Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-12-09
which our treaty pledge to Spain is opera


Deficiencies and Disabilities.
What are the most important deficiencies
and disabilities peculiar to appurtenant ter
ritory and its occupants? "a This terri
tory is not part of the United States I'M
der the revenue uniformity clause of the
Constitution, and by analogy probably not
under the bankruptcy and naturalization
uniformity provisions. (2) 1t is not a part
of the United States for purposes of ma
tional citizenship, under the fourteenth
amendment.
There seems to be no middle ground be-
tween this position and the doctrine that
If their inhabitants do not become imme-
d1ately upon annexation citizens Of the
United States, their children thereafter
born. whether savage or civilized, are such
and entitled to all the rights, privileges and
1mmunitieS of citizens. If such be their
status the consequences will be extremely
serious. Indeed it Is doubtful If Congress
would ever assent to the annexation of ter
ritory upon the condition that it's inhabit-
ants, however foreign they may be to our
habits, traditions and modes of life, shall
become at once citizens of the United
States" Justice Brown)
ITO concede to the government Of the
United States the right to acquire and to
strip 1t of all power to protect the birth
right of its own citizens ana to provide for
the well-being Of the acquired territory by
such enactments as may in view of its con-
the United States is helpless in the family
of nations, and does not possess that au-
thority which has at all times been treated
as an incident Of the right to acquire"
Justice White for himself and Justices
McKenna, Shiras and Gray.)
81 1t is not an integral and inseparable
part of the United States territorially It
may be sold and ceded or otherwise dis
posed Of, as whole or in part. 1t was
partly to avoid national inability thus to
treat annexed territory that the Supreme
Court created this status.
'In conformity to the principles which I
have admitted 1t is impossible for me to
say at one and the same time that terri
tory is an integral part of the United States
protected by the Constitution, and yet the
safeguards, privileges, rights and immuni-
ties which arise from this situation are SO
ephemeral in their character that by a
mere act Of sale they may be destroyed
And applying this reasoning to the pro-
visions Of the treaty under consideration,
to me it seems indubitable that If the treaty
with Spain incorporated all the territory
ceded into the United States. it resulted
that the millions Of people to whom that
treaty related were, without the consent of
the American people as expressed by Con-
gress, and without any hope Of relief, in
dissolubly made a part Of our common
country" Justice White ct alp
Rights and Privileges.
Appurtenant territory enjoys certain pecu-
liar privileges which are coupled necessarily
and inseparably with the deficiencies and
disabilities already cited. For instance,
since such territory is not an integral part
of the United States 1t follows that tax
duties laid upon the people Of the states
need not be uniformly imposed upon the
people Of such territory, and they may es-
cape also the novel and oppressive burden
Of American internal revenue taxes.
Congress may also for the benefit of such
territory, in order to protect its industries
and to raise necessary revenues for 1t, i'm
pose special duties, framed solely to pro-
mote the local welfare. upon goods brought
into 1t even from state Of the Union.
Second Dooley against the United States.)
Though not an integral part OF the United
States appurtenant territory, when 1t is
both ''ceded to and In the possession of
the United States.' Is domestic territory of
the United States. though not an organized
territory, and is mot foreign country
within the meaning Of the tariff laws" Ode
Lima against Bidwell. first Dooley against
the United States and Pepke against the
United States.3
These cases do not affect in any way the
constitutional rights and privileges Of ap-
purtenant territory or its relation to the
United States as an integral part or other
wise. They merely construe a tariff act
of Congress, and decide whether recently
annexed territory falls within the descrip-
tive words Of the act, so that duties may be
collected under 1t from that territory. The
privilege which the De Lima case, for in
stance. confers upon appurtenant territory
is that of exemption from payment Of du-
ties levied specifically upon the products of
foreign countries, inasmuch as It is not