The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-01-20

qress may see at to adopt" Mr.. Justice
BREWER has lately said "a territory is a
polltleaIcommunity organized by Congress,
all whose powers are created by Congress,
and all wliossaCts are subject TO Congress
slonHl supervision"
IL IL be true that dttterrltorial rights and
powers are createdby Congress, then none is
created by the Constitution; II all are sub
iect TO alteration and supervision by Con-
gress, then none is fixed and unHiterable by
virtue OF the Constitution. Not only Is the
Constitution not rendered operative In an-
nnxed territory by the mere fact OF annex
alton, but Congress, in supervising and or
gambling territories, is not bound TO grant
the inhabitants thereof any OF our so-called
"inallenable rights" not even those emu
merated In the Constitution and its amends
ments. This principle was distinctly an
nounced by the United States Supreme
Court I'm the Mormon Church case, and the
doctrine that neither the letter nor the
spirit of the Constitution Is operative in ter
ritories without a specific act Of Congress
was reiterated with approval by Mr.. Justice
HARLAN as recently as April 20, 1S9S.
The assertion lately made by ex-senator
EDMuNDs, that "the Constitution does
operate and have full force in, our terrific
rics in the respect that AFFECTS the personal
and civil rights Of all. j" is true only OF every
territory that has been Organized since
1850. II is true because in every case
where u territory was orGunised the Con-
stitution was made operative by a specific
act OF Congress. II Senator EDMUNDs
meant his statement TO apply to Alaska, or
TO Porto Rico, or to the Philippines, or to
any other unorgdnized territory, over which
the Constitution and Federal statutes shall
not nave been specifically extended by Con-
gress, he is opposed by uniform decisions
of the Supreme,C Court.
The weakness of the a~nti-expansIon cause
ID nowhere more. strikingly exhibited than
in the fact that it has led the Hon. GEORGE
+. EDMUNDs astray in an argument on the
Constitution.
Another interesting fact brought out by
Mr.. GARDINER is the change in the attitude
Of anti-expansionists since the beginning of
the century. Those who opposed the adj
mission Of Louisiana into the Union did not
dispute the right of the Federal Govern
ment to. acquire and hold territories as de-
Tendencies. They merely insisted that the
dependencies should be governed perma-
nently as such, and objected to their
eventual admission to Statehood. Cow
ERNEUR MORRIS, who gave the final lit
erary form to the Constitution. said,
in 1903, referring to the third section
of the fourth article: Il am very GER
tain 1 had It not in contemplation to
assert a decree de coercendo imperio in the
Constitution. l knew then, as well as /
know now, that all North America must at
length be annexed to u.s." A few days later
he added Il always thought that when
we should acquire Canada and Louisiana it
would be proper to govern them as prov
inces, and allow them no voice in our coun-
ellis" Now, oil the other hand, anti-expan-
sionists deny our right to expand at all, if
the annexed territory Is TO be governed
permanently as a dependency, and insist
that all acquisitions must be converted
into States.
They are mad.