The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-12-21
PORTO RICO CASE ENDS
Arguments Over and Issue is
Submitted.
TYRANNY IS ALLEGED
LAWYER POINTS TO AMERICAN
HISTORY IN OPPOSING TAX.


( States supreme court today and the
cases were submitted for tbs final adj
! Judication of the court. The crowds
which have filed the chamber since the
cases were taken up we're again on
hand in reinforced numbers today, en-
tlrely occupying the quarters reserved
for the bar and the outer area for the
public.
As the governments case had been
closed by the attorney general. il re-
NAMED only to hear the senior counsel
IN the Philippine case, Charles H
AldriCh of Chicago, former solicitor
general, who had one hour and a half
remaining of the FIVE hours given to
the plaintiffs.
Mr. Aldrich had before him the plain
tin's brief and q voIuminous portfolio
OF notes but ne spoke freely with only
occasional references to them. At the
outset he said he would conhne himself
largely to legal argument, following the
attorney generals points and seeking
10 meet them, although he regarded
much that the attorney general had
presented as irrelevant He spoke de-
! liberately aud seldom with any effect
Tor dramatic force. He first directed
/ his attention TO the circumstances IN
der which the government 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
1T is a remarkable fact that the at
/! toTuey general of the United States
over 100 years after the great struggle
which founded the American govern
ment, should come into this court and
assert taxing power more extreme
than had been asserted by the most ar
dent defenders of England's taxing
power over the colonies
Cites Lougborough VS.. Blake.
Mr. Aldrich spoke of the decision of
Justice Marshall in LOughbOrOugh VS..
Blake as Of decisive Importance and he
summed up that decision as bearing on
the present condition as follows:
II nat the power to tax, levy duties,
etc. extends to the entire United States.
That the term United States en-
| braces our great republic. which is
composed of states and territories.
THAT 1T is not less necessary on the
principles of our constitution that uni
formity in the imposition Of imposts,
duties and excise should be observed in
the one than in the other
1T follows from the above that the
rights and obligations of the territory
thus apart of the United States and the
Inhabitants thereof are measured and
tested by the constitution.
As to the contention that the Philip
pines were not a part of the United
States, Mr.. Aldrich said:
If the islands coded by Spain are
foreign territory. then our country
would have as its commercial represen-
tatiVes the foreign cOnSuls, who would
perform the requisite Official acts pre-
scribed by our customs laws regarding
shipments of merchandise from any of
these islands to any part of the United
states. The court takes judicial notice
Of the fact thai our government has
no consuls in the Philippines and that
when Spanish sovereignty ceased in
those islands the United States c0nsuls
therein were withdrawn and that the
consular agents of foreign powers
thencefOTth We're the accredited repre-
sentatiVes Of the respective eXequateur
of SUCH cOnSuls- What an anomaly il
is to have Spain send its cOnsuls TO the
Philippines if. as cOntended, for the
purposes Of revenue, they are still for
eign territory. IF they are not Ameri-
can territory they must still be Span
ish. for 1t IS not pretended that any
other nation foreign to the United
States has acquired any sovereignty
over them, nor is it pretended that the
Philippine islands in the eye of inter-
national law occupy the status of an
independent nation"
Sovereignty and ''Colonialism."
The attorney. generals Interpretation
H. - l. q
said, was that this government had a
right TO do what any other nation does. |
This word had become most popular
since the United States entered upon a
colonial policy. But, Mr.. Aldrich de-
clared the sovereignty of the United
States was one exercised under the
constitution and if Americans are in
the Philippines or Porto Rico it is be- !
cause of the powers given by the con-
stitution-
Justice White interposed a question |
when Mr.. Aldrich referred to the Amer |
lean protest against British taxation I
without representation
Would this mean. the justice asked, !
that congress could not tax the new
possessions until they were represented /
in congress? p"
Mr.. Aldrich said that it did not go /
thar far and was sufficiently answered /
in the case of LoughbOrOugh VS.. Blake. /
Mr.. Aldrich said ne entered a protest.
against the use Of JeffersOn's name in J
support of the proposition that the
United States can acquire and hold ter /
ritOry indefinitely. It was settled be- |
yond question that Jefferson himself /
had not regarded the Louisiana pur- !
chase as constitutional and believed /
that constitutional amendment was
necessary.
Justice Gray asked 3 first question
at this point inquirinl If counsel held .
that the Louisiana acq lsitiOn was IN
constl jutiOnal.
Mr. AlGrich answered that he did not |
so hold, but Mr.. Jefferson did and the /
arguments Of that day showed how po-
iitiCal influences affected final results.
Justice Brown asked If It was safe to
base judicial action on the arguments
Of contemporary politicians.
Il think not" answered Mr.. AIdrich.
''aud refer to them only because they
occupy three-fOurths of the brief of the
attorney general.
Cites McKinIey's Stand
In speaking of the executive action.
Mr. Aldrich referred to President Nc
K:nley's first message, stating that it
was our plain duty" TO abolish all
customs tariffs between the United
States and Porto Rico.
Justice Shiras asked if the president
was then speaking of the duty of con-
gress.
Mr.. Aldrich said he supposed the
president meant the duty OF the ma /
ton
Justice Harlan asked if the treaty
mower could go beyond the fourteenth
amendment 10 the constitution, to
which Mr. AIdrich answered that trea-
ties could not override the constitution.
After citing Mr.. Mansfeld's opinion
on the limitation Of the power of the
king and parliament, Mr.. Aldrich said:
1T is a startling proposition that a
power denied to parliament as incOn-
sIstent with liberty and consonant only
with tyranny belongs to the congress
of the United States in one case and to
the president thereof in another; that
-r,.-.,. tn. cs1vr7 r,ffnT of which