The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-12-20

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1J.-<AI lue ODSL-
ing of the senate session, the chaplain.
in his Invocation, made touching refer
enee TO the afliction of Mr.. Jones of
Arkansas, over whose threshold of late
thrice has passed the shadow of death,
and one of whose sons is i'll now.
In accordance with notice previously
given, Mr.. Platt of Connecticut ad-
dressed the senate, opposing the reso-
luton offered by MIR. Vest of Missouri,
declaring that under the constitution
of the United States, no power is given
to acquire territory to be held and gov
erned I ermanently as colonies.
Mr.. Platt's speech was constitu-
tional argument maintaining the le-
gal right of the United States to ac-
quire territory, saying he did not pro-
pose to discuss the policy of expansion,
nor the features of the government we
might establish in any foreign territory
we might acquire. Expansion, he said,
has been a law of our national
growth, the handspring Of our national
development; and he added:
i shall maintain that the United
States has shown great capacity for
government in ali trying times and un-
der many trying conditions, and that
it is capable of meeting any emergency
likely to arise. 1 shall contend that
the United States is a nation, and, as
such possesses every sovereign power
not reserved by the constitution to the
state or to the people themselves; that
the right to acquire territory was not
reserved, and that, therefore, the right
is an inherent right, a sovereign right,
a right 10 which there is no limitation.
I shall show also that in certain in
stances this inherent sovereign right
is to be inferred from specific clauses
of the constitution itself"
Mr.. Platt then launched into a con-
stitutional argument. quoting eXten
sively from authorities treating of the
question, and also declared that in the
annexation Of the Hawaiian isles the
entire question of this governments
right to acquire foreign territory was
considered thoroughly, and that the
senate had settled it satisfactorily and
thoroughly. The United States, he
said, had the right to acquire territory
in all ways that are conceded to other
sovereign nations Of the world.
It might become necessary, in the in
terests of commerce or some other in
terest, for the United States to acquire
territory in Africa.
Shall we be bound by the constitu-
ton to organize state from such ac-
quired territory, and admit its inhab-
itants to citizenship"
Suppose, he continued, that the SEN
cures the passage of his bill for the
construction of the Nicaragua canal
(and 1 pray he may), and it should be
deemed necessary for the United States
TO acquire a strip along the route of the
canal Of $500, 600 acres-I think that is
the amount suggested-can we not take
it?
IF we take it, what clause of the
constitution, direct or implied, says
we must organize the acquired terri
tory or confer citizenship upon the
people who inhabit it?'
DRED SCOTT DECISION.
Mr.. Plat declared that Chief Justice
Taneys opinion in the Dred Scott case
was a mere dictum,' and that it was
too late these days to resurrect the
Dred Scott decision as basis of con-
stitutional action on the part of the
United States.
In response to a question from Mr.
Allen Mr.. Platt said that he did not
think there was any limitation on the
power Of the United States to acquire
territory.
As complete as the power of Russia,
for instance, in such matters?" asked
Mir. Allen.
Yes: the right to acquire territory
is an element of nationality. and 1 do
not believe there is any obligation to
give to the people of the acquired ter
ritory the right of self-government un-
til such time as they are fit to exercise
that right IL we believe the people of
a country acquired are not fit for the
government of themselves, it is our
duty to give them the most liberal gov
ernment they are capable of accepting
and to educate them as best we may
to the point where they viii be capable
of self-goyernment. The constitution
does not confer the right of suffrage"
He went into this point at length. cit
ing the fact that women and children
are citizens, but don't vote: that nei-
ther do citizens of the district of Co
lumbia; that in Massachusetts those
who could not read and write could not
vote. That other states denied suffrage
in part. 1t was, he said, a matter of
state regulation.
CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED.
Mr.. Hoar asked Mr.. Platt whether he
decried the doctrine that governments
derived their just powers from the CON
sent Of the governed.
Mr.. Plat replied that the consent of
all those governed was not always nee
eSsary. When he first became a voter
he had to pay $134 for real estate in or
der 10 receive the privilege of voting.
In conclusion, Mr.. Plat said he could
not understand the sentiments or mo-
tives OF those who wished 10 circum-
scribe the powers of the nation. Why
he asked, should we belittle those
powers or strive by subtlety and sophis-
try to hamper the progress and growth
Of the country. Rather than pursue
this course, why should senators not
wish the nation Godspeed in its mis-
sion of extending our free institutions
as far as possible. As for himself. he
knew our people to be a liberty loving
and right-doing people, and he had
no misgivings that any administration
of the United States would fail in its
territory. He had faith in the govern
lnent and faith in its future and had
no disposition to condescend to carping
criticism or craven fear. He had not
lost confidence in the doctrine that
right makes might, and with a nation