the office of thesenate false and forged pay rolls and a forged oath of office (sec.114 of the Penal Code).

6. Employees who forged checks and appropriated for themselvesthe amounts thereof (sec. 413 of the Penal Code).

7. Employees who appropriated public funds for themselves with-out any authority (sec. 372 of the Penal Code).

In the same report we find that out of 356 employees whichhave been included in the pay rolls as working, the num-ber may be figured at 100 who actually worked. The other256 were dummies who received pay for no work at all,and in certain instances their checks were forged and themoney was collected and pocketed by politicians and sena-tors. The situation was so scandalous that Antonio Pomalles,secretary to the president of the senate, Rafael MartinezNadal, committed suicide after he had been questioned byCampos del Toro, the assistant attorney general, who hadbeen conducting the investigation.

All of this could not have happened without the Governorhaving known of it. In fact, consequently, he permitted thiscondition to exist. It is only natural that Mr. Winshipwould not punish supine legislators which had consistentlydone his bidding. The Governor deliberately went out ofhis way to hamper the Attorney General and his assistantin carrying out this investigation and prosecuting the cul-prits. The office of the district attorney was vacant, and for7 months Mr. Campos del Toro demanded an appointmentso that a prosecutor could take office and prosecute theguilty ones, and yet Mr. Winship never made the appoint-ment. He did not want to prosecute his pals. The linkbetween these racketeers and the Governor is found in theperson of Leslie A. McLeod, the auditor of the island.

I have filed charges against him. All checks had to passthrough his hands, and had to receive his approval, and thisman who has more power than the Attorney General ofthe United States put his stamp of approval to this racket.He was directly responsible to the Governor. He wouldnever have dared to overlook this corruption if he did notknow that it had the benevolent approval of the Governor.

Winship's sabotage of the 500-acre law and of the littleT. V. A. is well known throughout the island. Winship, thedarling of the public-utility interests and the protector ofthe sugar barons, wanted neither a little T. V. A. nor a500-acre law. He and his public-service commission were

responsible for the racket and monopoly in public convey-ance and for the desperate plight of chauffeurs.

He deliberately made appointments to the judiciaryagainst the advice of the Attorney General and yielded tothe pressure of the politicians. The courts naturally fellin complete disrepute under his -regime. His political ap-pointments to the bench caused general disregard of thecourts.

A congress was held in Puerto Rico called the economicconvention of Puerto Rico on March 12, 1939. It was com-posed of people representing all political parties, tradeunions, fraternal organizations, chambers of commerce, andall forms of business and agricultural groups. In his open-ing address Mr. Felipe L. De Hostos, president of the Cham-ber of Commerce of Puerto Rico, stated that "the economyand social structure of the island was in imminent danger ofdisintegration."

I have recently called the President's attention to the factthat over 1,000,000 persons in Puerto Rico, an island of1,800,000, are without work and food.

In my debate for more relief funds for .Puerto Rico Ipointed out the fact that 1,225,000 people were in sore needof relief. Small farmers on the island are being pushed offtheir land by unwarranted foreclosure proceedings broughtby Mr. Ernest Gruening to collect loans made for hurricanerelief, and yet, despite this despairing economic situation, Mr.Winship's regime will be known as a carnival and orgy ofsuperextravaganza.

While the people asked for bread, parties at the Governor'spalace were scandalously extravagant. While the mayor ofthe city of New York, a city of over 8,000,000 people, has athis disposal only one car which was purchased in the early.part of 1934 and is still being used by him, this CaribbeanNero has had at his disposal five cars purchased at a priceof $10,269.14, and costing the Government $4,796.93 a yearfor upkeep. These are the official figures given out for theyear ending December 31, 1938, by his own auditor, Leslie A.McLeod.

While the people starve and the economy of the island Isdiminishing to the vanishing point, Mr. Winship took care ofhis pals and friends and the political obligations of ErnestGruening.

