Gore Bombed

Robert Hayes Gore was made Governor of Puerto Rico last July not because he was particularly informed on insular affairs but because he had loudly thumped for President Roosevelt's election in his string of Florida newspapers, had made it plain in Washington that he wanted an appointment in return. Though he had had no experience in public office, Puerto Ricans were ready to consider him "simpatico" because he was a Roman Catholic and had nine children. But ceremony-loving Puerto Ricans, accustomed to the tact and diplomacy of Governor Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and the quiet efficiency of Governor James Rumsey Beverley, found it difficult to understand Governor Gore's blunt and open manner. He sought to gain popularity by legalizing cockfighting throughout the island (he signed the bill with a tailfeather--see cut) but got only a few scattered cheers. Opposition to his methods arose in the Independence wing of the Liberal Party and before a month was out Governor Gore's name became involved in a series of awkward political rows which spilled at regular intervals into the pages of U. S. newspapers. Last week the rows culminated in a plot to bomb the Governor's summer home.

The trouble began last August when Governor Gore was quoted as saying that all officials whom he might appoint would have to present undated resignations in advance (TIME, Aug. 28). This the Liberals considered an unprecedented insult to Puerto Rican dignity. Antonio R. Barcelo, politically ambitious president of the Liberal Party, promptly withdrew his list of suggested candidates, went into full opposition to the Gore regime. Governor Gore said he had never actually requested any undated resignations, accused Dr. Barcelo of circulating the story as a poli ical subterfuge. Dr. Barcelo's answer was an editorial in his La Democracia, Liberal daily, entitled "Governor Gore, You Are a Damn Liar."

New opposition now arose in another quarter. Students at the University of

Puerto Rico, reputedly at the instigation of Dr. Barcelo's Liberals, protested Governor Gore's appointment of Rafael Alonzo Torres, Socialist, to the University Board of Trustees. Student delegations twice called on the Governor, were twice refused admittance. Incensed, they presented the Governor with a Manual of Manners, then went on strike, demanding the removal of Socialist Torres.

Last week, in the midst of the controversy, came news that Governor Gore's summer home, 50 mi. from San Juan, had been bombed shortly after he had left it. Next day another bomb, its fuse defective, was found in the garden of the Governor's mansion at San Juan. The Governor immediately ordered floodlights thrown around the mansion, asked Puerto Rican police to confiscate all guns and ammunitions stored at the University R. O. T. C. headquarters.

Pending solution of the Torres squabble, the University trustees declared a 12-day student recess. On the fourth day Governor Gore was taken to the hospital with a kidney ailment. Meanwhile a delegation of the coalition party which controls both Houses of the Legislature, arrived in Washington to assure President Roosevelt that they "backed up Governor Gore 100%."

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