The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-04-01
CIRCULATION STATEMENT.
SUNDAY. APRIL 1, 1900.
Mr. Edmunds on the Payne Bin.

MIR. Edmunds the Payne Bill
In the course Of his lucid and logical
argument against the passage Of the Payne
Foraker bill. contained in letter to Sen
stor Proctor. the Hon. George F. Ed
muuds saws. Any such measure, if en-
acted will I believe. be unique in our
whole history. It will initiate and parallel
the acts Of the British Parliament which
forced our fathers TO just resistance and
revolution. and led them to establish
Constitution which. in studied and eN-
pIicit terms. forbade any such discrimina-
lion"
Congress" Mr.. Edmunds declares, lis
the creature of the Constitution and not
The reverse In his view. law passed
ny Congress lis its creature. a mere eN-
preston OF its will. II. therefore, Con
eress were to enact a statute declaring
that the present Constitution shall be eN-
tended over and be in force in that ISL
and porto Ricol the Constitution gets its
only force there by the virtue Of the
statute. It is a statutory constitution. ana
nothing else, and a repeal of the statute
would extinguish it,
Thus in few terse sentences. one Of
the greatest OF American constitutional
LAWYERS demoIishes and exposes 10 just
ridicule the contention Of the Administra-
ton that Congress. the creature Of the
Constitution. can make itself supreme az
viii in American territory outside Of state
boundaries. and. at the same time ex-
clude from the same its creator. The
country knows that the contention Is but
an unworthy and a silly subterfuge, re-
sorted to by the President and his ill-ad-
yisers as the only means in sight CT ac-
counting for their broken word TO Porto
Rico. and their perfdy to the fundamental
American law they had sworn TO support
and defend They have not even the poor
excuse OF an original error consistently al
bered TO- II is a matter OF common report
and belief that before Mr. Mckinley wrote
his annual message TO Congress, in which
be said. Our plain duty is to abolish the
customs tariffs between the United states
md Porto Rico. and give her products free
aecess 10 our markets" he had the benefit
az careful legal opinion prepared by
Judge Magoon. the law officer OF the War
Department Division Of Insular Affairs IN
which that fuuctionary held that the Con
stitution extended to Porto Rico, ex pro-
prio vigare. the moment the Island passed
under the complete sovereignty OF the
United States II is generally understood
that The President and Cabinet concurred
ip the first Magoon opinion. and were
governed by il until the OIL sugar to-
hacco and rum trusts insisted that the
national promise to Porto Rico should be
violated. and the Constitution dehed, as
the price Of a contribution TO the party
corruption fund Then. as the story goes.
Judge Msgoou was ordered to write a
second opinion. in support OF the PROPOSE
lien that the Constitution is a creature,
and a negligible one. Of the Republican
majority iu Congress, and can be ignored
ana nouted by the Administration and
its legislative poems al viii. That later
CONNECTION is being distributed lsyishly.
The FIRST has doubtless been destroyed, and
It's existence We expect 10 see denied,
should the White House and departmental
authorities be able to assure themselves
that a copy OF it is not lurking in a
Washington news office, waiting for an Of
fcial denial. to render the sensation Of its
publication the more lurid.
IT, in the language we have quoted from
Mr. Edmunds letter, he has not complete
Is disposed Of the Unconstitutional ar
gument OF men like Henderson and For
aker. he certainly accomplishes So in max
ing the telling point that whereas if the
Porto Ricans were to levy war against the
United States and adhere to its enemies
they would unquestionahly be guilty OF
treason. it Is equally true that treason
is an exclusively defined constitutional
crime. and 81 cannot exist on the island
unless the Constitution that defines 10 is
in force there" Indeed. Mr. Edmunds,
with tzs unanswerable logic. drives the
Administration. its masters. and It's serfs
into q cul de sac and pulls the string.
There is now no escape for the combna-
tion from a public verdict already regis
tered in nearly every decent journal in
the whole country. that the Payne-ForakeT
infamy is a cowardly and disgracaful bar
ter and sale Of national honor and respect
for the Constitution TO the trusts. Party
discipline and the temptations which the
protected monopolies know 50 wei how %
hold out to legislators with weak or no
conscIences may be- etiicacious 10 securing
the enactment into temporary law of the
intended outrage. but the supreme Court
VIII wipe ID from the statute book an The
first opportunity. and The voters Of th'
Union if they have sanity or honesty re-
naming. IN November viii punish The mis-
deed by defeating the political organiza
zion -r.,,,,rs ilil a-for ff
Modern Vandalism.