Besides Winship's salary and his expenses for parties, en-tertainment and other carnivals for which the people ofPuerto Rico paid, the following is a most amazing list ofthe squandering of the public's funds.

He formed a tourist bureau, which experience has taughtus has brought no benefit to Puerto Rico, and the salariesalone for this tourist bureau amount to $75,000 annually.He then hired an advertising outfit by the name of Bu-chanan & Co., for which $60,000 annually is paid by thepeople of Puerto Rico. This advertising was not sufficient.He had to have more publicity. So for publicity purposes hehired Steve Hannegan, paying him an annual salary of$25,000 and expenses in the amount of $25,000. However,this was not enough publicity for Mr. Winship. He alsohired a Mr. Walter Wilgus, paying him the sum of $4,800a year. Then he needed a lobbyist. Here, however, I wantto be charitable to Mr. Winship. He was forced to make thefollowing appointment by none other than Ernest Gruening.I had defeated Mr. James J. Lanzetta for Congress. Mr.Lanzetta knew too much about Mr. Gruening's interferencein my political campaign. Mr. Lanzetta had to be taken careof, and Winship appointed him, at Gruening's request, to thetune of $10,000 a year, plus $2,800 for expenses. Of course,as I said before, Mr. Lanzetta is especially qualified to be alobbyist. His connection with the convicted Bruckner Phil-ippine bond scandal, and Mr. Bruckner's lobbying activitiesmake Mr. Lanzetta indeed exceptionally qualified.

Despite the fact that Mr. Winship had the Solicitor of theDepartment of the Interior at his disposal, the Departmentof Justice of Puerto Rico, as well as the Department of Jus-tice of the United States at his disposal also, he had to hirean attorney, a pal of his, Col. William C. Rigby, at $10,000a year salary and $2,800 for expenses. Another pal of his

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APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-also had to be taken care of, so he hired him as an at-torney for $4,000 a year, by the name of Col. Hugh C.'Smith. These gentlemen certainly did not perform onefunction that was very necessary and that was, to have toldMr. Winship to obey the Political Code of Puerto Rico, as-well as the laws of the United States of America.

Then he had to have a financial and economic adviser,Mr. Manuel Domenech, at a salary of $6,000 a year and $4,000expenses, even though there exists an insular treasurer at$6,000 a year who, under the organic act, is the Governor'sfinancial and economic adviser. A Governor, of course, has tohave secretaries-Walter Cope, secretary, at $4,800 a year.Then he had a have a private secretary, Mr. Fred Heins, at$4,000 a year.

Mr. Winship still had to have more publicity, so he has a-publicity secretary, Arnaldo Meyners at $3,600 a year. Thenbesides the $75,000 for salaries and other incidental expenses,which are paid for the Tourist Bureau, he had to have anadviser of the Tourist Bureau, Jack Paton, who was paid$4,000 a year. Then he had to have a director of the world'sfair exhibit, Mr. E. Gonzalez Geigel, at $10,000 a year. Hehas since resigned his post as member of the house of repre-sentatives from the district of Santurce to occupy his present$10,000-a-year position which formerly was occupied by hisuncle, Fernandez Geigel, in charge of the Bureau of Com-.merce. When there was no world's fair to take care of hispal he had a Puerto Rican Bureau of Commerce. Whenthe world's fair came along the Bureau of Commerce wasreorganized and placed under the jurisdiction of the PuertoRican exhibit at the world's fair.

This represents a total of direct personal patronage in theamount of $255,000 a year, saddled on the people of Puerto

-Rico. Many of these appointments were made in contra-vention of the organic act, and in certain instances withoutthe authorization of the legislature. He knew very well howto handle the legislature. He appointed members of thelegislature to other government-paid positions. In fact,he appointed some to occupy other and better positions, afterhaving permitted these legislators to obtain these positionsfor themselves, using their influence as members of thelegislature. This alone Is in violation of the law and war-ranted his removal.

