The age-herald., 1900-03-10
LINDSAY MADE
 A GREAT SPEECH FoTcIbIe Argument Against the
 Porto Rico Bill ISLAND AN AMERICAN COUNTRY It May at re Time Become DIFFEREs ; ROM THE PHILIPPINES When Kentucky Senator Concluded His AcSiress Storm of Applause Greeted His Effort-An Ex- ecutive Session

1 Washington, March 9-Discussion of Mir.
 Mason's resolution expressing sympathy l for the Boers was conducted in the senate l today behind closed doors, Mir Davis, l chairman of the foreign relations commit | tee demanding that the doors be closed. The speech of the open session today
 speech by MT. Lindsay, of Kentucky, on the Porto Rican tariff and government
 measure. He opposed the tariff provision
 of the bill and some parts of the proposi- ton for the Porto Rican government. He | maintained that under the treaty of Paris,
 which provided that the civil governments 1 and political statutes of the native fnhabi-
 tants of the island acquired by the United l States from Spain shah be fixed by con- gress, the congress having authority to deal with Porto Rico and the Philippines | as 1t was fit, giving free trade to the one and levying tariff on the products of the l other. He opposed the doctrine that the
 constitution extended ex propria vigore | over the territory acquired by this govern | ment.
 l After the executive session, when the l Porto Rican tariff bill was taken up, Sena- | tor Lindsay. of Kentucky, took the floor | and spoke against 1t. He said tn part: 1 "The selection of the island of Porto Ri- l co as the proper subject for establishing l the principle that territories acquired by | the United States through the recent treaty l with Spain are not per SC integral portions thereof is in my opinion, slngularly un- fortunate. The difference in the considera- tions applying to the American and Asiatic
 territories acquired by the recent cession
 by Spain radical and do not require
 elaboration or discussion.
 An American Country
 Porto Rico is essentially an American
 country, and while its term of territorial
 probation may necessarily be an extended
 one, there is no reason that precludes it at
 some future time from being admitted into
 the union as an American state This is
 not true with regard to the Philippine arch
 ipelago or the Hawaiian islands. There Is
 a union of American states, and it must so
 remain to the end. The bond of union was
 ordained and established as the consttu-
 tion of the United States of America, and
 our traditions, glory and safety alike for bid the admission into the union of any other than North American state. The passage of the house bill to tax im-
 ports and exports between Porto Rico and
 the United States has provoked general
 condemnation by the people of the United
 States. They also demand that trade be-
 tween the United States and the island of Porto Rico shall be unrestricted by any custom duty whatever.
 Senator Lindsay said that the senate | measure contained all the objectionable l features of the house bill and also a pro- vision absolutely inconsistent with the tax | ing power 1t asserted. He then called at | tention to the fact that the senate bill de- l clared that all Porto Ricans who were Spanish subjects should be deemed citizens l of the United States. and took issue with Senator Foraker's contention that 'citi- | zens," when used in the treaty of Paris meant merely that person owes allegiance to the government He said that in the sense of Senator Foraker's definition the adoption of the thirteenth amendment to the federal constitution conveyed every freedman in the United States into citizen of the United States. The government was entitled to their allegiance and owed them protection. They were native born nhabi-
 tants of the country in which they lived, and yet they were not citizens in national point of view after the adoption of the thirteenth amendment was made absolute ly clear by the subsequent adoption of the fourteenth amendment, which established beyond cavil or dispute the true significance of the phrase "citizen of the United States.'
 Can't Treat Them Foreigners Continuing the senator said that If the United States elect to treat a people as foreigners the country they inhabit so far
 as we are concerned, must be deemed
 foreign state or territory. If they be treat
 ed as subjects to the soverign authority of the United States, but at the same time the inhabitants of a territory held under our temporary control, their country may be treated as an American dependency.
 But with 5000 American citiens inhabit- ing an American island less than 4,OO0 square mile in extent, it seemed prepos- terous to say that their country Is not an
 integral part of the United States, and be- ing so we must tax and govern them fin ac- cordance with the federal constitution
 which affords protection to the civil rights
 of the citizens of the United States whether
 residents of American states or American
 territories
 He did not claim believe that we are
 under legal constitutional obligations to
 make citizens of the people of Porto Rico,
 but if we intend to treat them as the inhab-
 itants of a dependency he insists that we
 cannot consistently declare by congression-
 al enactment that they are to be deemed
 and held to be citizens of the United States. Any action we took as to them could not