The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 28, 1901, Page 2

; THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, TUESDAY, MAY 28, 1901 EXTRA SESSION OF CONGRESS POSSIBLE TO IMPOSE DUTY ON PHILIPPINE GOODS MEANS FREE IMPORTATION OF ARCHIPELAGO’S PRODUCTS Now That the Barrier Is Thrown Down It Is Expected There ' Will Be an Immediate Increase in Importations From Isl- ands, and Sugars, Tobaccos and Hemp Be Hurried Here ALL BUREAU, 1406 G STREET, N. W., WASHINGTON, May 27.—An extra session of Congress is pos- sible as a result of the decisions of the Supreme Court to-day in the insular cases, though it is not considered probable by Senators and Representatives who are now here. The effect of the decisions is to opén up the ports of the United States to the free smportation of all products of the Philip- pines until such time as Congress shall enact a law prescribing the duties to be assessed. Up to this time full Dingley duties have been collected on all imports from the Philippines. Now that that bar- rier has been thrown down it Is expected that there will be an Immediate increase in fmportations from the islands. Philip- pine sugars, tobaccos, hemp and all other goods produced In the islands will be hurried across the Pacific as fast as pos- sible, with a view to getting them Inside the tariff barrier before Congress can put the bars up again. The effect of this will be not only to bring goods of the Philippines into direct competition with similar goods produced in the United States, which is contrary to the policy of protection, but it will res in gn appreciable reduction in the rev nues of the Government as well. The general impression here to-night is at the conditions will not be so serfous as to warrant the calling of an extra ses- #ion Secretary of the Treasury Gage said he @id “not think it would be necessary to cull Congress together. Senator Lodge alzo sald he dJd not think an extra session would be necessary. It may be possible to accomplish nearly the same effect from a protective point of view by the imposi- tion of an export duty on goods leaving the Philippines equivalent to the Dingley dutes, Money to Be Refunded. It is impossible to form even an approx- imate estimate of the amount of money that the Government will have to refund to importers under to-day's decisions of the court. “I cannot talk with any certainty about the amount of money to be réfunded,” rald Assistant Becretary of the Treasury Spaulding to-night. “It Is impossible to even estimate the amount of money that will be paid back. To get these figures it would be necessary to communicate with the various custpm-houses, as the de- partment records do not show payments of duties that have been protested. As I understand, the Government can continue to collect duties from Porto Rico under the Foraker act, but it cannot collect from the Philippines in the absence of legielation. The department has a con- tinuing appropriation which will permit the refunding of dpties improperly col- lected under the Dingley act where pro- test has been made. Unless a protest was made at the time of payment the Govern- ment will not have to'refund. The whole thing is up in the air now, and I do not know how the situation stands. If any steps are to be taken to close the open door to the Philippines it is for the Presi. dent to act,” L e B e e e S R S R ) CONSTITUTION, FLAG AND ISLANDS Continued From First Page. @ foot of American territory, and all ter- ritory incorporuted into the United Btates waus taken under a pledge that it should Le forever a part of the United States. Me cited the Louisiana Purchase and vther instances, where considerable time elapsed prior to dncorporation, and sum- marized his views as follows: It is then, as I think, indubitably settled by the principies of the law of nations, by the nature of the Government created under th constitution, by the express and implied powe ment by the consti- those powers have eginning and by an o of decisions of this court, first Marshall and followed and | unded by Taney, that the treaty wer cannot incorporate territory into & without the expressed and d mssent of Congress, that It may assert in & treaty conditions against immediate incor- poration. It must follow, therefore, that where cldly exp making pc the 1 mpl contains no conditions for incorpora- above all, where it not only has no but expressly provides to the does not arise, until, s, 1t s deemed that quired territory has reached that state it is proper t it should enter into form a part of the American family. To Be Determined by Congress. Attention was then -called to the fact the treaty’ of peace expressly that the civil rights and polit inhabitants of the i by Congress, stated as follows: has been said is that ernational sense Porto Rico was relgn country it was forelgn to the tes in & domestic sense, because the not been incorporated into was _merely ap ssion. As @ necessa question