At some other time, and at the proper occasion, I shallgive the story of nepotism in Puerto Rico, which was car-ried on only with the consent and approval of Mr. Winship.

In order to finance the extravaganza that I have herein-above mentioned, this island of honest people, who have beencrushed into abject wage slavery, is compelled to pay 100-percent tax on salt. Nowhere in the world has such a con-dition existed since the pre-Revolutionary days of the FrenchRevolution. It has been estimated that $15,000 a month isbeing squeezed out of the Puerto Rican people in the formof a tax on salt. This tax was imposed by the legislatureIn 1937 at the request of Mr. Winship.

The cost of government today in Puerto Rico is $58,-225,000 a year, which is a record. Government costs inPuerto Rico have doubled in the past 8 years. This moneyis not spent for the benefit of the people. It is spent in theform I have above.described. While he was throwing moneyaway on publicity and on lame-duck congressmen and on hisfriends he caused the closing of school children's lunchroomsbecause of the lack of $35,000. This was done while he wasthrowing away $100,000 on the pavilion of the world's fair,paying Mr. Lanzetta's salary, Mr. Rigby's salary, and Mr.Hannegan's salary, and so forth, at a cost of over $255,000a year. No lunches for school children but plenty of porkfor politicians and politicians' pals. Only an honest auditorcan tell the real story of extravagance and waste of funds.What I have given you is what I have been able to glean outof the present auditor's report, who has followed Mr. Win-ship's instructions implicitly and whom I now have undercharges.

In my written charges to the President I pointed out howMr. Winship had deliberately permitted the expenditure of$75,000 of the funds of the people of Puerto Rico for the

drawing of plans for the graving dock at San Juan. Thiswork was given out contrary to the organic act of PuertoRico to a pal of Mr. Winship's, Mr. Frederick Harris. Itwas unnecessary to spend this $75,000, as there existed plansin the office of the Commissioner of the Interior of PuertoRico which were similar to the plans that Mr. Harris fur-nished. But what did $75,000 mean to Mr. Winship as longas the tax on salt existed in Puerto Rico?

I do hope that the new Governor of Puerto Rico will readthis statement of mine and will make note that irrespectiveof what his political views may be that plain, ordinary hon-esty requires an end to this saturnalia of corruption and thisorgy of extravaganza which Mr. Winship foisted on thepeople of Puerto Rico with an iron heel. His first duty isplain. He must clean house and remove from the backs ofthe Puerto Rican people these parasites who are gorgingthemselves on the blood of the Puerto Rican workers whoare compelled to pay a 100-percent tax on salt.

Even the University of Puerto Rico was not left untouchedby Mr. Winship. The corruption and political racketeeringin this university astounded the members of a commissionappointed by the President of the United States to make astudy of conditions in the university. I shall not dwell atlength on their report as each member of the commission isfiling his own individual report. I can now prophesy thatthe collective report will be to the effect that it is better tohave no university at all than to have one under the presentexisting conditions. Is it any wonder that the satellites ofErnest Gruening and Mr. Winship, who were running theuniversity, conferred upon Mr. Winship a degree after thePresident had kicked him out of office? Their turn is com-ing, too. Just wait until the report of the commission ismade public. There are also now pending in the United-States Department of Justice complaints of irregularities inthe office of the Commissioner of Education of Puerto Rico.

Mr. Speaker, no matter what one's solution may be for-Puerto Rico, no matter what one may advocate as a perma-nent status for Puerto Rico, there is one proposition overwhich all honest men must agree, and that is that we cannotpermit corruption, graft, racketeering, nepotism, and wasteof the public's money anywhere where the American flagflies. Governor Leahy must clean house. His is the responsi-bility.. I shall w atchfully wait.

