The history of the Press in Puerto Rico is short.  The first printing machine was introduced by the Government in 1807 for the purpose of publishing the Official Gazette.  No serious attempt at publication of any periodical for the people was made till the commencement of the second constitutional period (1820-’23), when, for the first time in the island’s history, public affairs could be discussed without the risk of imprisonment or banishment.  The right of association was also recognized.  The Society of Liberal Lovers of the Country and the Society of Lovers of Science were formed about this time.  The Investigator and the Constitutional Gazette were published and gave food for nightly discussions on political and social questions in the coffee-house on the Marina.

The period of freedom of spoken and written thought was short, but an impulse had been given which could not be arrested.  In 1865 there were eight periodicals published in the island.  On September 29th of that year a law regulating the publication of newspapers indirectly suppressed half of them.  It contained twenty articles, each more stringent than the other.  To obtain a license to publish or to continue publishing a paper, a deposit of 2,000 crowns had to be made to cover the fines that were almost sure to be imposed.  The publications were subject to the strictest censorship.  They could not appear till the proofs of each article had been signed by the censor, and the whole process of printing and publishing was fenced in by such minute and annoying regulations, the smallest infraction of which was punished by such heavy fines that it was a marvel how any paper could be published under such conditions.  These conditions were relaxed a decade or two later, and a number of publications sprang into existence at once.  When the United States Government took possession of the island, there were 9 periodicals published in San Juan, 5 in Ponce, 3 in Mayaguez, 1 in Humacao, and a few others in different towns of the interior.

CHAPTER XXXVII

THE REGULAR AND SECULAR CLERGY

In Catholic countries the monastic orders constitute the regular clergy.  The secular clergy is not bound by monastic rules.  Both classes exercise their functions independently, the former under the authority of their respective superiors or generals, the latter under the bishops.

When, after the return of Columbus from his first voyage, the existence of a new world was demonstrated and preparations for occupying it were made, the Pope, to assure the Christianization of the inhabitants, gave to the monks of all orders who wished to go the privilege, pertaining till then to the secular clergy exclusively, of administering parishes and collecting tithes without subjection to the authority of the bishops.