flag. These citizens are no more loyal, no more proud of their American heritage and no more devoted to American principles than are the noncitizens who live there. These citizen inhabitants are largely temporary and transient residents-members of the Army, Navy, and Air Force and their families, or employees of contractors and their families. They find in Guam a completely American community, with the American language, American education, American clubs, American business enterprise, and American social institutions. I believe I speak for all the people of Guam, whether citizens or nationals, when I speak in support of S. 1892, to provide a civil government for the island possession. Passage of this bill will meet with universal acclaim. Enactment of an organic law for Guam is justified and required for three principal reasons. First, the American way of life calls for it. Our Nation was founded on the principles of self-government. As each territory of the United States has developed and become populated with mature, responsible, educated people, it has been granted rights of self-government. At this point, I wish to state unequivocally that the people of Guam do not envision or desire statehood at any future time. The legislation under consideration contains no promise, direct or implied, of statehood. With citizenship and the addition of Guam to the United States as an unincorporated Territory with powers of government defined by the United States Congress, they will be happy and contented as to their political ambitions. They will have the foundation for fulfilling their own destinies economically, politically, and socially. Second, self-government is essential to the growth of a self-reliant and self-supporting population. Self-government will provide the greatest possible stimulus to acceptance of responsibility by island residents for their own government and their own affairs and responsibility for the support of their community and private activities. Government from Washington by Executive action has never provided satisfactory local handling of local problems and in the States of this Nation. For distant territories it is no better. With local solution of local problems there comes local acceptance of responsibility. Responsible self-government will be far more economical for the Treasury than government imposed from Washington with final decisions based on considerations in Washington instead of in the territory. Third, self-government will stimulate commercial, agricultural, and industrial growth. With a responsible legislature, with an executive branch with clear but limited powers, and with a Federal and local court system officially established as part of the great system of American courts which protect private rights and private property as well as the public interest, the island can become an economic asset to the United States as well as a strategic base of great value. With the best harbor in the western Pacific and with fine airfields and a trans-Pacific cable station, Guam is already a commercial, transportation, and communications center. With the foundation provided by an organic act, it can become a vital link in our economic life line to southeast Asia and to Japan. A substantial growth of business can be expected if this act is passed to provide political stability for the community. Guam is unique in our areas of United States responsibility in the Pacific. In half a century its people have become completely Americanized. The permanent residents of the island are a native people only in the sense that each of us is a native of his State of birth. They associate with Americans native to other parts of the country on terms of complete intellectual and social equality. The children of the permanent residents of the island graduate from our local high school-the George Washington High School-side by side with Americans born in Kansas or California and go on to colleges in the continental United States with equal ability and with equal credit to their parents and the community of their childhood. This bill has had the benefit of thorough legislative study. A subcommittee of the House Public Lands Committee, headed by a fine gentleman with many decades of experience in State government, former Governor of New Mexico John Miles, assisted by other members with outstanding knowledge of governmental affairs, investigated Guam's capacity and qualifications for self-government last fall. Three days of exhaustive hearings on the island coupled with independent investigation, in which they had the able assistance of the clerk of this committee, Mr. Mills Astin, led them to recommend this legislation unanimously. I think this committee can rely fully and completely on the objectivity and reliability of that investigation and can accept the House committee's recommendations without hesitation or fear of disappointment or later disagreement. At this period of crisis in the Far East, thinking people will want to consider the effect of granting self-government to the people who inhabit a strategic naval, military, and air base near the orient. Granting of self-government and citizenship can only act to strengthen the island and the base. A self-reliant civilian community frees the military forces of a heavy responsibility. It will assist and help to support the military forces through provision of many business and recreational facilities, government services, and the maintenance of law and order all of which would otherwise be a constant concern of the military forces. Also, the granting of citizenship and self-government, in itself, will be a powerful psychological and political weapon in our dealings with the independent peoples of the Far East. They are watching