[Released November 8, 1930. Dated October 23, 1930]
Dear Dr. Crumbine:
I have before me your report on Porto Rico, together with Governor, Theodore Roosevelt's later report on conditions in that island, and am otherwise aware of the shocking health conditions prevailing over the whole population.
I am in hearty sympathy with your efforts in their behalf. It is an American job. Porto Ricans are American citizens, living under the American flag. We must help them toward self-protection as we would any others of our own people in similar distress. Yours faithfully,
HERBERT HOOVER
[Dr. S. J. Crumbine, American Child Health Association, 270 Seventh Avenue, New York City]
Note: Dr. Crumbine's report, dated April 21, 1930, and released by the White House on May 19, is entitled "Report of the Committee of the American Child Health Association on the Health, Nutritional and Social Conditions of Porto Rican Children."
Gov. Theodore Roosevelt's report, dated August 21, 1930, is entitled "Thirtieth Annual Report of the Governor of Porto Rico" (Bureau of Supplies, Printing, and Transportation, San Juan, P.R., 1930, 20 pp.).
Herbert Hoover, Letter to Dr. S. J. Crumbine About Conditions in Porto Rico. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/212339