Puerto Rico; The Trials of the Oldest Colony in the World (pages 87-119)

In this chapters of the book José Trías writes about the Jones act, the Jones blues, the 30's, the elective Governor act, the establishment of the commonwealth and the big sleep. Just like what has happened when Spain was in control of Puerto Rico and with what is happening now with the U.S's control Puerto Rico was not payed much attention to. The Democratic Party began losing interest in all the colonies, though in 1904-12 it favored the independence of the Philippines and in 1904-1908 they favored a territorial government for Puerto Rico. In 1913, in Woodrow Wilson's presidential period, Woodrow's held that idea the the island should not be let go unless they were ready for independence, though he did not believe statehood was an option for any of the two states. he believed that they should train Puerto Rico and that it would one day be ready.
     Born in 1849, in Virginia, democrat William Atkinson Jones played a large role in helping both islands. he wanted to grant the Puerto Rican citizenship through a blanketed(collective) process. in 1912 he filed a bill that would provide a civil government for the island. They bill was refiled in 1914 after Jones had become chairman of the house committee on insular affairs. like his bill there was another bill set at the same time called the Shafroth bill which offered Puerto Rican citizenship through individual naturalization, but the Bureau favored the collective naturalization.
Quote: "Industrialization was almost nonexistent (page 99)"
Reaction: though it does not seem serious that industrialization was almost nonexistent, it is. In history i have learned that industrialization was taking  place almost in most places, and if they did not have it they started because it would would create jobs and money for the country. We also learned that even as the southern part of the U.S was based on Agriculture they still have some industries and that places like the North of the U.S was based almost solely on industries. with such a big success in industrializing i am surprised to find that Puerto Rico has not had any good effects but bad. As I read in the book earlier, in 1947 when industrialization begun the unemployment rate was at 11%, in 1994 it stood at 16%.