assessed om Porto Rico r the cessl: “uch impost, controlled by t ng that imposts should "be un ghout the United States; in other the provision of the constitution jv ' Congress in cluding, it was said that the when Porto Rico was to be i ted was a political question, to termined by the American people, h Congr: , and was not for the courts to determine. announced his concur- he majority’s conclusion in the case and in doing so said in Justice Gray ence in 4vil government of the United States extend immediately and of Its e over territory ac d by war. ust pecessarily, in the first in i by the military power, un President, as commander in svernment cannot take effect as ssession is acquired under military or even as soon as that possession ded Ly tre It can be permanent in only by the action of the appropriate t of the Government, at as that depart must, of ne There period h 3t incorporated the rritory into the United States neither military upation nor cession by treaty makes the tory domestic territory in th But_ those laws con- * Hemain applica anged by unanimous opinton fof Justiee rquere Such urt, os Fleming vs. Page, 9. Is mot ready to construct a com- government of the conquered territory it may establish @ temporary government, which s not subject to all the restrictions of the o effect of the act of Congress ¥ 12, 1900, entitled “An act temporarily e revenues and a civil Government o, and for other purposes.’” Th of duties temporarily established by that 1 during the- transition period was within authority Congress under the constitu- on Of the ted States Chief Justice Fuller Dissents. The chief dissenting opinion in Down case was announced by ustice Fuller, Justices Harlan, Brew yd Peckham joining 4n the dissent, F id the majority, though widely differ- g In their the view tk United S t & part t Porto Rico belongs atés, but nevertheless of the United States subject yespect 1o taxes. The Foraker act, under which duties were levied, erected a_com- plete form of government for Porto Rico, with a special provision that the taxes levied in the United States on Yorto Rican exports should be held as a wpecial fund for Porto Rico's benefit. It was admitted that on its face the part of the with reference to duties did not comply with the rule of uniformity prescribed by the constitution. The opinfon continues: The constitutional uniformify i & geographt cnl unitormity, but it waid that Congrems in attempting to levy these duties was not exercising power derived from the aumo ot g thewe duties wre merely loeal ourt, In 1520, when Marshall was Justice and Washington, Wil John- Todd, Duvall and Htory were # different view of the in the matter of laying and . Autlex, imposts and excises In the Territories, und its ruling in Lougl borough ve. Blake, & Wheat, 317, has never been overruled. jons of the majority that the Chief Jutice made certain assertions which have ocoasioned some embArrassment in other cases. 1 agroe that the opinion of the court delivered by him must be embarrassing in this case, for it ix necessary to overrule that decision in order to reach the result herein announced. Marshall's Views Cited. Chief Justice Marehall in that case, in con- sidering the provision requiring that “all dut jes, imposts and excises &hall be uniform throughout the United States,” said: *‘Do this term (the United States) des e the whole or any portion of the American em- pire? Certainly this question can admit of [t one answer. It is the name given to our great republic. which is composed of States and Terripries. The District of Columbia, or 1t is waid in one of the opin- | Treasoning, seemed to concur | the provisions of the constitution in | R the territory west of the Missouri, § within the United States than Maryl Pennsylvania; and it s not less neces on the principles of our constitution, formity in the Imposition of Imposts, and excises should be observed in the one thi in the other. Since, then, the power to lay and collect taxes, which includes direct taxes, Is obviously co-extensive with the power to lay and collect duties, imposts and exclses, and since the latter extends throughout the United States, it follows that the power to impore direct’ taxes also extends thramghout the United States," Of the suggestion that this statement was mere dicta Chlef<Justice Fuller said: It s wholly inadmissible to refect the cess of reasoning by which reached and tested the soundnes clusion as merely obiter. * * * The Chief Justice held the Territories as well as the District of Columbla to be part of the United Btates for the purpose of national taxation and repeated in eliect what he had already said in McCuliough vs. Maryland, 5 Wheaton, 408: *“Through- out this vast republic, from the St. Crolx to the Gulf of Mexico, from Lhe Atlantic to the Pacific, revenue is to be collected nd expended, armies are to be marched d supported.” Continuing, he combat- ted the contention that these particular