Evening star., 1900-10-12
Bryan VS.. Mefklejohn.

| 'Ine republican party, with the approval
| of the administration, has adopted the
! theory that the Constitution does not fol-
| lew the flag, and therefore the thirteenth
amendment does not interfere with slavery
in the Sulu archipelago. The Porto Rtcan
/ law asserts the doctrine that the people of
Porto Rico are beyond the protection Of the
| Constitution and can be governed by the ar
| bitrary and unrestrained power of the Pres
! ident and Congress. If the Constitution
itself cannot reach the West Indies. how
| can the thirteenth amendment find its way
| across the Pacific into Asia?"
| The decadence in dignity and effective
ness of Bryan's campaign Of oratory and
| rhetoric finds as notable an example in
the above quoted words from his letter to
Assistant Secretary Meiklejohn as In his
| recent direct appeal to the cupidity Of the
negro officeseeker, as in his Indictment Of
/ class hatred, in his vision of a fort
| frowning despotically upon the workingmen
| of every American city. and as in his in
| su!ting suggestion to his hearers that his
only fear of defeat rests upon his apprehen-
| sion that they will before election day
permit themselves to be bribed to vote
against him.
| OF course everybody knows that the re-
| publican contention in respect to Porto Ri
| co.'s status involves denial of the appli-
cation to 1t of the thirteenth amendment
WHICH pTOHlDllS slavery III the United states
| or any place subject to their jurisdiction;'
| and that on the contrary the republican
| view finds one Of it's strongest supports in
| the wording of this very thirteenth amend
ment.
Under the Constitution the Philippines and
Porto Rico are territory belonging to the
| United States and places Subject to their
| jurisdiction The Constitution gives to
ia TO all
needful rules and regulations concerning
this territory belonging to the United States.
The legal question at issue is the extent
| to which Congress in exercising this con-
stitutonal function Is bound by the re-
straints upon it's action which are specified
| IN the Constitution as limiting it in its re-
lation to the states of the Union. If no
one Of these constitutional limitations upon
the power of Congress is held to apply to
| it in Its capacity as supreme territorial
| legislature. 1t will not then cut loose from
the Constitution, since it will in legislating
for the territories be fulfilling a function
entrusted to it without restriction by the
Constitution ITSELF
In its relation to the states Congress has
only the powers of legislation specified and
| necessarily implied in the Constitution; in
It's relation to the territory belonging to
the United States 1t has all the powers
conceivable in the legislature OF a republic.
limited only by the express or implied quail
| ications of the Constitution.
In what cases Is territory belonging to
| the United States to be construed as in
| cluded within the words United States as
| they appear in different sections Of the Con-
| stitution?
''In every case" the democrats respond.
sJ- ~
the words United States mean solely the
States of the Union. the governing entity"
When the Constitution says that the day
for choosing presidential electors shall be
the same Throughout the United States"
it evidently does not include non-voting ter
ritory like the Philippines or Porto Rico
within the meaning of United States" Are
the Philippines included within the United
States when the Constitution provides that
all duties shall be uniform Throughout
the United States?" Does 1.-The United
| States" mean the same thing in the two
sections OF the Constitution Is the term
OF varying dimensions contracting to ex-
clude the Philippines in one case and ex-
panding to include them in the other?
To the last question the democrats say
yes and the republicans say no. But there
Is nobody in the world who has assumed
! the attitude Of Bryan's imaginary typical
republican in contending that Porto Rico
and the Philippines are not subject to the
Jurisdiction Of the United States and con-
sequently are not within the sphere of ap-
plication OF the thirteenth amendment.
The democratic contention is in effect
that there cannot be within the republic
governing part and a subject part: that
within the geographical limits Of the United
States the flag means the same thing every
where and to every individual. But when
the Constitution says that slavery shall not
exist within the United States or any
place subject to their Jurisdiction 1t as
serts by implication that there are places
subject to the jurisdiction Of the United
States. which are not within the United
States. Otherwise the words "or any place
subject to their jurisdiction become mere
surplusage.
Evidently the Constitution does not agree
with the speakers and writers who view the
| status of those thus subject to the juris-
diction of the United States, but not tech
nically within 1t, one of virtual slavery,
for 1t recognizes this status in the very
words which abolish and forever forbid
slavery and involuntary servitude.