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The Art of the Possible: Luis Muñoz Rivera and the Puerto Rican Jones Bill

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Frank Otto Gatell
Frank Otto Gatell*
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
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Extract

The admission of Alaska and Hawaii into the Union as states has once again raised the question of Puerto Rico's constitutional status. Many islanders see the present commonwealth, very nearly the personal creation of Governor Luis Muñoz Marín, as a way station on the road to full membership in the American federal system. Independence sentiment, barring economic catastrophe, seems safely relegated to the realm of polemical fantasy. Thus the island's only tangible constitutional problem is its relation to the United States: should it be associated with, or an integral part of the mainland. No event in Puerto Rican history has been more important in shaping the course of the island's development than the grant of collective United States citizenship in the Jones Act of 1917. And no Puerto Rican politician of the era was more influential than Luis Muñoz Rivera, who embodied the dominant Unionista party in the same way that his son embodies the now dominant Popular party. Muñoz Rivera's role in the politics of the Jones Bill affords a revealing view of the difficulties of working within the framework of colonialism, and of being forced to reconcile aspirations with political realities.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , July 1960 , pp. 1 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1960

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References

1 There is no adequate biography of Muñoz Rivera. Among the available titles see Canet, Sebastián Dalmau, Luis Muñoz Rivera … (San Juan, 1917)Google Scholar; Ginorio, José González, Luis Muñoz Rivera … (New York, 1919)Google Scholar; and Acosta, C. Martínez, Luis Muñoz Rivera … (San Juan, 1948).Google Scholar It is to be hoped that the celebration in 1959 of the Muñoz Rivera centennial will bring the addition of some scholarly titles to his bibliography.

2 For one protest see Cay [etano] Coll, y Cuchí, , La Ley Foraker … (San Juan, 1904).Google Scholar

3 The bill called for a) collective U. S. citizenship for all Puerto Ricans, b) previously universal manhood suffrage to be restricted to literate persons, or those who owned taxable property, c) a popularly elected senate, and d) absolute veto power for the governor. Provisions and a defense of the bill by a Congressional supporter may be found in Report of the 28th Annual …Lake Mohonk Conference … (n.p., 1910), pp. 134–140.

4 Muñoz Rivera to [Pedro?] Elzaburu, Apr. 27, 1910, Rivera, Luis Muñoz, Campañas Políticas, Marín, Luis Muñoz, ed. (3 vols.; Madrid, 1925), III, 106–107.Google Scholar

5 Muñoz Rivera to Eduardo Giorgetti, Nov. 25, 1910, ibid., III, 108–109.

6 Muñoz Rivera to Stimson, Dec. 7, 1911, and Muñoz Rivera to Giorgetti, Jan. 17, 1912, ibid., III, 118-121, 125.

7 Muñoz Rivera to Giorgetti, Dec. 23, 1910, ibid., III, 112.

8 Muñoz Rivera to Giorgetti, Nov. 25, 1910, ibid., III, 109. Republicanos José C. Barbosa and Federico Degetau had both spent several years in the United States.

9 The Unionist party at the time of its founding in 1904 had called for complete autonomy for Puerto Rico, to be accomplished either through admission to the Union as a state, or through independence. See Gautier Dapena, José A., “Génesis, Fundación y Triunfo de la Unión de Puerto Rico,” Historia (Río Piedras, P.R.), 6, No. 1 (Apr., 1956), 3–34.Google Scholar

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14 Washington Star, Jan. 4, 1914 (clipping in WD/BIA, Personal File—Frank McIntyre).

15 Muñoz Rivera to Antonio R. Barceló, Dec. 26, 1912, Rivera, Muñoz, Campañas, 3, 139–141.Google Scholar His candidates in order of preference were Jorge Bird Arias, Félix Córdova Dávila, and Martín Travieso, Jr.

16 Wilson to Peter J. Hamilton, July 24, 1913, Wilson Papers, Library of Congress.

17 Edwin H. Woodruff to Garrison, Mar. 13, 1913, and Frederic R. Coudert to McIntyre, Oct. 8, 1913, WD/BIA, Personal File—Martín Travieso, Jr.

