Word: questionable
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Dates: during 1900-1900
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...Mayer '00 opened the debate, and said: "We are met this evening to discuss a question of the hour. Not for years has the country been so stirred over a matter of pure legislation as over the status which Congress shall decide upon for Porto Rico. This is a live, practical question, one that invites the sober consideration of every American. The decision of the American people on this question will decide whether we are to continue along that line of development which we have successfully followed since the beginning of our national existence...
...Yeomans '00, the second speaker for the affirmative, after calling attention to the advantages of the affirmative policy as an emergency measure, declared that the more important question is one of permanent policy. "Consul Hanna, in his report for last year, declared that the time will not come for American business men to develop the island until it has American government and until the laws of the United States are enforced...
...great industrial need of Porto Rico is capital. Any policy by which we expect to solve the Porto Rican question must provide for the introduction of capital and the resulting commercial development. To place Porto Rico within our customs boundary is the very policy which meets this requirement. It is the only measure which guarantees permanent economic conditions, without which capitalists will never invest. Second, it provides that the capital attracted to the island shall be American, and that Porto Rico shall be developed along American lines...
...Congress has power to legislate outside our boundaries where the constitutional limitations do not apply. The main question is, how long may we legislate for Porto Rico in its present political status? This, like the question as to how long we may hold New Mexico and Alaska as territories must be settled on the ground of pure legislative expediency. Considering the best interest of Porto Rico it is inexpedient to make the island a part of the United States...
...Morse '00, after summing up the case as thus far stated, proceeded to say that the question involves a moral obligation incumbent on the United States: "Just before our occupation of Porto Rico the Spanish government granted the island more beneficent privileges than any other Spanish colony enjoyed. Yet the people accepted American occupation willingly, relying on the promise of General Miles that they should enjoy the same privileges and immunities as the people of the United States. One of those privileges was equal trade rights with every other part of the United States...