duties are local in their nature and said the levy is clearly a regulation of com- merce and made in the exercize of ‘ha- tional power. He added: In any point of view the imposition of duties on_commerce operates to regulate commerce, and is not @ maiter of local legislation, and it follows that the levy of these duties was in the exerclse of the national power to do 80, and subject to the r - pnd subject to equirement of geograph: The fact that the proceeds of these dutles are devoted by the act to the use of the Ter- ritory docs not make national taxes local. putes the power of Congress to duties geographically uniform and apply the proceeds, by a proper appropris atlon act, to the relief of a particular terri- tory, but the destination of the proceeds would not change the source of the power to lay and collect. And that suggestion ‘certainly is not strengthened when based on‘fi“ diver- pro- hief Justice of his con- slon of dutles collected from ail pagts of the United States to a territorial treas§gy before 1ng the Treasury of the Unite States. 7 of section 9 of article I provides that 0 money shall be drawn from the Treas- ury but in consequence of appropriations made by law.” and the proposition that this may be rendered inapplicable if the money {s not d to be paid in so as to be susceptible ng drawn out s som@vhat startling, The proposition that Chief Justice Mar- shall bad erred in his opiniow and that the rule of uniformity was a limitation to t States as such was declared to be wholl unwarranted and quite a number of c were cited in which the Bupreme Court and Congress, notably by the thirtecnth and fifteenth amendments to the constitu- tion, had sustained the view that the United States meant Territories as well as States, No Room for Arbitrary Power. Chief Justice Fuller then advanced the roposition enunclated in Marburg vs, Madison, first Cranch, that the constitu- tion was written in order to define und limit and keep within its restricted bound- arfes all persons and departments of gov- ernment and was meant to leave no room for the play and action of purely personal and arbitrary power. He added: From Marburg ve, Madison to the present day no utterance of this court has Intimated & doubt that in its operation on the people by whom and_for whom it was established tho national ~Government s A Government of cnumerated powers, the exercise of wisch in restricted to the use of means approprinte and plainly adapted by constitutional ends, and which are * “not " prohibited, but consist with the letter and wpirit of the conatitution,” the powers delogated by the people to thelr agents are not enlarged by the expansion of th domain within which they are exercised. When the restriction on the exercise of a par- ticular power by o particular agent {s ascer- tained, that is an end of the question. To hold otherwise is to overthrow the basis of ‘our constitutionpl law and, moreover, in effect, to reassert the proposition that tho | Btates and not the people created the Govern- ment On_the contention that by international aw Porto Rico came to us subject to such legislation as Congress might enact Chief Justice Fuller said: The new master was, in this instance, the United States, a constitutional government with lmited powers, and thé terms which the constitution, ‘which ' itselt imposed, or which might be impowed in nccordance with the con- stitution, were the terms on which the new master took possession. Power Not Disputed. The mower of the United Btates to moquire territory by conquest, by treaty, or by dis- covery and occupation 18 not disputed, nor i the proposition that in all International relu- dhilities the United interests and responss is a weparate, independent and noverelgn natlon; but it doew not do- rive its powers from International law, which, though a part of our municipal laws, is not part of the organio law of the I The ree of national ‘mw-r in this country Is the Initea Btates, and the Gov- vo constitution of the ernment, as to our internal affairs, possesses no Inherent sources of forelgn power not de- rived from that {nstrument. and inconsistent with it letter and_mpirit. Chief Justice Fuller absolutely rejected the contention that the rule of uniformity Wi not nngllrubln to Porto Rico because it has not been incorporated into thie or become an integral part of the United Btetes. The word incorporation had no occult meaning, and whatever its situa- ton before, the Foraker act made_Porto Rico an n'?.nlud Territory of the United Btates. e ecould not accept the view that even after organ! “Congres the power to keep ke a disembodied shade in an intermediate state of ambig- uous existence for indefinite urlo’, and more than that, that after it had been called from that limbo commerce with it is absolutely subject to the will of Con- f”l“' irrespective of constitutional pro- visiol n Majority Concurring Opinion. recognizes that Congross, i dealing with PLATE