WASHINGTON. — Washington --- Sen. J. Bennett Johnston, D-La., chief engineer of the San Juan Express, will be shoveling on coal this week. His hope is to get a Puerto Rican plebiscite bill (S.244) through both houses of Congress by July 4. The course of common sense is to derail this locomotive before it gets started.
The senator's bill provides for a referendum that offers Puerto Rican voters a choice of three options for the future: (1) statehood, (2) independence, or (3) continued status as a commonwealth attached to the United States. Senator Johnston will not say which option he would like to see adopted. He insists he wants only to let the people of Puerto Rico have their say.
The course of outright independence has the least support in Puerto Rico, but if a change is to be made, the option of independence makes the most sense. Unfortunately, it makes the most sense only in theory. The bill proposes a nine-year transition period in which benefits and obligations gradually would be straightened out, but even with bountiful aid from the U.S. a fledgling Republic of Puerto Rico would barely be able to fly.
Title IV of the Johnston bill undertakes ''to enhance the commonwealth relationship.'' The idea is ''to accelerate the economic and social development of Puerto Rico'' and to encourage ''maximum cultural autonomy.'' Persons born in Puerto Rico would continue to hold U.S. citizenship, though it is not clear what is meant by ''indefeasible'' citizenship. The bill proposes to increase funding for various programs of public welfare. Certain federally owned properties would be conveyed to the island government. In addition to a non-voting ''resident commissioner'' in the House, Puerto Rico would gain a Liaison Office in the Senate.
The options of independence or continued commonwealth status arouse little controversy. The option of statehood is a different matter entirely. Let us suppose that a referendum is held this fall. The voters opt for independence, 1.9 percent; for continued commonwealth status, 48 percent; for statehood, 50.1 percent. A majority vote for statehood, no matter how slim, would constitute a commitment by Congress to implement the choice.
Under the bill, actual admission to the union would be delayed for five years following the referendum. In this transition period, various tax laws that now benefit Puerto Rico gradually would be phased out. The new state (it would be known as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico) would get two senators and either five or six members of the House.