18 New York Times, Oct. 8, 1913.

19 Wilson to Hamilton, Apr. 22, 1913, Wilson Papers.

20 Congressional Record, 63 Congress, 1st Session, Appendix, pp. 18–19.

21 Hamilton to Wilson, Apr. 18, and July 21, 1913, Wilson Papers.

22 The upper house of the legislature consisted of eleven members, six of whom were heads of the executive departments. Five of the eleven men were required to be native Puerto Ricans. See Willoughby, W.F., “The Executive Council of Porto Rico,” American Political Science Review, 1 (Aug., 1907), 561–582.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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30 McIntyre, Memorandum, Dec. 6, 1913, WD/BIA, File 20325/27.

31 Muñoz Rivera to de Diego, Dec. 5, 1913, Rivera, Muñoz, Campañas, 3, 165–166.Google Scholar

32 “Fairfax” was one of the pen names used by Muñoz Rivera in political letters to his newspaper, La Democracia, Dec. 12, 1913, quoted in ibid., II, 257–261.

33 Garrison to Wilson, Feb. 16, 1914, Wilson to Garrison, Feb. 18, 1914, Wilson Papers.

34 New York Times, Feb. 26, 1914.

35 “ La ley … no nos satisface; no puede satisfacernos; pero ofrece campo a nuestra táctica.” Muñoz Rivera to Giorgetti, Feb. 27, 19[14], Rivera, Muñoz, Campañas, 3, 127–130.Google Scholar

36 Civil Government for Porto Rico; Hearings Before the Committee on Pacific Islands and Porto Rico on S. 4604, 63 Cong., 2nd Sess. (Washington, 1914), pp. 6–9.

37 Under the treaty of Paris of 1898, Puerto Ricans were declared to be “citizens of Porto Rico,” a meaningless term since sovereignty over the island passed into American hands.

38 Resolutions signed by de Diego, Mar. 12, 1914, WD/BIA, File 1286/131.

39 Cong. Record, 63 Cong., 2nd Sess., p. 4065.

40 Later in the session (June 13) Senator Saulsbury of Delaware introduced a Puerto Rican bill that called for territorial government and looked toward eventual statehood. It was never reported. Cong. Record, 63 Cong., 2nd Sess., p. 10378; New York Times, June 14, 1914.

41 Muñoz Rivera to de Diego, Mar. 24, 1914; Rivera, Muñoz, Campañas, 3, 176–179 Google Scholar; de Diego and Barceló to Yager, Mar. 23, 1914 (copy), WD/BIA, File 3377/184.

42 Yager to McIntyre, Mar. 25, 1914, WD/BIA, File 3377/182.

43 Muñoz Rivera to Wilson, Apr. 13, 1914, WD/BIA, File 1286/131. De Diego scored collective U. S. citizenship as a “ chain which will tie us forever to a perpetual colony ”; Santiago Iglesias, the Spanish-born Puerto Rican labor leader retorted that such citizen-ship would “ consolidate for all time the peaceful revolution brought about in 1898 ”; de Diego to Samuel Gompers, Apr. 8, 1914; Iglesias to Gompers, 29 Apr. 1914, copies in Iglesias Papers (in private possession).

44 Shafroth to Yager, May 1, 1914 (copy), WD/BIA, File 3377/199.

45 McIntyre to Yager, Apr. 17, 1914 (carbon copy), WD/BIA, File 3377/187; Muñoz Rivera to Barceló, Apr. 14, 1914, Rivera, Muñoz, Campañas, 3, 179–181.Google Scholar

46 Yager to McIntyre, May 20, 1914, and McIntyre, Memorandum, May 22, 1914, WD/BIA, File 3377/200 and 202.

47 Yager to McIntyre, June 10, 1914, WD/BIA, File 3377/207.

48 Wilson to Jones, June 25, 1914 (carbon copy), Jones to Wilson, June 26, 1914, Wilson Papers.

49 During a conference wtih McIntyre, Muñoz Rivera was reminded that during Governor Colton's administration is was tacitly understood that the gubernatorial veto was to be the price for an elective senate. To this he responded lamely that times had changed. McIntyre, Memorandum, May 22, 1914, WD/BIA, File 3377/200.