FOR WISCONSIN, FROM HER NAMESAKE THE SHIP, - , THE STATE Silver Service for Battleship’s Wardroom and a Tablet for Front of Her Pilot House Presented by a Committee of Citizens Who Came All the Way From the Lakes to Tread Her Decks — L rare \\\\\r'%v L3 S BN the People of Wisconsin, by Unanimous Vote of the Legislature of 1869, The silver service, however, was not the only nor the most important presentation. There was also the plate of bronze bear- ing the eves alert badger for the front of the pilot house, and this, too was en- raved with a legend reading, “Presented Ey the People of Wisconsin,”" and with thix explanatory note: *‘Cast from bronze recovered from the wrecks of the Spanish cruiders destroyed Ly the United States figet vear Bantingo, C uba, July 3 1998, The plate stands out in bold rellef from the pilot house, It consists of a_shield mflr{;lu the arms of the State of Wiscon- #in, the plow, emblematic of agriculture, and the anchor, emblematic of commerce, and surrounded 'by a wreath of laurel. Surmounting It is the figure of a badger crouched and ready for a spring, and across the face of the shield, in let of silver, Is the single word “Forward watchword of Wisconsini the State and hereafter to be the war cry of Wisconsin the battieshin, HROUGH a committee which came out from Wisconsin for the purpose the battleship Wis- consin was presented with a sil- ver service for her wardroom and a plate of bronze for her pilot house yesterday. The cere- mony of presentation took place on her forward deck in the presence of her offi- cery and crew and two score of visitors who accompanied the committee from Wisconsin out to the warship, The silver service consistel of punch bowls of ample proportions and the a companying ladles and cups and trays, all beautifully engraved and all bearing the distinctive sign of the State of Wis- congin, the badger. The lithe little ani- mal is fac-similed and stands, on the cups and on the trays and wherever he can convenlently be put, and, like the bear of Californla, he mankes a most plcturesque decoration, The silver s all engraved with the legend, “From on handles Drawn up o@ the forward deck were the. ' watches and the marine guard, forming a holicw square, in the center of which stood the officers of the ship in full uni- form and_ the visiting officers, including Admiral Casey and his staff, besides the committee from Wisconsin and a number of ladles and gentlemen. The presenta- tion was made by Jullus Bleyer, secretary of the committee. Sarmmo J i i, [ ‘1‘"'1[‘\' i e PRESENTATION OF SILVER SER- VICE AND PLATE TO THE BAT- TLESHIP WISCONSIN. In presenting the plate and the silver service Mr. Bleyer spoke briefly of the interest which is taken in the vessel by the peovle of the State after which she is named, and he expressed the hope thdt the watchword of the State would be an encouragemert to the ship in her craeer on the geas. As he commenced speakin a flag that hung from the pilot house an: wap draped over the plate was pulled aelde, disclosing the shield and badger. In replying, Captain Relter commented on the growing popularity and efficiency of the navy and upon the Increasing in- terest which is being taken In the vessels. This he attributed to the practice of nam- ing the vessels after the large citles and the States of the Union. A few years ago, he sald, the navy of the United States was krnown In only a few of its towns, and these only along the sea coast, but now ftx Tame had upread through the country :ntil every village and hamlet knew of Its ships and its deeds, and gloried in them. It had come to pass, he sald, that the navy is really the right arm of the coun- try. This ended the ceremonies, and then the guests were escorted aft to the cabin and the wardroom, where they were enter- tained In naval style and with naval fare. © efedotoitteioelellelelelfofetopeleiebe el el delivered by the Chief Justice. He re- garded the Foraker act as unconstitu- tlonal in its revenue proyisions, and be- lleved that Porto Rico, after the ratifica- ton of the ‘treaty with Spain, became a part of the United States. Referring to the majority vlews that the power of our government with respect to new te ritory is ;he same power which other n tions had heen accustomed to exercise, Justice Harlan sald: 1 take leave to say If the principles now an- nounced should ever recelve the sanction of a majority of this court the result will be a radi: cal”and mischievous change In our wystem of government. We will, In that event, pass from the era of constitutional liberty, guarded and protected by a written constitution, into an era of leginlative absolutism in respect of many [ rights that are dear to all people who love freedom, In my opinion Congress has no existence and cun exercine Mo authority outwide of the co stitution, Htill e t true that Co can deal’ with new territories just as ot tions have done or may do with thelr new tortitories, 'Thin