The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-01-09
peace of the world and the bettermens

the power which the Constitution ex-
pressly gives congress to govern all ter
stituuon declares that congress shall
have power to dispose of and make all
needful rules and regulations respecting
the territory belonging to the United
States" Not the northwest territory only;
not Louisiana or Florida only; not terri-
tory on this continent only, but terri
The fon9r Of f nfig 10 Jne o naq q
ylncia1- Theirs was the geography Of the
iandsmen and they knew U11 that where our
SHIPS should go our flag might follow.
They had the logic Of progress and they
knew that the republic they were plant
ing must in obedience to the laws of our
expanding race, necessarily develop into
| the greater republic which the world be-
holdS today, and into the still mightier
LIspu loIas whcn the world Will nnally &C.
the destines OF mankind And SO our
Latners wrote into the constitution these
II you Will, unlimited by geography or
and possibilities Of the American people
Congress shall have power to dispose OF
tons respecting the territory belonging to
| the United States"
POWER IMPLIED TO GOVERN AS WE
PLEASE.
The power to govern all territory ths
nation may acquire would have been in
congress If the language affirming that
stituuon. For not all powers of the nat
iona1 government are expressed. Its prin-
clpal powers are implied The written
constitution is but the index of the living
| this been
constitution would have failed For the
people in any event would have developed
and progressed. And if the constitution
had not had the capacity of growth
the nation the constitution would and
should have been abandoned the
articles of confederation were abandoned
For the constitution is not immortal in
itself, is not useful even in itself. The
constitution is immortal and even useful
only as it serves the orderly development
of the nation. The nation alone is sacred.
The army is its servant. The navy is its
| servant. This senate is its seravnt. Our
is its Instrument. This is the golden
rule of constitutional interpretation; the
| constitution was made for the people; not
| the people for the constitution. Hamfltou
recognized this golden rule when the for
mulated the doctrine of implied powers
Marshall recognized it when he applied
that doctrine to constitutional interpre-
tation, in Mccullough VS.. Maryland. Con-
gress recognized it when it provided for
| internal improvements. The supreme
court of the republic recognized it when
it confirmed the act of congress in maxi
| ing the prom1Ssory notes of the republic
| legal tender for debts. Washington rec
| ognized it when he sent the nations Sold
iers to suppress local riot in 1894. and
Lincoln, the soul and symbol of the COM
mon people recognized the doctrine OF
| Implied powers in every effort he made ia
pressed in the constitution to charter a
bank; and, although the subject was ia
| miliar to the trainers of the constitution
who still remained silent on it. Marshall
| said that this power was implied. There
is power expressed in the constitution
| to make internal improvements; and al
/ though it was a subject painfully before
| the trainers of the constitution who yet
| remained silent upon it, congress said it
| is implied There is no power expressed
| in the constitution but almost the reverse
| to make anything but gold and silver Ie-
| gal tender for payment of debts; the SUI
! is no power expressed in the constitution
| to maintain order in state with the
| TONS soldiers unless the state first calls
| for aid; Washington, Lincoln and Cleve-
| land said 1t is implied. The Legislative
] have
nized and confirmed the doctrine of i'm
| Piled powers by which alone the consti-
| tuition lives, the people make progress
and the Tepqpnc maTehes dorWa7rd, to its
the spirit giveth life
| BY the same reasoning that Hamilton,
| ployed we could infer our power to do
! the work of administering government in
the Philippines as the situation may de-
! mand, even if that power had not been
! affirmed in express words. We could
| infer it from the purpose of the consti-
| tuition to provide for the common de-
| Tense and promote the general welfare
| of the nation and the power given con-
gress to make laws to secure these ends.
| For the archipelago Is a base for the
| military and naval operations against the
only powers with whom conflict is pos
! defending our western coast, commanding
| the waters of the Orient and giving US a
| point from which we can instantly strike
| and seize the possession of any possible
! foe.
| WE PLEASE
The nations power to make rules and
regulations is not confined to any given
| set Of rules or regulations 1t Is not con-
| fined to any particular formula of laws
| or kind of government or type of admin
| stitutional warrant for any special kind
| of government in territory belonging to
the United ted states 70 me language al
tory is as broad as the requirements OF
nothing in the constitution to limit that
| comprehensive language. The very re-
| government anywhere and in any man
| ner the situation demands would have
| been IN congress II the constitution had
| been silent; not merely because It IS a
| power not reserved to the States or peo-
PIE, NOT mercy pecaiSe ~ Is d P0MeTI IN
herent IN and an attribute or nationa1tys
/ not even because it might be inferred
| from other specific provisions Of the con-
| sututlon, Dut because II IS the power
| most necessary for the ruling tendency
| OF our race-the tendency to explore, ex-
| pand and grow, to san new seas ana seek
new lands subdue the wilderness, revital-
! fze decaying peoples and plant civilized
! globe For the makers Of the constifu-
1 ZION were OF the race {naL PToauceo lay
| kinS and Drake and Raleigh ana SIniths
and Winthrop and Penn They were OF
| the great exploring. pioneering colonlzy--
| ing and governing race who went forth
! with trade or gain or religious liberty aS
1 the immediate occasion for their voyages
4 1t; because the blood within them COM
| manded them; because their racial ten
| the sea or the process of the suns or any
| other elemental movement of nature of
which that racial tendency itself is the
most majestic. And when they wrote the
| constitution they did not mean to
| negative the most elemental char-
acteriStic of their race, of which
| their own presence in America was
an expression and an example. You can
| not interpret a constitution without un-
| Outstanding the race that wrote it. And
| if our fathers had intended a reversal of
the very nature and being of their race,
| they would have so declared in the most
| emphatic words our language holds: But
| they did not, and in the absence OF such
| words the power would remain which is
essential to the strongest tendency of
| our practical race, to govern where ever
| we are. and to govern by the methods
best adapted to the situation, But our
| fathers were not content with silence,
| and they whote in the constitution the
words which affirm this essential and
| imperial power.