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Beyond Nationalism. Politically, Muñoz clung to his aspiration for eventual Puerto Rican independence until 1944. "That year," he recalls, "the Popular Party got 64% of the vote as against 38% in 1940. The Planning Board had written a paper on the economic consequences of independence, of being shut out of U.S. tariff walls. A Tariff Commission economist came down here, and I had two or three long talks with him. I said: 'Of course Puerto Rico cannot be independent in the same way as the Philippines, which have greater resources and lower population density, but let's see if it's possible to work something out.' He said: 'Suppose the U.S. gave Puerto Rico freedom and also free trade with the U.S.; other countries with most-favored-nation clauses in their treaties would demand it, too.' The whole treaty relationships of the U.S. would be messed up.
"Came the 1948 election. We outlined what later became the commonwealth relationship to the U.S. I got 61% of the vote. I remember that I was speaking at a roadside, and there was a big Negro standing there. I said to him: 'Independence is not an issue.' He said: 'I'm glad,' and made a gesture of cutting his own throat."
Muñoz' thinking from that year went "beyond nationalism." Working with his staff and with the U.S. Congress, he wrote a bill that invented the concept of a "free, associated state." It was enacted "in the nature of a compact" between Congress (which approved it in 1950) and the Puerto Rican people (who ratified it in a referendum). Chiefly, the bill authorized Puerto Rico to write itself a constitution for complete local self-government and provided for U.S.-Puerto Rican relationship. Main effects:
¶ Congress can no longer overrule island legislation.
¶ Puerto Ricans continue to have no voting representative in Congress and cannot vote for the presidency (unless they move to one of the states)—but pay no U.S. income taxes.
¶ Federal laws, including the draft, apply with pertinent exceptions, notably the minimum wage laws. ¶ Courts are locally appointed; appeals go to the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals and then the Supreme Court in Washington.
Says Adolf Berle: "Puerto Rico has independence in everything except economics, defense and foreign relations—and these three are international by hypothesis."* Moreover, the commonwealth concept is free to evolve, perhaps in the line of further shucking off of federal laws, or unlinking courts from the U.S. system. President Eisenhower long ago promised to recommend that Congress give Puerto Rico independence any time the islanders vote for it. Moscoso says Puerto Ricans sense their freedom because they "are in a room with the doors open."
But Bootstrap's hard pull has by no means yanked Puerto Rico to its announced objective of full employment; 13% of the labor force of 636,000 have no jobs (v. 18% at present in Detroit). Main reason: the natural increase in population keeps pace with industrialization. "There is an old saying here that a man must do three things during life: plant trees, write books and have sons," sighs Muñoz. "I wish they would plant more trees and write more books."