The sun., 1900-12-21
Our ISLANDS STATUS.
Closing Argument In the Philip
pines Porto Rico Cases.
lnssss1'A / ssss:1 A BY CHARLES ALDRICH.
Plnintlffs' Lnwyer Declares That He
L. Regards Much the Attorney Gem
eraI Presented as IrreIe-
want to the Cases.

r Washington, Dec. 20.-The closing ar
gument in the PhilippinesPort Rico
cases was made in the United States SUI
preme court, and the cases were submit
ted for the final adjudication of the court.
The crowds which have filed the cham
her since the cases were taken up were
again on hand in re-enforced numbers,
entirely occupying the quarters reserved
for the bar and the outer area for the
public. Many people came early in the
day to secure advantageous seats.
AS the governments case had been clos
ed by the attorney general it remained
only to hear the senior counsel in the
Philippine case, Mr.. Charles III. Aldrich
of Chicago, former solicitor general, who
had one hour and half remaining of
the five hours given to the plaintiffs.
Mr.. Aklrich had before him the
plaintiffs brief and a voluminous port
folio Of notes, but he spoke freely, with
only occasional references to them. AT
the outset he said he would confine him
self largely to legal argument, following
the attorney generals points and seeking
to meet them, although he regarded much
that the attorney general had presented
as irrelevant He spoke deliberately and
seldom with-any effort for dramatic force.
He first directed his attention to the
circumstances under which this govern
ment came into existence, the struggle
for liberty and the American protest
against England's assertion of the taxing
power over the American colonies. With
:, this history before u.s. he said, it was a
q remarkable fact that the attorney general
e 5f the United States, over 100 years after
the great struggle which founded the
v American government, should come into
oe.c - t.tN fttn All
more extreme than had been asserted by
Itlie most ardent defenders of England's
taxing power over the colonies.
what ssUnited states" Means.
S MI. Aldrich spoke of the decision OF
:. Justice Marshall in Loughborough versu!
M Blake as Of decisive importance, and h'
summed up that decision as bearing OF
the present conditions as follows:
THAT the power of tax. levy duties
etc, extends to the entire United States
M THAT the term United States EN-
braces our great republic, which is com
posed of states and territories that i
Is not less necessary on the principles 0
kvNal constitution that uniformity in th
position of imposts, duties and excise
'3uid be observed in the one than tn
ner.'
#s"It follows from the above that tn
'fights and obligations of the territor
Fl, thus part of the United States and th
a inhabitants thereof are measured an
tested by the constitution.
~ AS to the contention that the PHILIP
pines were not part of the Unite
NJ States, Mr.. Aldrich said:
If the islands ceded by Spain are fol
eign territory, then our country wOul
have as its commercial representative
therein consuls who would perform til
requisite official acts prescribed by OF
customs laws regarding shipments q
merchandise from any of these islant
to any part of the United States. I'll
court takes judicial notice of the fiji,
that otlr government has no consuls
the Philippines and that when SPANS
sovereignty ceased in those islands Il
United States consuls therein We're wit
drawn and that the consular agents
foreign powers thenceforth We're the a
credited representatives. of the respecti'
foreign governments to the United Stat
aud our government signed the exequatl
OF such consuls.
What an anomaly it is to have Spa
send its consuls TO the Philippines if,
49,, .contended for the purposes of reven
they are still foreign territory! If th
he not American territory. they must
till Spanish. for it's not pretended tn
g. ntiy other nation foreign to the Unit
Setates has acquired any sovereignty ov
arsnne nor is it pretended that the Ph
"A + ne Islands in the eye of information
occupy the status of an independe
y 1haffion''