Mr. Winship resisted all efforts to bring the New Deal toPuerto Rico. He was out of harmony with the spirit andobjectives of the New Deal, and he persistently threw mon-key wrenches into the New Deal in Puerto Rico, and in allFederal agencies that were set up to help the people ofPuerto Rico. His efforts to obstruct the Puerto RicanEmergency Relief Administration are well known. Some ofhis speeches have been used by enemies of the New Deal asattacks upon the President and the President's policies. Hisappearance before the Ways and Means Committee was anold-fashioned Tory speech against the policies of FranklinDelano Roosevelt. He brazenly and shamelessly openly ca-vorted at public dinners with agents of General Franco inPuerto Rico. He encouraged the Spanish Fascist phalanx inPuerto Rico. Instead of stamping out the Nazi-Franco spieshe let them operate wide openly in Puerto Rico. The sit-uation was so noticeable that even Mr. Cecil Snyder, theUnited States attorney, has had to announce a drive on spiesin Puerto Rico. A Fascist-minded general, a Nero governor,playing ball with Fascist spies who have been propagandizingthe idea that Puerto Rico must be recaptured for the Franco-Spanish empire.

This, Mr. Speaker, is the record of the man who waskicked out, and who had the temerity to appeal to you tosuspend the rules and amend the Fair Labor Standards Actso that the people of Puerto Rico would be perpetuallychained to abysmal wage slavery.3. SUPPRESSION AND DISTORTION OF THE NEWS OF CONDITIONS IN

PUERTO RICO

Mr. Speaker, my colleagues may ask why it is that we havenot learned from the press of these conditions in PuertoRico. The answer is found in the control of the news services

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APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD

to the United States by Messrs. Gruening and Winship. Thetwo largest distributing news services are the Associated Pressand the United Press. Mr. Harwood Hull represents theAssociated Press and the New York Times in Puerto Rico.Mr. William O'Riley represents the United Press and the NewYork Herald Tribune in Puerto Rico. Both of these gentle-men are also parasites on the backs of the people of PuertoRico, placed there by Messrs. Gruening and Winship. Mr.O'Riley has been an employee in the insular government, ap-pointed through the Governor and his job was dependent onMr. Winship. Mr. Harwood Hull was appointed by Mr.Gruening in the Puerto Rican Reconstruction Administrationat the time that Mr. Gruening was in personal charge of thePuerto Rican Reconstruction Administration. Hence we findthe most unusual situation: That the representatives of thepress who send the news to the people of the United Stateswith regard to Puerto Rico are actually on the governmentpay rolls, whose strings are in the hands of the two men whoare considered the enemies of the people of Puerto Rico.Any news that they send must necessarily be news not offen-sive to either Mr. Gruening or Mr. Winship. Their jobsdepend on their remaining in the good graces of Messrs.Winship and Gruening.

Whenever an incident occurred, Hull would send a re-port, suppressing news that was unfavorable to Mr. Gruen-ing or to Mr. Winship. Mr. O'Riley would do the samething. The next day or even the same day, they would senda statement from Mr. Winship. If any questions were tobe asked in the States, the reporters would then call on Mr.Gruening, because of his position as director of the Divisionof Territories and Island Possessions of the Department ofthe Interior. Here again the public would receive biased andprejudiced versions from Mr. Gruening. Mr. Winship wouldthen follow up the press statement with an official report toMr. Gruening.

What chance have the American people had with thisset-up to receive any real news about Puerto Rico? I dotrust that both the Associated Press and the United Press,that both the New York Times and the New York HeraldTribune will investigate the tie-up and economic depend-ency of their representatives in Puerto Rico, Messrs. O'Rileyand Hull, with those who have been responsible for the 5years of tyranny in Puerto Rico.

