The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-03-02
THE ISSUE Is MADE.

1t has now been formally decreed by
the party In power in our national AZ
fairs that the island of Puerto Rico Is
not an integral part of the United States
That Is the meaning Of the vote Just
taken in the house 1t Is a declaration
made in the teeth of the recommendation
Of the president. that the Puerto RIcans
are aliens and must remain such: that
they are without the privileges OF the
American constitutional system, and
that they are not within the operation
of any system Of civil government what
ever
The event Is regarded as a great vic
tory by the Republicans In congress. No
one pays any attention to the expressed
wishes of the chief executive of the na-
ton in the premises, and his individual
influence may be properly estimated on
the basis of the five Republican votes
which were cast In favor of the substt-
tute offered in the house embodying the
recommendations OF his message. He has
merely shown his readiness to sneeze
when the syndcates and cabals which
surround and control his administration
take snuff; but. to be just TO him, he
shows, as the record indicates, not much
more readiness in this direction than have
the mass Of the men who in the house
have just voted in favor Of the proposed
tariff
The question of Imperialism IS thus
clearly brought to a test There can be
no longer any equlvocation or doubt. II
this measure is valid, we can hold foreign
possessiOns-crown colonies, as 1t were
the natives Of which we may indefinitely
exclude from all political rights and priv
ileges whatever. The cowardly and ly>
ing pretense that this measure ia for the
benefit of the people upon whom that tar.
if Is imposed will disappear in thin air
once the atmosphere of the supreme court
Is reached. The naked question then will
be whether our constitution warrants the
undertaking of extending our power in>
definitely either by armed conquest or
treaty over foreign peoples in no way
related to US. and holding such peoples
under our sway, either while withhold
Ing from or extending to them the poiiti-
cal rights. privileges and immunities Of
citizens of the United States.
If we can hold these peoples by force:
If we can hold their countries in any
other character than that of territories
Of the United States. we may no longer
close our eyes to the truth that a sub.
stantial change has been wrought In all
former conceptions of the nature and
scope Of American political institutions.
II we cannot so hold them but can en-
body far-off lands like the Philippines
into our political system as territories of
the United States, even then must many
of us give up the fruits of our thought
and study on the great problems of hul
man society which have been so ardu-
ously pursued since the inception OF
American political institutions
In either view the limitations and safe.
guards which find such profound express
sion In the writings Of Jefferson and
Washington and in the Monroe doctrine
and which would conflpe our political in
terests to this hemisphere are wiped
away and we must and will at once pro.
coed to meet the imperial systems OF
Britain, Germany and Russia on a com.
mon plane and seek our commercial gain
on precisely the lines which those great
nations are now pursuing. There is no
other way.
The supreme court of the United States
when the question of the Puerto Rico tar.
iff comes before 1t for adjustment. will
be confronted by the greatest occasion
that has arisen in It's annals since It was
called upon to decide the social and DO
litical status of bred Scott. Whether the
people will feel called upon to go behind
whatever decision that tribunal then NAV
reach, as they went behind the bred
Scott decision, the immediate poiitica,
future must determine. The issue is at
last made. The people must fight it out
at the polls in November, and no doubt
their conclusions then reached will