Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1888-01-23
SOVEREIGN POWER.
The National Government and it's Rela-
%lntiOnship to the Territories.

l%ationship to the Territories,
To the Press and Dakotaian: "The
nationci government has sovereign pow.
or over all the territories" says a writer
in the Herald, quoting Judge Trips
asylum decision, and then adds his own
dictum that "the power of congress Is
absolutely supreme ver the territories
Both OF these propositions are un-
d%oubtedly correct considered in a legis-
lative sense, and yet Judge Trip, in
his asylum decision, has denied in
theory what he afirms IS a fact-"that
the national government has sovereign
power over all the territories"-by hold
ing that Congressional acts may be sup
p%lemented and filled out like existing
acts of the Legislature itself" by the ter
~ritorial legislature. If the laws OF con-
gress are absolutely supreme" yer
the territories, what power he's o terri.
torial legislature to supplement them
to enlarge their scope ana meaning. or to
add or take from their context? Is
there any Law of congress giving the
Legislature this power? Is this one Of
the "rightfuI Subjects of legislation"
congress has conferred upon territorial
legislstures-to add to or take from-to
modify or enlarge-an executive power
it has absolutely defined and limited?
Possibly such is the fact, but if il is,
then Dakota will certainly have no
use for further congressional legislation,
for under this convenient scapegoat OF
Supplemental legislation, it can supply
all omission and cure all defects in the
laws of congress applicable to the terri
tory. The fallacy OF such q doctrine
must be apparent to all impartial.
thinking men. II a law of congress
means anything it means just what it
says. and q territorial legislature has no
power to abrldge that meaning or add to
it. Thus when congress enacted section
1858 OF the revised statutes, giving the
governors OF territories power to fill va.
cancies IN Office osnsed by Resignation
or death, }" 1t did not and cannot be JON
strued to give him power to create va
~oanoies by summary removal. Where a
statute plainly defines q grant of power,
it interdicts all other powers not in
Guided therein. This is o we'll settled
principle OF law, but Judge Trip, if /
am not at fault in my understanding of
his decision, overeomes this legal rock
OF ages by clothing III territorial legis-
lature with coordinate legislative power
with that of congress-by holding that
the territorial Legislature has power to
supplement or amend" congress
sional enactments and that such supple
mental acts or amendments will have
the same force and effect as the acts of
congress themselves.
In all csndor, and with great respect
fes Che cc:::ca 6: chs ::ss:nea r.:z; JUS
tice, I oannot bring myself to that high
plane of legal aoumen which
will enable me to lodge
q power in the creature co Ordinate and
co.equal with that of the creator. Our
territorial government is but the
creature Of congress. 1t derives ell Its
power from its creator-congress-and
to hold that our legislature can supple-
ment, modify, abridge or. extend the
opertion OF q law of congress Is, it seems
to me, not only untensble, but paradox
cal in the extreme.
To the various public officers through
out the territory this decision is OF deep
concern. Under the public examiner
law, as construed by the con TT,
their tenure OF Office is
fixed absolutely IL the discretion
Of the governor, no matter whether they
be elected by the people or appointed
by the governor and council. The modus
eperandi to accomplish removal is simple.
certain and expeditious-s mere matter
OF Observation-Disclosures by o man
who owes no allegiance to this people
who is not responsible to them for o
solitary official aes-who IS politically at
enmity with them and who is not amen
able to any law of this territory for the
most outrageous abuse OK power he may
%perpetrate in the exercise OF this unlimit-
ed "~discretionW The czar of Russia
could not ask for a more despotic grant
OF power Of the people and it is a matter
OF doubt if he possesses it. And this,
too in . land of freedom, where the will
OF the people is supposed to be- the law
OF the land! The mills Of the gods grind
slowly but they grind exceedingly fine.
The free, liberty loving people of Dskc-
to will not rest quietly under
such o despotio one man power as this
very long. They see in it q most dan
gerous Judgment of power-a power that
ID destructive of the rights of the people,
and at war with che genius of our in.
stitutions. I do not believe that it was
the intention of the legislature to clothe
the governor with any snsh unlimited
power OF removal from Office, mol do I
believe that tho public examiner law
requires such o construction to give it
all the force and efficacy necessary to
accomplish the object of the law and
meet the ends OF Justice. The construc-
tion placed upon the law by the court
is strained and far fetched, and is reach
ed through inference and implication
over decisions Of supreme courts that
hold directly to q contrary view and in