nation’ Is under the cantrol of & written constitution, which 18 the supreme law of the land and the only source of t powers which our Government or any branch or officer of It may exerolse at any time or at any place, Monarchial and despotie govern- ments, unr powers by writ. ten_oconatitu o’ with newly equired . absol owdr | territorien what 'this Government mny not do F°%s | connintently” with our fundamental 1aw. regara | idea that Thin country may acquire territor # it W to-dny rather than anywhere upon the " earth, by conquest or ago, ¥ 8 ® the people of new Territories or posses- slons, I& bound to respect the fundamental varantees of life, liberty and property, r:uz assumes that Congress is not bound in those Territories or possessions to fol- low the rules of taxation prescribed by the constitution. And yet the power to tax involves the power to destroy, and the levy ot duties touches all our people in all places under the jurisdiction of the Gov- ernment. The opinlon adds: The logical result 18 that Congress may pro- nibjt_commerce altogether between the States and Territories, and may prescribe one rule of taxation in one Territory and « different rule in mnother, That theory assumes that the constitution created & government em- powered to acquire countries throughout the World, to be governed by different rules than those obtaining In the original Btates and Ter- ritories, And substitutes for the present sys- tem of republican government a wystem of domination over distant provinces In the exer- cine of unrestricted power. Tn ‘our judgment, so much of the Forto Rican act as authorizes the imposition of these Auties in invalid, and plaintiffs were entitled to_ reco Home argument was made as to general con- wequancos apprehended to flow from this re sult, but the language of the constitution i o plain and m‘ugcbino;ll !n ‘DO:I!III Ity mean- 0 be thus Influenced. vy Koy on behalt of the Gov- treaty, and hold them as mare colonles or prov: It_was & centul KO, or | Femambored that, as Marshall | 1NCew. 18 wholly (nconsistent with the wpirit an and sltoray " deciared, the . conmtitution waa | Eeniis as well ay with the words of framed for to come, and that the ur. :( ution, o 1-;7 ot nur‘ o clous men who framed it were well awarg that Kovernmont s that it S iahty future waited on thelr wotk, They | Written constitution, which proteots the may not, indeed, have deliborately Gonsidered | AKAINSL th exerolwe of arblirury, unim hal progress of the nation, wuch, 5 o limits w M T of Marahall wmto: 1i | Pussed by the' Government it created, or by around the earth, but ga Matahwil wepte: It | dny"hranch of it dr even by the people who 16 Dot SOt ilsd oy (i, when | orduined it, excop by ‘amendment, "It 'wif be Jas oot 48 Tramed, nor of the Bmerioan | AP 0Vil day for American liberty if the theory ot ‘aihen 1t wis adopted: It is Beo o | Of 8 Sovernment outalde of the supreme Lo of m farther, and to say, that had this part mlja m','“mr;; lodgment in r case bheen suggested the lahguage woul have 0 od to exclude it, or it would have been made a special éxception,' “This cannot be sald, and, on the contrary, in order to permit the successful extension of: our institutions, the reaso: e m.ul;ruun is that the limitations on the exertls ar- bitrary power would have been mi more Justice Harlan’s Views. it Harlan then announced hi; on'::‘gw‘rs:noe “with the dissenting oflule; Argues for Uniformity. Justice Harlan commented on the idea that Congress could ‘llegislate the con. stitution territory. B 1l cause i Ci ";lth no ce except rtue of e con- stitution, He polm{d out that the ma- Jority opinion suggested that conditions might arise when the annexation of di- tant possessions would become desirable, 80 that concessions might well be made for a time, that ultimi theorfes might be out. Harlan dlssented from any such theory of our governmental system, He sald: The "axnundlng future of our country, Justifying the bellef that the United States 18 to become what is called a “world power,” of which sp much was heard in the argument, does not justify any such juggling with the words of the constitution as a ize the courts to hold that the words rough- out the United States” in the taxing clause of the constitution do not em- brace a ‘“territory of the United States.' In conclusion, Justice Harlan sald: The addition of Porto Rico to the territory of the United States has been recognized by direct netion upon the part.of Congress, It has leg- isluted In_recognition of the treaty with Spain. 1t Porto Rico did not by such nction become a rt of the United States it did becoma wuch € lonnt when Congrens passed the Forakor not. 1 eannot believe that Congress may fmpose any duty, Impost or exolne, with respect to that torritory and Its people, which Is not conslstent with the conntitution: {rements that all Autlew, imponsts and exol hall be uniform throughout, the United Btat PORTO MIGAN DUTIES LLESLLY BOGTE Island Not a !"orelgn Country at the Time of Their =2 Oollection. iyt WASHINGTON, May 27.