GOV MUNOZ MARIN
US CONGRESS
1949
"The idea of allowing the people of Puerto Rico to draft and approve their own constitution in a manner similar to the way the States do when they are first admitted, would be a tremendous step forward in principle, although in practice the amount of self-government would not be very different, as it is now substantial."
____________________________________________________________
GOVERNOR LUIS
MUNOZ MARIN
Report Of The Governor Of Puerto Rico
Before The Committee On Public Lands Of The
House Of Representatives
July 12, 1949
Mr. Chairman and
members of the committee, I want first to take this opportunity, upon my first
visit to Washington since the election, to thank this committee for having
instituted this new form of government for Puerto Rico, which is symbolized by
the right of the people to elect their own chief executive after 453 years in
which they had not been empowered to do so.
I would like to
refer, before I end my remarks today, to this new form of government instituted
in Puerto Rico by act of this Congress through this committee. If it is
agreeable to the committee, I would like to express in general lines the
problems that we face in Puerto Rico. After that, if the members would like to
ask questions, I would be very happy to answer them to the best of my ability.
I think the best
way of envisaging the general basic problem of Puerto Rico and the best way of
expressing it is as the Chancellor of our University did some time ago in the
following manner: If you can imagine the population of the whole world moving
to the continental United States, then the population of the United States
would be the same per square mile as the population of Puerto Rico is today.
There would be about 640 inhabitants per square mile. If you further imagined
that most industries are wiped out from the continental United States and that all
petroleum and coal and iron and other minerals are eliminated, then you have
the problem that the people of Puerto Rico are facing.
We have a
population of 640 per square mile, based largely on an agricultural economy, which
we are now trying to convert into an industrial economy. You can see that the
task that we have is extremely difficult. I want to report to this committee,
however, that the people of Puerto Rico are facing the task with courage, with
initiative, and with real hope. In this hope they have been very greatly
encouraged by the action of this Congress in granting this measure of self-government.
What do we have to
do to solve the problem of so many people trying to live on an agricultural
economy? Mainly, we do two things. One, we try to increase production. Two, we try
to distribute what is produced as fairly as possible among the mass of the
people. The main factor is the increase in production. Obviously, if you don't
produce enough, it does not matter how fairly you distribute, there will not be
enough. We have to make production increase in Puerto Rico at a much faster
rate than it is increasing now, although it is increasing now at a faster rate
than it was a number of years ago. We have to make it increase at about three speeds
or four speeds, let us say.
One, of course,
faster than population grows; two, faster still so as to take up the lag of unemployment;
three, faster still so as to continue to raise the standard of living of the
population as a whole; four, faster still so that we will not be permanently
dependent on aid from the Congress.
We hope always to
have such aid as the states have, but we would like it not to be a matter of
life or death to the people of Puerto Rico. Of course, there are production goals,
health, education, and so forth to be considered. With health go the services
of pure water to the people. With education goes everything from elementary
education to our university. All those things are good in themselves and part
of the productive activity of Puerto Rico. The people know they have a hard
job, but they are tackling it with great courage and great hope.
In the last few
years we have abandoned what we might call the "operation lament" and
are now in the midst of "operation bootstrap". We are
trying to lift ourselves by our own bootstraps with the help that Congress has always
given Puerto Rico. I want to say that the people there deserve all the help
they can get because they are courageously helping themselves. They are not
just lying back and waiting for somebody to lend them a hand. They are doing
the utmost that they can to solve their problems. It is for that reason that
they deserve all the help they can get from Congress.
Perhaps you would be interested to know one
of the main things that we are doing to help the industrialization of the
Island. We have a twelve-year tax-exemption program which I want to explain in
some detail because there has been some misunderstanding about it up north. We exempt
from taxation industries that are defined in the law as new industries, which
number about 40 or 42. They are exempted from all taxation for twelve years. An
industry that obtained its exemption two years ago will have twelve years. An
industry that obtains it now would only
have ten years. An
industry that [will obtain] it next year would only have nine years. That is because
we want the exemptions to end at the same time for all industries so as not to
establish competitive differences at the time the twelve-year period
terminates.
