The record-union., 1898-12-15
THE PROPERTY OF, NOT PART OF
THE UNITED STATES.

Professor McMaster Of the Univer-
sity Of Pennsylvania, in an able and
exhaustive paper in a current re-
view, makes it as clear as SUM-
light that foreign soil acquired by
Congress is the property Of, and
not part of, the United States Yet
there is no wire on which the anti
acquisitionists harp so much as this:
that by acquiring the Philippines and
Porto Rico We make them a part of the
United States; invest them with Terri
torial rights of which we have not the
power to strip them.
But Professor McMaster, reviewing
the entire history of our Territories,
and all constructions put upon the Con-
stitution, reaches the conclusion that
an acquisition is property, and not part
Of the United States; that the Territor-
les formed from soil acquired are with
out, and not UNDER the Constitution;
and that in providing them with Gov
ernments Congress is at liberty to es-
tablish just such kind as it pleases,
with little or no regard for the prin-
ciples of self-government; that in the
past it has always set up whatever sort
was, in its opinion, best suited to meet
the needs Of the people, never stopping
to ask how far the Government so Gre
ated derived its just powers from the
consent of the governed; and that it is
under no obligation to grant even a re-
stricted suffrage to the inhabitants Of
any new soil we may acquire, unless
they are fit to use it properly
The "Record-Union" has held to this
doctrine from the beginning Of the de-
bate 1t has presented the same line Of
argument, but has not, as Professor Nc
Master has done, gone into the political
Territorial history of the acquisitions of
our country, to prove that the doctrine
has been our consistent rule of action,
and that in every debate upon the Con-
stitution in which this question arose it
has been decided in affirmation of such
doctrine.
Professor McMaster goes even beyond
this to show that it is reason, and the
fair and honest construction Of the con-
stitutional powers Of Congress, and
that it was in contemplation by the
fathers of the Constitution. It Is
comforting to find the able schol-
ars of history and American poll
tics rallying as they are doing to
controvert, with the facts of his
tory and the reason of laws, the po-
sition taken now at the East by the
anti-acquisitionists, namely, that when
we take soil we thereby invest it with
a sovereignty which we can only par
TALLY control, and that the Constitution
Immediately robes that soil with rights
and privileges which, under given con-
ditions. may prove stumbling blocks in
the path of good government.
Professor McMaster thus concludes a
reproduced here, since it is protected
by copyright, because its wide and gem
eral reading would be productive of
great good in molding public opinion
and correcting the errors which we no
tice so many of the press have fallen
into upon this subject Of Territorial
right.
mo Government is worth a rush un-
less it is practical. To be practical it
must not be in advance Of the intelli-
gence and capacity for selfgovernment
possessed by the people for whose well
fare it has been created. This has been
characteristic of every Government yet
set up in State or Territory, and is
greatly to our credit. And this is the
course we must pursue in the treatment
Of any people, whatever their stage Of
civilization, who may come to US with
new acquisitions of territory"
The comparative infant mortality be-