If the claim. always insisted on by the friends of protection. that import duties collected on foreign goods are paid by the foreigner and not by the consumer be correct. it results that during the eighteen months we have exercised sovereign authority in Puerto Rico we have taxed the people of that island over $2.000.000. The injustice of this tax is so manifest. the impropriety of its collection so clear. that the President of the United States has recommended that the moneys so collected shall be applied alone to the use of the Puerto Rican government. The differences in the considerations applying to the American and the Asiatic territories acquired through the recent cession by Spain are radical and do not require elaboration or discussion. Puerto Rico is essentially an American country. It lies almost within sight of our southern shores. and while its term of Territorial probation may necessarily be an extended one. there is no reason. in its geographical situation. in its industries. in its products. or in the character of its inhabitants. that precludes it at some future time from being admitted into the Union as an American State.