The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-05-27

constitutional, therefore, on the GROUND
that we have no right to govern terri
tory without any restraint and, per
haps, cannot violate anywhere The
negative provisions of the constitution
against Infringement upon ordinary
civil rights. If the treaty making pow
ers acquire territory and congress
wishes to hold and govern 1t in accord
with constitutional principles vet with
out bringing it into membership of the
Union and without subjecting it to our
national taxation, there seems no valid
constitutional reason why this cannot be
done, 1t may be best for us not to
make its citizens fully our citizens; II
may be more just toward it not to sub
ject it to paying it's share of taxation.
In the case of Porto Rico. with her to-
baccO and rum industries, such share
would probably be out of all proportion
to that paid by other districts. Unless
we tax her for national purposes there
is no just claim on her part for the
protection of the constitutional provs-
ions for uniform taxation, If we con-
slider 1t for our own and her best inter
est to keep her apart from the land
which must bear the burden of taxation,
why should we not have the power to
do so? 1t may be the only just course
to pursue. Thus, wisest craftsmanship
and highest consideration for the rights
of people under our charge may innu-
ence us to refrain from making ceded
territory part of our nation. Twice be-
fpr IN, III
necessary to qualify and postpone COM
plete incorporation into the Union. 1t
would be a narrow construction of the
constitution which in such a case
would find some underlying princi-
pes veto upon an attempt to act for
the highest interest of our nation and
the people intrusted to our care.
The question to be decided is not what
is expedient, but what the people Of
the United States may desire, not what
is the duty Of congress, not a matter Of
individual preference; it is a question
purely of constitutional law,
That we have the power to govern
without the obligation Of uniform taxa
ton may be an unfamiliar proposition,
but it is so because we have never be-
fore had occasion to use the power to
the same extent The constitution
makers may not have thought of it, yet,
as we have seen, it is an incident of
full sovereignty commonly exercised at
the time the Union was formed; one
which is now prohibited to the states,
and SO must have passed to the federal
government with the power to make
ar and treaties to which it is incident
For the trainers of the constitution in
tended that instrument not as limita-
erign in acting for the states in foreign
affairs; not as a check to growth, but
as the organic law of a nation that
can live and grow. To deny this power
to govern territory at arms length
would be to thwart that intention to
make the United States an unfettered
sovereign in foreign affairs. For If we
wage war successfully we must some
time become, as many think we are
now, charged with territory which it
would be the greatest folly to incorpor-
ate at once into our Union making our
laws It's laws, its citizens our citizens,
our taxes its taxes, and which, on the
other hand, International consid erations
and the sense Of our responsibility to
It's inhabitants may forbid us to aban-
don. The construction Of the constitu-
ton which would limit our sovereign
power would force us into dilemma
violating our duty to other ma
4 IS and to the people under our care