—~The first case decided waa that of Ellas 8, A. Dplima et al., plaintiffs in error, against George R. Bidwell, Collector of the Port of New York, the case coming to the Bupreme Court from the Cireuft Court of the United States for the District of New Continued on Page Nine McKENNA DISSENTS IN THE DE LIMA SIPCEE CASE Differs From the Easy Definition of the Majority of the Highest Tribunal on the Question® as to Whether Porto Rico Is “Foreign Country” or Domestic Territory . ASHINGTON, May 27, —Jus- tice McKenna read a dissent- ing opinion in the De Lima case, stating that Justices Shiras and White joined In his views. The majority, he sald, pro- ceeded on the simple proposition that to settle whether Porto Rico Is ‘‘forelgn country or domestic territory is to settle the controversy in litigation In the par- ticular case. But in his views it could not turn on so easy a definition, Between the extremes there were other relations which Porto Rico might sustain to the United States, and it could be determined that Porto Rico occupled one of these other relations and Its products, hence were sub« Ject to dutles. The history of our country, sald Jus- tico McKenna, has examples of the ac- quisition of foreign territory—examples of what relationship territory bears to the United States authoritles, executive, leg- Islative and judiclal— as to what was wise In statesmanship as well as what was legal and constitutional in withholding or extending our laws to such territory; and, Ainding these e¥amples and authorities In the way, the opinion of the court attempts to answer or distinguish or overrule them. He then cited the cases of the United States vs. Rice, and Fleming vs. Page, referred to by the majority, and sald the latter attempted to reconcile them and dismissed a large part of Chief Justice Taney's decision in the Page case as dicta. He thought both cdses reconcil- able on the ground that they both recog- nized inevitable conditions. Such recog- nition made the Government provident and not haphazard. It left to the execu- tive and the legislative departments that which pertains to them. Attacks the Majority. The opinions expressed In Fleming vs. Page that the boundaries of our country coyld not, be enlarged or restricted by the advance or retreat of armies, and that whether dutles should be levied was de- pendent on Congress granting suthority, shculd be accepted as wise and cons erate of the different functions of the ex- ecutive, legisiative and judictal depart- ments, and of thelr independence. Why should they then be discarded as dicta? Justice McKenna called attention to the fact that after California’s an- nexation our customs laws had been extended over it, and asked why was this necessary if they applied of their own force. He also controverted other historical precedents cited by the major- ity and then attacked the majority for asserting that without precedent it would be frresistibly impelled to the con- clusion that by accession of territory that territory automatically became a part of the United States. A treaty, he said, could not have an automatic force contrary to its terms or greater than them. Whether Porto Rico was a foreign country within the meaning of the revenue laws depend- ©d on the treaty. Justice Gray aunounced that he IHke- wise dissented from the majority opinion, sayjng briefly that its judgment appeared to him irreconctlable with the unanimous opinion of this court in Fleming vs. Page and with the opinions of the majority of the Justices in _the case to-day decided of Downes vs. Bidwell, these dissenting opinions deitvered. L e o ] ] FORAKER. ACT UPHELD BY DECISION Continued From First Page. ilized, are such and entitled to all the rights, privileges and immunities of cit- izens. ' It such be their status, the conse- quence will be extremely serious. Indeed, it 1s doubtful if Congress would ever as- sent to the annexation of territory upon the condition that its inhabitants, how- ever foreign they may be to our habits, traditions and modes of life, shall become at once cltizens of the United States. In all its treaties hitherto the treaty-making power has made special provision for this subject. ‘“‘Grave apprehensions of dn.nfer are feit by many eminent men—a fear lest an un- restrained possession of power on the part of Congress may lead to unjust and op- pressive legislation, in which the natural rights of territories, or their inhabitants, may be engulfed in a centralized despot- {sm. These fears, however, find no justi- fication in the action of Congpess In the ast century, nor in the conduct of the ritish Parllament toward its outlying plonaulonl since the American revolu- tion.” Further along Justice Brown remarked: ““Whatever may be finally decided by the American people as to the status of these islands and their* inhabitants—whether they shall be introduced