overnment interference
is necessary only when the people, instead of confining themselves
exclusively to their own particular affairs, presume to interfere with
the affairs of their neighbors.

"If every one, high and low, rich and poor, Porto Rican and Spaniard,
devotes himself strictly and exclusively to his own private or official
business, eschewing politics and public affairs, for the next year,
everybody will find at the end of that time that the island has been
well governed and prosperous, and your American fellow citizens will
proclaim you worthy of the good fortune which has united your destinies
to those of the great Republic.

"Permit me to add that as soon as the Spaniards have evacuated the
island, and the sovereignty of the United States is fully established, a
military governor will be appointed by the President, and he will govern
in the main in accordance with the principles I have indicated. How
long this military government will last must depend largely upon the
people of Porto Rico themselves.

"In the natural and regular course of events the military government
should be followed by a territorial government established by act of
Congress, and this in time should be followed in a few years by a
government which shall make Porto Rico a sovereign State of the great
Republic, and give it all the rights guaranteed by the constitution of
the United States.

"Permit me to add, before concluding, that you are likely to meet with
delay in the realization of your hopes from two principal causes.

"It is well known in the United States that Porto Rico is a Roman
Catholic country, and there is grave objection on the part of many good
people against the admission of a purely Roman Catholic State into the
Union. This is based not so much on opposition to that particular
religion as on the feeling that the domination of any sect would be
prejudicial to our principles of government. We have, perhaps, ten
millions of Roman Catholics in the United States, but they are scattered
throughout the various States, and intermingled everywhere with the
Protestant sects, so that no one has a majority. We have no established
Church, and under our policy Congress can pass no act concerning
religion or limiting the right of any citizen to worship God as he
pleases.

"The result is that all the churches are absolutely free, and none
concerns itself with politics. Each watches to see that the other does
not get control of