Mr. Speaker, it is not the purpose of this statement todeal with Mr. Ernest Gruening, ex-liberal and former editorof the Nation, now repudiated by every single one of hisliberal friends. However, I must say that there is onlyone mitigating factor in Mr. Winship's favor, and that isthat since 1936 he became the tool, the veritable CharlieMcCarthy and the front man for Ernest Gruening. Everycommission and every omission of Mr. Winship were thedetailed execution of the machinations of the behind-the-scenes manipulator, Ernest Gruening. This maker of po-litical parties in Puerto Rico, this would-be maker of Con-gressmen from certain districts in the Union will be un-masked. Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, I promise you thatthis task will be fulfilled in the very near future.

Federal Pay Rolls Hit New High Point

EXTENSION OF REMARKSOF

HON. GEORGE H. BENDEROF OHIO

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESSaturday, August 5, 1939

Mr. BENDER. Mr. Speaker, the United States Civil Serv-ice Commission reports that the Federal pay roll is nowat the highest point in the history of our Government.Mounting steadily ever since the advent of the New Dealadministration, our Federal employees, exclusive of thoseworking on W. P. A., P. W. A., or the military forces of

the Nation, now number 925,260. This figure standing inisolation gives no fair conception of the tremendous in-creases which have occurred in the last 6 years. On March4, 1933, there were 563,847 men and women at work for theUnited States. Within the short period of the "brain trust's"domination of national affairs, 362,413 persons have beenadded to the taxpayers' burden.

To gain some fair idea of the changes which have oc-curred, we need only remember that the additional em-ployees added by the Roosevelt regime would be sufficientto populate the entire city of Indianapolis. Within the cityof Washington itself, 120,309 Federal employees are busily,at work. In 1933, there were only 66,802. The 53,507 addi-tional workers would fill a city the size of Decatur.

Never within the history of the Nation has there been sovast a civilian-employee group employed by the FederalGovernment. Even during the World War, the tremendousemergency needs of our Government did not require thenumber of workers now laboring for the Federal overlordsof our Nation. In 1918, only 117,103 men and women wereat work in Washington. There are more than 3,000 menand women over and above this war-time peak within theCapital today. There are 801,756 employees working outsideof Washington today. At the most critical point of theWorld War, there were 799,736 Federal employees scatteredthroughout the Nation. Yet even this figure has been passedby the fertile job creators of the New Deal.

The increase of employees has not been limited to anysmall group of governmental departments. In the Depart-ment of Justice, Attorney General Frank Murphy, who re-cently urged a billion-dollar slash in the Government's payroll and a cut of 1,000,000 employees from Federal, State,and local governmental units, the universal tendency to in-crease pay rolls has manifested itself with equal force. InJanuary, when Attorney General Murphy took his position,there were 8,918 employees on his rolls. Today there are9,605, a 7.7 percent increase.

Yes, indeed, the new dealers know how to create jobs.They are not jobs in private industry, to be sure. They areon the public purse. But to the New Deal there seemsto be no difference. To the rest of us the difference istaxingly obvious.

The Work of the Ways and Means CommitteeDuring the Past Session

EXTENSION OF REMARKS

or

HON. ALLEN T. TREADWAYOF MASSACHUSETTS

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESSaturday, August 5, 1939

Mr. TREADWAY. Mr. Speaker, looking back over the pastsession of Congress it becomes apparent that sanity in gov-ernment is on the way back and that the Congress Is grad-ually reasserting its legislative authority. This wholesomechange has been brought about in a large measure by themilitant Republican minority under the brilliant and effectiveleadership of my colleague from Massachusetts [Mr. MARTIN].

In the election of last fall the people expressed in no un-certain terms their dissatisfaction with New Deal failures.By increasing the Republican membership in the House from89 to 169 they made it possible for the minority, with theassistance of a small group of Democratic Members who putcountry above party, to muster sufficient strength to checkNew Deal waste and extravagance, to remove some of theImpediments which the present administration has placed inthe way of recovery, and to take definite steps toward therestoration of representative government.

After 6 years of New Deal bungling with the affairs of theNation a Republican tide has set in. As is evident from areview of events of the past session, the people have already.

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