Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-09-29

"Our supreme court, the authorized
| interpreter of our constitution, has
said: a power in the general govern
ment TO obtain and hold colonies and
dependent territories, over which they
restriction would be inconsistent with
its own existence in its present form.
"In another case that court has said:
1.-The power of congress over the
territories is limited by the obvious
purposes for which it was conferred.
and those purposes are satisfied by
measures which prepare the people of
the territories to become states in the
Union
in still another case it said:
1.-The territories acquired by con-
gress. whether by deed of cession from
the original states or by treaty with a
foreign country are held with the OBJ
ject, as soon as their population and
condition justify it, of being admitted
into the Union as states, upon an equal
footing with the original states in all
respects.
In still another case it said:
THE constitution was. made for the
benefit OF every citizen of the United
States. and there is no citizen. what
ever his condition or wherever he may
be within the territory of the United
States. who has not right to its pro-
lection
And in defining the rights of the in
habitants of the territories it said:
1.-The personal and civil rights Of
the inhabitants of the territories are
secured TO them as to other citizens,
by the principles of constitutional lib
erty, which restrain all the agencies of
government. state and national
"And Chief Justice Marshall. for the
entire court, defined the term United
States as follows:
80 Does this term designate the
whole or any particular portion of the
American empire? Certainly this ques
ton can admit Of but one answer. 1t
is the name given to our great republic,
which is composed of states and terri
tories. The District Of Columbia or
the territory west of the Missouri is
not less within the United States than
Maryland or Pennsylvania
Judge Cooley, whose commentaries
are universally accepted as conclusive
interpretations of our constitutional
law. summarizes the doctrine as fol-
lows:
land when territory is acquired the
right 10 suffer states to be formed
therefrom and to receive them into the
Union must follow, of course. not only
because the constitution confers the
power to admit new states without re-
striction, but because it would be in
consistent with institutions founded
on the fundamental idea of self-gov-
ernmeDt that the federal government
should retain territory under its i'm
perial rule and deny the people the
customary local institutions.
Are these the institutions which we
have offered to the Philippine people?
If so, when, where and by whom were
they rendered?
Dewey's Offer.
"I admit that Admiral Dewey orig
inally offered them the American con-
stitution and all it's guarantees, as de-
fined by our courts. With this promise
they allied their fortunes with ours
and fought for US with all the zeal of
new made citizens of the great re-
public. When Manila fell, the scene
was shifted from sea to land. The
military power was substituted for
that of the navy. Dewey departed and
Otis came. The president lost time in
feeling the popular pulse. He first
hesitated between withdrawal and oc-
cupancy; then between naval sta
the single island of Luzon and the
l 200 islands of the Philippine group.
Having determined upon the entire
he seemed to fear the po-
litical effect of ennexing so many Ash
attic states. He then halted between
a government of Imperialism and the
constitutional rule. Of the fathers.
Wearied and worn by ceaseless search
for the popular will on these subjects,
tired nature sought repose. The pres
ident for a moment slept and dreamed
that fatal dream by which Jupiter de-
luded the unfortunate Romans:
" To them no bounds of empire | as
sign,
No term of years to their immortal
line
''The mirage of universal empire
opened up its deceitful beauties to his
unsteady vision. The sterile deserts
turned into fields of waving
grain. Belching volcanoes were grad
lally converted into mountains of gold
and precious stones. The untenanted
oceans grew white with the sails of |
commerce, and new cities. boundless
in their proportions and Unsuitable in
their consumption of American mer-
,handise, slowly emerged from the
nurky and treacherous gloom.
The time had at last come to deter |
mine the condition and destiny Of
II 100000 of people, created by the |
same Being who created us, and wor- |
Shipping at the same affairs before which
We confess the 'Fatherhood of God and |
he brotherhood of man; and where |
We daily promise to do unto others as |
We would that they should do unto US.
In the trenches behind Manila the
Philippine people had fought in the
ull confidence that the victory would
)ut for the freedom and elevation of |
/ race. They now. believe that the |
,attle of Manila was fought under a
ecret compact between Spaniards and
Americans, by which. after exchange
If blank cartridges. the city was to be
to us, and not to them.
from that day to this they believe we
lave turned upon them the 'unforgiv-
ng eye and damned disipheriting
I'VE found these people struggling
gainst the despOtism of foreign rule,
from Madrid. 1t would be
despotism, whether it emanated from
from London, or from
Paris. They are not rebels against
'ur authority, if exercised under the
onstitution-they are rebels only
gainst those who are themselves reb-
Is against American constitutional lib
rty. They are not traitors against
ur government, as understood and ad-
ninistered from it's oranization down
o The ratification of the Spanish
reaty. They understood the distinc-
ion between republican government
nd the tyranny of imperial rule; and
eng before our commissioners visited
'aris to formulate the Spanish treaty
f peace. the military authorities at
Ianilla had reported to the president
be willingness of the Philippine peo-
lie to accept in common the rule
Thich we enjoy, but their fixed deter
lirat;on I'm rpcict tba tyranny of col