closely to see if Uncle Sam's professions of democratic ideals are borne out in his treatment of a people who have been under the American flag for over half a century and have demonstrated their intense devotion to that flag in peace and in war. Much of the legislation which is presented to the Congress asks for protection of some kind. The people of Guam have had enough paternalistic protection. They want emancipation. This bill would let them stand on their own feet and do things for themselves. Much of the legislation presented to the Congress asks for authorization for future Federal spending. This bill is an authorization for future Federal savings. On behalf of the people of Guam, I earnestly plead for enactment of a law which will benefit both the United States and Guam, which will satisfy American ideals, strengthen our country, and bring happiness to many thousands of loyal Americans. (NOTE. During the hearings on H. R. 49 the question was raised as to whether, in the event favorable action were taken upon the bill, other territories and insular possessions of the United States might expect or feel that the Congress was by its action obligated to grant statehood to those territories or possessions.) (The following message, referring to Guam, was received by the committee from Hon. Carlton Skinner, the Department of the Navy's civilian governor of that insular possession.) Senator JOSEPH C. O'MAHONEY, WASHINGTON, D. C., May 3, 1950. Chairman Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C.: I am informed that in hearings before your Committee on Hawaiian Statehood a question was raised as to a possible obligation to grant statehood to Guam. Please inform the committee that the people of Guam do not envision or desire statehood. They do ardently desire passage of your bill S. 1892 now being considered by your committee which will give them the citizenship and right of self-government which they have patiently sought for the 51 years that they have been under the American flag. The bill for organic act on which Senator Anderson's subcommittee has already held an excellent and sympathetic hearing contains absolutely no promise direct or implied of statehood for Guam. By its language describing Guam as an unincorporated Territory the pending bill clearly rejects the possibility of statehood. With citizenship and self-government provided in your bill S. 1892 the people of Guam will be happy and contented as to their political ambitions, and will have the foundation they need to fulfill their destinies politically, economically, and socially. CARLTON SKINNER, Senator ANDERSON. At this time, for the record, I would like to submit the statement of Teller Ammons, former Governor of the State of Colorado, and a highly respected citizen of that State. Governor Ammons visited Guam; in fact, he has been there several times, and he desires to go on record strongly in behalf of the organic act for the area. Senator CLINTON ANDERSON, AMMONS & BRomley, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR: It was my hope that I could appear before your Committee on Interior Affairs and testify in favor of the Organic Act for Guam. I have just been informed by wire that the hearing is definitely scheduled now at 10:30 a. m. Wednesday, April 19. Urgent matters in the office deny me the privilege of being present at the hearing; therefore, I am taking this means of addressing you and your committee in regard to this subject. During the war, I served for 16 months on Guam with the United States Marine Corps, as special investigator of crimes committed by the Japanese against the natives during the Japanese occupation. I also served as judge of their court and prosecuted the war criminals before a military commission. By virtue of these assignments and the necessary contact with the people, I learned of the great patriotism of these fine Americans and became very much interested in them and their problems. I found them to be highly intelligent, extremely patriotic, and very desirous of adapting themselves to the full obligations and the full benefits of being citizens of the United States. I sincerely believe that they are fully qualified to conduct their own government, as a political subdivision of the United States. I again had the pleasure of visiting Guam and her people during the months of January and February of this year, 1950. At that time, I discussed with them their feeling in regard to the organic act, and found that they are very much in favor of it. I also discussed all these matters with Governor Carlton Skinner and with the representatives of the Guam Congress, with whom I am well acquainted, and I am satisfied that the welfare of these people will best be served by the passage of the organic act. Therefore, being unable to be personally present in Washington for the hearing, I take this means of concurring in statements and evidence presented to you by these fine people, and hope that your recommendations will be favorable to the passage of this act. You have my permission to read this letter to your committee, if you so desire. With best personal regards, I remain, Sincerely yours, TELLER AMMONS. Senator ANDERSON. You may continue, Governor Skinner. Governor SKINNER. May I introduce Mr. Francisco B. León-Guerrero, a member of the Guam Congress and a member of the officially appointed committee to represent the Guam people in these hearings. Mr. León-Guerrero. STATEMENT OF FRANCISCO B. LEÓN-GUERRERO, MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF COUNCIL OF THE GUAM CONGRESS Mr. LEÓN-GUERRERO. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, my name is Francisco B. León-Guerrero. I am chairman of the judiciary committee of the house of council, the upper house of the Guam Congress, and with Mr. Won Pat, have been appointed by the Guam Congress to appear before your committee. It is a privilege to appear before you today as an elected representative of a forgotten people. It is an honor that carries appreciated responsibilities, responsibilities that concern Guam and its people. We are here with a petition involving the destiny of a people who have been and shall always be Americans in fact if not as yet in name, and a people who, we justly and proudly feel, are entitled to the name and all that it implies, and whose destiny lies in your hands. We stand before you today not to ask for any material help or to take up much of your valuable time, but to seek simple justice for our people of Guam. We are not asking for anything beyond our limitations; we are here today for the sole purpose of seeking the realization of a long-expected action on the part of the Congress of the United States. Before the treaty ceding Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States was ratified by Congress on April 11, 1899, we accepted American sovereignty without question pending congressional determination of our civil rights and political status. Our loyalty has never been questioned. There has been and always shall be only one "ism" in Guam and that is Americanism. We are proud of our record during peace and war. Without treachery to the former sovereignty, a few Guam boys are American veterans of the Spanish-American War. In World War I, Guam boys served in the Army, Navy, and Marines, and no one had to be drafted. We even had 17 percent of our total population voluntarily organized and actually performing military duty as ordered, before the United States joined the Allies. We realized only too well that should the enemy then have been our Japanese neighbors, our fate as a militia unrecognized by our Nation could only be imagined. It was not our fault that the enemy was then too far away and too busy to be able to visit us. During World War II, however, we were very much in it. We were represented in the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Seabees. Our insular guard, consisting of a handful of Guam boys, together with a couple of marines, fought a pitched battle in Agana, Guam, against overwhelming odds. Our country's war casualties started simultaneously at Pearl Harbor and Guam. Our Guam boys overseas fought side by side with other American boys and for 32 long months the rest of us became prisoners in Guam-Guam, the only American soil ever captured and retained by an enemy throughout the entire history of the United States. We were physically helpless, and were enslaved, tortured and murdered. Yet throughout the 32-month nightmare, we kept faith in and with God and country. We all suffered terribly, and many of us lost our beloved ones. Our island was shattered and is still shattered. But we have not complained, and we are not here to complain. Again, gentlemen, I repeat that we are here before you today to ask for simple justice in memory of our loved ones who died with undimmed faith and hope, and in behalf of our loyal people of Guam. There are 30,000 native inhabitants of Guam today. Out of the original 9,000 population in 1898, only a few thousand are still surviving. Well over 20,000, some of whom are not even nationals of the United States under the provisions of the nationality laws, were born under the free flag of the United States on Guam. The late President McKinley, by Executive order, placed Guam under naval administration until the Congress of the United States should otherwise provide. President Truman has recently provided otherwise, and we are hopeful that Congress shall provide organic legislation. We are very hopeful that Congress shall, at long last, provide our people with a government under law, American citizenship, and a government in harmony with that to which Guam belongs. All this will come about with the passage of an organic act by Congress. We appreciate the fact that quite a number of Congressmen, both in the Senate and in the House, have, in realization of our needs, proposed certain bills providing an organic act for Guam and people. We are not here to propose amendments. We are here for only one purpose, and that is to follow up the petition as embodied in the memorial from the people of Guam to this Congress. Our elected representatives unanimously carried a resolution memorializing the Congress of the United States in a manner similar to the one signed by 1,700 native inhabitants of Guam, which reads as follows: From: The people of Guam. To: The Congress of the United States. (2) The President of the United States. Subject: A memorial re organic act for Guam. As we enter the second half-century period of unquestioning allegiance to the United States of America since the signing of the treaty of peace between the United States and Spain, at Paris on December 10, 1898, providing therein that "The civil right; and political status of the native inhabitants of the Territories hereby ceded to the United States shall be determined by the Congress," we, the undersigned native inhabitants of Guam, of legal age, * * * do hereby memoralize the Congress of the United States to so determine our civil rights and political status by the passage of an organic act providing, among other things, the establishment of the Territory of Guam, and the government thereof, and conferring United States citizenship upon certain of the inhabitants thereof. The treaty referred to further provides in article II that Puerto Rico and Guam be ceded to the United States. The native inhabitants of Puerto Rico have been citizens of the United States for many years and congressional action favorable to them commenced in 1900. |