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| b. Puerto Rico |
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(See 1901, May 27, Dec. 2)| |
| 1915 |
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| Santiago Iglesias founded the Puerto Rican Socialist Party (PS). As part of a growing militant labor movement, based in both the urban and the rural sectors, Iglesias led strikes, helped found labor unions, and struggled against the invasion of U.S. goods and capital. | 1 |
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| 1917, March 2 |
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| The JONES ACT, making Puerto Rico a territory and granting U.S. citizenship to its inhabitants. Voting was made compulsory. Proportional representation was established by means of a “limited vote” for certain senators and representatives. It was further provided that U.S. internal revenue collections on the island should be paid into the Puerto Rican treasury. (Subsequently permission was accorded the island to collect U.S. income tax for the benefit of the local treasury.) With such assistance, the budget of the insular government increased from about $2 million in 1901 to $11 million in 1924. More than half of these funds were derived from what would normally be federal taxation. At the same time, however, the island continued to be run by appointed governors from the mainland United States with little experience or knowledge of Puerto Rico. | 2 |
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| May |
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| The U.S. having declared war on Germany, the selective draft was extended to Puerto Rico by request of the insular government. Some 18,000 men were inducted into service. | 3 |
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