The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-02-09
SENATE.

SENATE.
Washington, February Soon after
the senate convened Senator Foraker
OF Ohio. chairman of the committee on
Pacific Islands and Porto Rico, report
ed a bill providing a form of govern
ment for Porto Rico.
Senator Gallinger, of New Hamp-
shire, presented a statement of the
views Of himself and Senator Perkins,
OF California, dissenting in part from
the majority report.
Senator Gallinger CAV notice that
at an early date he would offer an
amendment to the rules of the senate,
providing THAI all resolutions wnen in
trOduced, shall be referred without de-
bate unless unanimous consent be
given for immediate consideration.
A resolution offered by Senator Pet
tus, of Alabama, inquiring of the sec
rotary Of the navy if he had declined
TO supply TO the court of claims infor-
NATION relative to naval conference.-the
was laid before the senate. After Sen
atOr Pettus had disclaimed any desire
TO reflect upon the secretary of the
navy, and in a speech urged congress
to build up a great navy and to pro-
vide naval officers and men head and
shoulders above those Of every other
idNftI, III ItSOluIlOH was passed.
SeantOr Gallery then spoke on the
series Of resolutions offered by Senator
Bacon, Of Georgia, and ognat reso-
buttons. He maintained that the con
stitutiOn extends absolutely over the
F%ilipinOs. He declared that the ques-
ton was broadly presented whether
congress could exercise sovereign pow
er and jurisdiction over territory
which might be acquired by the United
States government
Senator Caffery said he did not deny
thar the United States was a nation or
that il had the rights of sovereign
power Of a nation. But" he said, Il
do deny that congress has the sover-
eign power of a nation vested in it. I
deny that there is in any part of the
government an unlimited severe n
power That power lies with the unit
known as the people and with that
alone.
The Louisiana senator the entered
upOn a discussion of the various phases
OF the constitutional law involved in
the general Philippine question. He
quoted extensively from legal authori-
ties in maintenance of his assertions
that the F~ilipinOS were citizens of the
United States entirely. completely,
absolutely" They becams So" he de
clared, by the annexation of the Phil
ipp1nes by the United States and by
iANN A"SA Nldl III lldS vi III SOhS 81 II
ment floats over those islands, as that
flag carries its citizenship wherever it
floats"
Senator Caffery maintained that in
n Philippines there was, when our
forces arrived there. a Filipino govern
ment-'a de factO government" de-
clared Senator Caffery, but that has
been destroyed by fire and sword"
n Senator Gallery maintained that
whatever territory might be acquired
4 by the United States must be governed
by the limitations of the constitution.
The FilipinOs, he said were entitled
to all the rights and privileges guar
,aHteed by the constitution to the citi.
zens OF the United States.
How can sovereign power be exer-
kCiSed," inquired Senator Platt. of Con
neericut. except by congress, which
represents the peOple?"
Senator Caffery maintained in his re.
ply that congress must be governed b.
the constitution in the making of laws
for these outlying territories. He held
that all governments derived their JUS
powers from the consent OF the gov
erned.
Does that principle extend" inquir.
ed Senator SpoOner. Ito inhabited ter
rftOry conceded 20 the United States as
a war indemnify"
1T docs" replied Senator Gallery
because under our constitution and
the declarations of Independence We
can not wage a war of conquest"
Senator Gallery pointed TO England
as n great nation which was rendered
insecure by her colonial possessions
She trembleS," he said, "at the spectr,
OF the Russian bear crossing the IRA
mountains, and she may well trembl'
at the attitude of the less than a mil,
lion OF people in the Transvaal. There
is no strength in these extended pos.
SaG4fpnS Tho vary npnoap+ nra roH.
'thes Ffl,pinOs we have injected int
u system a poison that will i~noculat,
our whole body polite.
~ believe 1t was wicked and afro,
ciOus to take these Fiiipinos into tn,
United States and under a Pecksnif
"a policy to murder and destroy then
in order to force upon them American
freedom"
First, stating in brief the proposition
of Senator Gallery concerning the FIJI
ipinOs. Senator Plat. of Connecticut
asked:
What under the circumstance
should we do?"
Turn them loose as soon as we cal
get rid of Them" responded Senate
Coffery.
After a brief executive session tn
senate adjourned.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
This was suspension day in the hous'
and Mr.. Bartholdt, of Missouri, wa.
recognized to move the passage unde
a suspension Of the rules Of a bill ap
p~ropriating $40, 900 for the appointment
of an expert scientific commission t
investigate the alleged pollution Of tn,
waters of the Mississippi river by tn,
Chicago drainage canal. The bill wa
drawn in general terms covering tn,
pollution of rivers which threaten tn,
water supply in more than one state.
Us-a NJ d.
ardson, Tennessee, demanded a sec
ond reading which was ordered b,