50 Muñoz Rivera to Román Siaca Pacheco, July 10, 1914, Rivera, Muñoz, Campañas, 3, 186–188.Google Scholar

51 McIntyre to Yager, July 22, 1914 (carbon copy), WD/BIA, File 3377/214; Wilson to John Sharp Williams, Aug. 21, 1914 (carbon copy), Wilson Papers.

52 The appointees were Travieso, a Unionist (“ but not of the Muñoz Rivera stripe ”), and Manuel V. Domenech, a Republican. Hamilton to Wilson, Oct. 27, and Nov. 25, 1914, Wilson Papers.

53 De Diego to Wilson, Mar. 10, 1915 (cable), Garrison to Wilson, Mar. 12, 1915 (carbon copy), Wilson to Garrison, Mar. 15, 1915, WD/BIA, File 3377/223 and 224.

54 Muñoz Rivera to de Diego, Dec. 8, 1914, Rivera, Muñoz, Campañas, 3, 191.Google Scholar Muñoz Rivera was less optimistic a few months later: “ Nuestra política se desenvuelve, ó, más bien, se estanca, en condiciones de terrible amargura. Mientras el control real, effectivo, de la administración no venga a manos de los elementos insulares; mientras la cotterie burocrática aplique las leyes y gaste a su antojo las rentas públicas, todos los partidos necesariamente, inevitablemente fracasarán a la corta ó a la larga, porque los burócratas necesitan que fracasen y tienen recursos múltiples para desprestigiarlos y anularlos ”; Muñoz Rivera to Travieso, Feb. 19, 1915, Travieso Papers (in private possession).

55 Yager to McIntyre, Apr. 24, 1915, WD/BIA, File 26490/23; Yager to McIntyre, May 8, 1915, WD/BIA, File 875/71. The dangers of de Diegoism were brought to Wilson’s attention by Judge Hamilton, who maintained that as soon as an organic act were passed, the danger would cease: “They are rather a child race, easily led away by appeals to sentiment ”; Hamilton to Wilson, June 2, 1915, Wilson Papers; de Diego’s views may be found in de Diego, José, Nuevas Campañas (Barcelona, 1916).Google Scholar

56 Muñoz Rivera to Barceló, June 28, 1915, Rivera, Muñoz, Campañas, 3, 202.Google Scholar

57 P. Merrill Griffith to Robert Lansing, Aug. 5, 1915 (copy), WD/BIA, Personal File-José de Diego; George R. Colton to Joseph P. Tumulty, Aug. 17, 1915, WD/BIA, File 26429/44.

58 Muñoz Rivera to de Diego, Sept. 23, 1915, Rivera, Muñoz, Campañas, 3, 203–205.Google Scholar

59 Rivera, Muñoz in La Democracia, June 14, 1915, quoted in ibid., 2, 269–270 Google Scholar; Barbosa, in El Tiempo, Aug. 12, 1915,Google Scholar quoted in Barbosa, José Celso, Orientando al Pueblo, 1900–1921, de Rosario, Pilar Barbosa, comp. (San Juan, 1939), pp. 121–123.Google Scholar

60 Hamilton to McIntyre, Aug. 21, 1915, WD/BIA, File 3377/226.

61 La Democracia, Oct. 8, 1915, quoted in Rivera, Muñoz, Campanas, 2, 291–292.Google Scholar

62 Travieso to C. G. Walcutt, Oct. 9, 1915; Walcutt to Travieso, Oct. 18, 1915 (carbon copy), WD/BIA, File 719/37 and 38.

63 [Muñoz Rivera] to McIntyre, Oct. 30, 1915 (cable), WD/BIA, File 719/39.

64 One Unionist recalls that Muñoz Rivera told him at Miramar: “ Desengáñese, amigo Lebrón. Nosotros seremos eternamente americanos.” Rodríguez, Ramón Lebrón, La Vida del Prócer (San Juan, 1954), p. 47.Google Scholar

65 At Muñoz Rivera’s insistence the election of the party president was by vote of local committees, and not by the convention delegates, as was customary. Travieso to Yager, Nov. 16, 1915 (carbon copy), Travieso Papers.