Then there are three years more in which the taxes go on at the rate of
25 percent, 50 percent, and up to 100 percent. So it is a total of fifteen
years, but the total tax exemption is twelve years, all ending in 1959. The law
is two years old.
There has been
some talk about inducing industries or shops or factories to close in the states
and open in Puerto Rico on the basis of this exemption. I want to say that our executive council, which is the organism
entrusted by the law to grant or withhold this tax exemption, will not grant it
to any industry where it knows that it is going to close a factory in any state
or territory of the Union in order to open it in Puerto Rico. We want expansion
capital in Puerto Rico and not merely a transfer of industry from one part of
the American economy to another part of the American economy.
There are billions
of dollars of new capital produced by the American economy, of which we are a
part, every year, and what we need is just a small part of that new capital to
be invested in Puerto Rico so as to solve these difficult problems that I have
been pointing out.
If we are to have
even approximate full employment in normal times by 1960, let us say, we must
have an investment of $40 or $50 million a year average during that period.
Some of the investment comes from the Island itself. The Island itself produces
some capital accumulation, but most of it cannot come from the Island. I am
glad to have the opportunity of stating once more before the committee that it is no part of our policy to induce
industries or shops to close in any state to open in Puerto Rico. There has
been some misunderstanding about that; however, it has never happened. The
attitude is embodied in a resolution by our executive council that it will not
grant any tax exemption to an industry if that is going to be the case.
Education and
health are a part not only of the right of any democratic community but also of
any community that is battling to increase its own production. I would like to
say to the committee that this year more than 50 percent of the budget approved
by our Legislature is devoted to health and education. Even with a large
appropriation for education, we still have about 40 or 42 percent of the
children and youth of school age without access to schools. That is another
thing that gives you a measure of the seriousness of the problem we face in
Puerto Rico. Even spending such a large part of the budget on education, we
have that remaining need.
Health has been
considerably improved. The death rate from the beginning of the century has
gone down from about 30 per thousand to 12 per thousand. In the last 10 years,
since the 1940 census, it has gone down from 18 per thousand to 12 per
thousand. That is getting near the general average for the states as a whole,
which is about 10 point something per thousand.
Allow me to consider again the new form of government. In passing the
law allowing the people of Puerto Rico to elect their own Governor for the
first time, it is my view that Congress is practically giving shape to a new
kind of State.
You find no dependency anywhere in the world that
elects its own executive and legislative government. The step taken in Puerto
Rico is tradition-shattering. It is a completely new departure which does a
very high honor to the United States Congress and to the United States
President. It does create a new kind of State. It is not an old kind of State,
of course, but neither is it a dependency because it governs itself locally. It
is not an old kind of State because it has no voting representation in
Congress. Of course, it has no voting representation in Congress because it
pays no federal taxes.
We have there the respected principle of no
taxation without representation; but so far as local government is concerned,
for all practical purposes it is like a new kind of State. It has something
missing which I do not anticipate will be very difficult to correct. I want to
submit it for the consideration of you, gentlemen, now.
What is missing to
make Puerto Rico a new kind of State is that the people of Puerto Rico should
have the right to make their own constitution. This is a matter of great
importance as a principle. In practice, the constitution would probably be very
similar, certainly along fundamental lines, to the one now ruling by Act of
Congress.
In practice, the
people of Puerto Rico know that the Congress of the United States would not
impose a constitution upon the people of Puerto Rico against their objections.
The idea of allowing the people of Puerto Rico to draft and approve
their own constitution in a manner similar to the way the States do when they
are first admitted, would be a tremendous step forward in principle, although
in practice the amount of self-government would not be very different, as it is
now substantial.
The principle,
however, would be very important not only for the people of Puerto Rico, but
for the understanding of what the United States Congress and the Federal
Government are doing in Puerto Rico throughout the world at large. I am not
bringing that up as a proposal for the present session to act upon, as I know
it is too late this year; but I would like to leave it with you, gentlemen, for
your consideration for action during a future session.
There are many
other points we could touch upon; but I think if you, gentlemen, wish to
ask questions, we might cover more ground.
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