Monday, Jan. 30, 1928
"Children of . . . God"
Although Porto Ricans are U. S. citizens, and although their island has been part of the U. S. since 1898, an appeal was transmitted, last week, to President Coolidge, asking that Porto Rico might be constituted "a free state."
Signers of the appeal were President Antonio Barcelo of the Porto Rican Senate and Speaker of the House Jose Tous Soto. Cabled they: "Ours is the only Spanish-American country whose voice is not heard in Havana during the Pan-American Conference. . . . Justice, nothing but, justice, is what we ask as citizens of America, as faithful Christians and as children of Almighty God, who gave to us the same inalienable rights which your great republic knew how to invoke when declaring for independence at the memorable Philadelphia Convention."