into the sister- hood of ‘States or be permitted to form indeperdent governments—it does not fol- low that in the meantime, awaliting that decision, the people are in the matter of personal rights unprotected by the provi- slons of our gonsmutlon and subject to the merely arbitrary control of Congress. Even If regarded as aliens they are en- titled under the principles of the constitu- tion to be protected in life, liberty and property. “Large powers must necessarily be entrusted to Congress in dealing with these problems and we are bound to assume that they will bz judiciously exercised. That these powers may be abused is possible. But the same may be said of its pow- ers under the constitution as well as cutside of it. Human wisdom has never devised a form of government so perfect that it may not be pervert- ed to bad purposes. It is never con- clusive to argue against the posses- sion of certain powers from possible abuses of them. “It is safe to say that if Congress should venture _upon legislation ~manifestly dictated by selfish interests, it would re- celve qulc{ rebuke at the hands of the people. Indeed, it is scarcely possible that Congress could do a greater Injus- tice to tgeae jslands than would be in- volved in holding that it could not impose upon the States taxes and excises with- out extending the same taxes to them. Such requirements would bring them at onca within our Internal revenue sys! including stamps, licenses, excises and all the paraphernalla of that system, and applying it to territories which have hal no experience of this kind, and where it would prove an intolerable burden.” Commenting upon the virtual absence of provision in the constitution for the ac- quisition of territory, Justice Brown says it can only be accounted for on the ground that the framers of that Instrument did not foresee the country’'s future possibili- ties in that respect. “If," he says, “it be once conceded that we are at liberty to acquire foreign terri- tory, a presumption arises that our power with respect to such territory is the same power which other nations have been ac- customed to exercise with respect to ter- ritorles acquired by them. If, in lmiting the power which Congress was to exer- eise within the United States, it was also intended to limit it with ard to sucn territories as the people of the United States should thereafter acquire, such Itm- ftations should have been expressed. In- stead of that we find the constitution speaking only to States, except in the ter- ritorial clause which is absolute in its terms and suggestive of no limitations upon the power of Congress in dealing with them. The States could only dele- gate to Congress such power as they themselves possessed and as they had no power to acquire new territory they had none to delegate in that connection. The logical inference from this is that if Con- gress had power to acquire new territory, which is conceded, that power was not hampered by the constitutional pro- visions." In the last paragraph of his opinion, be- fore announcing the court’s opinfon, Jus- tice Brown said: “Patriotic and intelligent men may dif- fer widely gs to the desirableness of this or that accisition, but this is solely a po- litical question. We can only consider this aspect of the case so far as to say that no construction of the constitution should be adopted which would prevent Congress from considering each case upon its merits, unless the language of the instru- ment imperatively demands it. A false step at this time might be fatal to the de- velopment of what Chief Justice Marshall called the American empire. Choice in some cases, the natural gravitation of small bodies toward large ones in others, the result of a successtul war in still others, may bring about conditions which would render the annexation of distant possessions desirable. If those possessions are inhabited by allen races, differing from us in religion, customs, laws, meth- ods of taxation and modes of thought, the administration of government and justice, according to Anglo-S8axon principles, may for a time be impossible, and the question at once arises whether large concessions ought not to be made for a time that, ul- timately, our own theories may be carried out and the blessings of a free govern- ment under the constitution extended to them. We decline to hold that there is anything in the constitution to forbid such action.” o ! i\\:‘\\\‘“ 7 A\ AL /i R A VI Sale of Rough Hats. Rough finished hats are the most suitable for sum- mer wear—in fact they are the proper thing this season. They wear well, look well, and at our prices are in- pensive. We sell hats at clothiers’ profits—hence our low prices. We have rough hats in Fedoras, Crushers and Golfs in all the popular colors—we are sure to have most any color you want, See our window display of the hats. The prices are ~ T5¢ 9%0c $1.2 Out-of-town orders filled —write us. SNWO00D. 718 Market Street.