roduction, and social and private right in
general. The cities of the island are governed under charters which
probably require very little or no change. So that with relation to
matters of local concern and private right, it is not probable that
much, if any, legislation is desirable; but with reference to public
administration and the relations of the island to the Federal
Government, there are many matters which are of pressing urgency.
The same necessity exists for legislation on the part of Congress to
establish Federal courts and Federal jurisdiction in the island as has
been previously pointed out by me with reference to Hawaii. Besides the
administration of justice, there are the subjects of the public lands;
the control and improvement of rivers and harbors; the control of the
waters or streams not navigable, which, under the Spanish law, belonged
to the Crown of Spain, and have by the treaty of cession passed to the
United States; the immigration of people from foreign countries; the
importation of contract labor; the imposition and collection of internal
revenue; the application of the navigation laws; the regulation of the
current money; the establishment of post-offices and post-roads; the
regulation of tariff rates on merchandise imported from the island into
the United States; the establishment of ports of entry and delivery; the
regulation of patents and copyrights; these, with various other subjects
which rest entirely within the power of the Congress, call for careful
consideration and immediate action.

It must be borne in mind that since the cession Puerto Rico has been
denied the principal markets she had long enjoyed and our tariffs have
been continued against her products as when she was under Spanish
sovereignty. The markets of Spain are closed to her products except upon
terms to which the commerce of all nations is subjected. The island of
Cuba, which used to buy her cattle and tobacco without customs duties,
now imposes the same duties upon these products as from any other
country entering her ports. She has therefore lost her free intercourse
with Spain and Cuba without any compensating benefits in this market.
Her coffee was little known and not in use by our people, and therefore
there was no demand here for this, one of her chief products. The
markets of the United States should be opened up to her products. Our
plain duty is to abolish all customs tariffs between the United States
and Pue