Speech #710097604

I refer to the people of Porto Rico. of whom there are about 1.500.000. To listen to some of the remarks made on the floor of the Senate in the last few days in the debate on sugar one might have supposed that the people of Porto Rico do not belong to the same race we do but to an inferior race. Anyone traveling in that country. particularly in the interior. is surprised to find how very large a proportion of the people of the island are of the Caucasian race. being descendants of Spanish immigrants. Porto Rico belonged to Spain nearly 100 years after most of her possessions had become independent. It was one of the favorite places for emigrants to go from Spain. A very large part of the population of Porto Rico is pure white. I refer not merely to the more wealthy part of the population but to a very large part of the poor part of the Porto Ricans. who are just as pure white people as any of us.