Connecticut western news., 1900-12-20
THECOLONIES IN COURT
Governments Case Presented
 by MT. Griggs.
THE VITAL POINT MAY ESCAPE.
Attorney General Claims That as
 Dingley Law Was Passed Prior to
 Cession of Islands It's Present Ap- pIicatIon to Them Is sConstitutionnI.

Attorney General Claims That as
 Dingley Law Was Passed Prior to
 Cession of Islands It's Present Ap-
 pIicatIon to Them Is Constitutional.
 Washington, Dec. 19.-It is possible that after all the excitement over the cases now on trial in the supreme court of the United States to test the doctrine that the constitution follows the flag" the vital issue may not be touched at all by the court in making its decision. At torney General Griggs yesterday in his presentation of the case for the govern ment plainly pointed the way for the court to escape the responsibility of de- ciding the momentous questions involved If it so desires. The attorney general did this by dwelling strongly on two i'm portant points. One was that in the Goetxe case the record did not show that Goetxe is a citizen of the United States or that the merchandise on which he paid tariff duties at New York had not been brought from Mexico or some oth- CT alien country to the United States by way of Porto Rico and that In the Pepke case the record did not show that the diamond rings seized by the customs ofti- cers at Chicago and forfeited by order of the court as smuggled goods were not first smuggled into the Philippines from China or some other alien country. The other point was dwslt upon by Attorney General Griggs with even greater em- phasis and may possibly entirely divert the issue to a construction of the tariff law of 1897 without reference to or bearing upon the constitutional question involved. As stated by the attorney general the point is this:
 That 10 tariff was intended by congress to classify as foreign all countries not a part of or be- longing to the United States at the time of its passage, and the subsequent ces- sion of the Spanish islands to the United States did not operate to admit imports from those islands free of duty under that law.
 "Second.-That the tariff act so con- strued and enforced violates no constitu- tional rule of uniformity"
 The Issue squareIy Faced.
 At the same time it should be under stood that the attorney general has not in his presentation of the case for the gov srnment dodged or attempted to avoid the great constitutional issue. On the contra ", he has faced 1t boldly and squarely. He takes the broad ground that in deal Ing with the islands ceded by Spain as outlying territory belonging to the Unit ed States" the government has not tran scended Its constitutional limitations or powers; that within the meaning of the tariff act Porto Rico and the Philippines are to be regarded as foreign countries, belonging to but not forming in domes- tic sense a Srt of the United States. Continuing along this line of reasoning Attorney General Griggs maintains that ff io ar;f fha hut al nf the treaty making power tthe president and the senate) to accept the cession of foreign territory upon such terms, condi- tions and limitations as to its internal status as may best subserve the interests of the United States. and it is not neces- sary to invest such territory with the full status of an integral part of the Union; that this is one of the ordinary and neces- sary sovereign powers of an independent nation and nothing in the federal consti- tuition or in the fundamental principles that underlie the republic denies to the nation right to take full exercise of this usual and common sovereign right: that the treaty making power (the president and the senate), as evidenced by the Ian guage of the treaty of Paris, did not in- tend to make Porto Rico and the Philip pine Islands integral parts of the United
 States, but intended in several particu- lars to reserve their final status for ad-
 justment by congress, at the same time
 making peculiar and special differential
 provisions for variations and exceptions in customs and port regulations as to
 Spain and Spanish goods and subjects
 which are inconsistent with the intention
 that the ceded countries became upon the
 ratification of the treaty a part of the
 United States in all respects and in the fullest sense.
 "Foreign Countries" and the Tariff. The government contends that the term foreign countries" in the tariff act of 1897 is to be regarded as having been understood by congress to be subject to the rule of interpretation of the phrase given by the supreme court in another case touching upon this principle. where it was held that under our revenue laws every port is regarded as a foreign one until expressly established as domestic | under the authority and control of the statutes of the United States; that the | clause of the constitution which declares | that duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States does not apply to nor govern these cases | because the term Limited States" as | there used means only the territory com. | prised within the several states of the | Union and was intended only for theii
 benefit and protection and not for the | benefit or protection of outside territory
 belonging to the nation; that in the lat. | ter sense duties on imports from these islands are uniform throughout the Unit | ed States because they are uniformly i'm
 posed at every port in the United States | so that there is no preference given tc | the ports of one state over those of an other, nor is any inequality between tho | several states created.