Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-27

The New York Senator Would Hold
the Philippines.
new LIBERTY FOR TEE ISLANDERS
Limitations of the Constitution
Discussed.
DUTY OF THE PRESENT HOUR

Senator Plat of New York addressed the
Senate this afternoon in opposition to the
resolution of Senator Vest declaring against
taking the Philippines. Senator Plat said:
81 suppose 1 may be permitted to enjoy
the same latitude of discussion and the
same liberty of expression which have dis
tinguished the remarks of other senators
during this debate. 1t is scarcely possible
to talk to the resolution of the senator from
Missouri without saying something con-
corning the treaty, which is being consider
ed in executive session. Indeed, the resolu-
lion may almost be looked upon
amendment to the treaty. If the resolution
were to pass, and the treaty were then to
be ratified, the resolution would be nothing
less than a definition of what the treaty
must be understood to mean, and in voting
against the resolution, which will be my
course when the occasion arrives, 1 desire
to be understood as voting against any
limitation upon the terms of the treaty.
There has never been absent from the
floor of The Senate that class of intellect
which has found in the Constitution its
warrant fer opposing new things 1t mas
always been a superior class Of intellect,
without doubt earnest and sincere, but not
always to be appreciated by ordinary minds,
that believes in finding a practical solution
for practical questions, they arise one
dIler another IN tne course OF national eN-
perience, and that starts out in its conSld-
GRAFTON of al! public questions with the as
sumption that the founders of our govern
ment did not intend it to be anything less
than a competent government. Nor is it
new things only which are so resolutely OPP
posed in the name of the fathers. 1t is the
old things with new faces as well. Here we
have been for a whole century anneXing
territory, anneXing with a club or a caress.
just as the necessities demanded, and yet
senators are discovering to one another the
most acute distress ove' what they boldly
describe departure from time-honored
traditions
Limitations of the Constitution.
Mr.. President, it was not the main pur-
pose of the makers of the Constitution to
point out a way in accordance with which
the problems of government were to be
solved. That purpose, no doubt, was in
their minds to some extent, but to an ex-
tent which must have had its boundaries
defined in their own experience. And even
then they allowed it to appear in the Con-
stitution with reluctance and obvious mis-
giving. Their main purpose was to devise
a plan of government and not to ordain
policies; and where they seemed to be or
daining policies, where they departed from
the main work of establishing the bodies
which together should form the govern
ment, and of distributing to each its par
tcular functions, they We're doing precisely
"lidt every plItI lGSlSIdliNt assembly, Ut-
fore their time and subsequently thereto,
has had to do-they were satisfying popular
prejudices and looking forward to the day
when their work would be passed upon by
minds less trained than their own in the
consideration of great principles and more
subject than theirs to temporary and local
prejudice. l do not mean to suggest, Mr..
President, that such legislation as does oc-
cur in the Constitution is any less binding
upon US, because it was put there as a
concession to the sentiment of the hour,
but l do affirm without hesitation that the
differences which we draw now from such
legislation, limiting the power of the gen.
eral government and tending to render our
government less competent than other gov
ernmentS, need to be drawn carefully and
need to be considered in the light of the
whole scheme of federal authority. 1t is
true that We are a government OF limited
powers, but the purpose Of the limitation
was simply to reserve to the people of the
states such ample power as would enable
them to determine their own affairs in Their
own way-such affairs, l mean, as were not
also the affairs of the people of other
states; and it was not the purpose of such
limita ton to hinder the federal government
in providing as might seem best and wisest
for the general welfare of the whole
country.
ut is surprising Mr. President how often
1t mas been necessary to make this argu-
ment and to call attention to these distinc-
tons, and yet | suppose the temptation is a
fatural one to make the phrase a govern
ment of limited powers mean a govern
ment empowered to do whatever each man
wants done, but forbidden to do whatever
each man opposes. That thought must
have occurred, it seems to me, to every
senator who heard the proposition ad
vanced here that we had the right under
the Constitution to annex territory for the
purpose of putting Up guns to kill people
with, but lacked the right of annexing it
for the purpose of putting up school houses
and of doing things that contribute to the
happiness and prosperity Of the people con-
cerned.