66 Travieso to McIntyre, Nov. 17, 1915, WD/BIA, File 719/46.

67 Yager to McIntyre, Nov. 17, 1915, WD/BIA, File 719/40; Muñoz Rivera to Rosario Canales, Dec. 30, 1915, Rivera, Muñoz, Campañas, 3, 207.Google Scholar

68 Muñoz Rivera to Wilson, Nov. 26, 1915; Wilson to Muñoz Rivera (carbon copy), Nov. 30, 1915, Wilson Papers.

69 La Democracia, Jan. 18, 1916.

70 El Tiempo, Jan. 10, 1916.

71 Sweet had served in the House as a Republican Representative from Idaho. He went to Puerto Rico as Attorney General in 1903, and later became editor of the English section of El Tiempo.

72 Todd to Barbosa, Feb. 15, 1916, Barbosa Papers (in private possession).

73 La Democracia, Jan. 28, and Feb. 24, 1916.

74 Sweet to Barbosa, Feb. 1, and 4, 1916, Barbosa Papers.

75 Sweet to Barbosa, Feb. 14, 1916, Barbosa Papers; Yager to Travieso, Jan. 21, 1916, Travieso Papers.

76 Sweet to Barbosa, Mar. 1, and 9, 1916, Barbosa Papers.

77 McIntyre to Yager, Feb. 18, and 25, 1916 (carbon copies), WD/BIA, File 3377/247 and 250. The year before Muñoz Rivera had warned against sending any commissions to Washington, La Demoracia, quoted in Rivera, Muñoz, Campañas, 2, 274–277 Google Scholar.

78 Cong. Record, 64 Cong., 1st Sess., pp. 4021–4022.

79 La Democracia, June 3, 1916.

80 Cong. Record, 64 Cong., 1st Sess., pp. 7470–7472.

81 Ibid., pp. 7481–7483; McIntyre to Yager, May 12, 1916 (carbon copy), WD/BIA, File 3377/268.

82 Cong. Record, 64 Cong., 1st Sess., pp. 7483–7484, and Appendix, pp. 1036–1037.

83 Ibid., pp. 8461–8462.

84 Ibid., pp. 8510–8511.

85 La Democracia, June 16, 1916.

86 McIntyre to Yager, Sept. 7, 1916 (carbon copy), WD/BIA, File 3377/293.

87 La Democracia, Sept. 9, and 12, 1916.

88 McIntyre to Muñoz Rivera, Sept. 15, 1916 (carbon copy), WD/BIA, File 1028/45.

89 Muñoz Rivera to Barceló, Aug. 8, 1916, Rivera, Muñoz, Campañas, 3, 219–220.Google Scholar

90 Yager to McIntyre, Sept. 15, 1916, WD/BIA, File 3377/294.

91 La Democracia, Sept. 20, 1916.

92 Ibid., Sept. 21, and Oct. 4, 1916; from then on the paper carried a daily report on Muñoz Rivera’s condition.

93 He was suffering from a liver infection. Travieso to McIntyre, Nov. 15, 1916, WD/BIA, Personal File—Luis Muñoz Rivera.

94 La Democracia, Nov. 11, 1916; Travieso to Yager, Nov. 15, 1916 (carbon copy), Travieso Papers.

95 Travieso to Barceló (carbon), Nov. 20, 1916, Travieso Papers. Writing in his father’s paper, eighteen-year old José Luis Muñoz Marín promised: “¡Borinquen! … Si algún día necesitas mi sangre, cuenta con ella; es sangre roja; la misma que corría por sus venas.” La Democracia, Dec. 2, 1916.

96 Yager to McIntyre, Dec. 6, 1916, WD/BIA, File 3377/305; Barceló quoted him as saying: “ El Bill Jones es la primera base de nuestra evolución.” La Democracia. Jan. 5, 1917.

97 McIntyre to Yager, Mar. 2, 1917 (carbon copy), WD/BIA, File 3377/335.