The Savannah morning news., 1901-05-28

view that the United States meant terri
tories as well as states.
Chief Justice Fuller then advanced the
proposition enunciated in Marbury VS..
Madison, that the constitution was writ
ten in order to define and limit and keep
within it's restricted boundaries all per-
sons ana departments of government and
was meant to leave no room for the play
and action of purely personal and arbi-
trary power. He added:
THE powers delegated by the people
to their agents are not enlarged by the
expansion of the domain within which
they are exercised. When the restriction
on the exercise of a particular power by
a particular agent is ascertained, that is
an end of the question
ITO hold otherwise is to throw the ba-
sis of our constitutional law, and more
over, in effect, to reassert the proposition
that the states and not the people created
the government"
Porto RicO's New Master.
OF the contention that by international
law Porto Rico came to us subject to such
legislation as Congress might enact Chief
Justice Fuller said:
THE new master was, in this instance,
the United States, a constitutional gov
eminent with limited powers, and the
terms which the constitution itself i'm
posed or which might be imposed in ac
cordance with the constitution, were the
terms on which the new master took pos
session. - -
1.-The power of the United States to ac-
quire territory by conquest, by treaty,
or by discovery and occupation is not
disputed, nor is the proposition that in
all International relations, interests and
responsibilities, the United States is a
separate, Independent and sovereign ma
ton; but it does not derive its powers
from international law, which, though a
part of our municipal law, is not a part
of the organic law of the land. The
source of national power in this country
is the constitution of the United
States; and the government, as
to our internal affairs, pos
sesses no inherent sovereign power
not derived from that instrument, and in
consistent with its letter and spirit"
Chief Justice Fuller absolutely rejected
the contentious that the rule of unformi-
ty was not applicable to Porto Rico, be-
cause 1t had not been Incorporated into
and become an integral part of the Unit
ed States. The word incorporation had no
occult meaning, and whatever the situation
before the Foraker act made Porto Rico
an organized territory of the United
States he could not accept the view that
even after organized Congress has the
power to keep it, dixie a disembodied
shade, in an intermediate state of ambig
uous existence for an indefinite period.
and, more than that, that after it has
been called from that limbo, commerce
with it is absolutely subject to the will
of Congress, irrespective of constitutional
provisions"
The Logical Conclusion.
The concurring opinion of the majority
recognized that Congress in dealing with
the people of new territories or possess
sions, is bound to respect the fundamental
guarantees of life. liberty and property,
but assumes that Congress is not bound,
in those territories or possessions, to fol-
low the rules of taxation prescribed by
the constitution. And yet the power 10
tax involves the power to destroy and
the levy of duties touches all our people
in all places under the jurisdiction of the
government.
1.-The logical result is that Congress
may prohibit commerce altogether between
the states and territories, and may pre-
scribe one rule of taxation in one terri
tory, and a different rule in another.
THAT theory assumes that the consti-
tuition created a government empowered
to acquire countries throughout the world,
to be governed by different rules than
those obtaining in the original states and
territories, and substitutes for the pres
ent system of republican government
system of domination over distant prov
inces in the exercise of unrestricted
power.
"In our judgment so much Of the Por-
to Rican act as authorized the imposi-
ton of these duties is invalid, and plain
tiffs we're entitled TO recover"
Harlan Agrees with Fuller.
la p0n
renee with the dissenting opinion deliv-
cred by the chief justice. He regarded
the Foraker act as unconstitutional in its
revenue provisions and believed that
Porto Rico, after the ratification of the
treaty with Spain became a part of the
| United States.
Referring to the majority views that
| the powers of our government with re-
spect to new territory is the same pow
er which other nations had been accus-
toned to exercise, Mr. Harlan said:
II take leave TO say that II the prin-
clples now announced should ever receive
the sanction OF a majority Of this
| court the result will be
radical and mischievous change
in our system of government. We will. in
that event, pass from the era Of consu-
tutional liberty, guarded and protected
by a written constitution, into an era of
legislative absolutism, In respect OF many
rights that are dear TO all people who
love freedom. Monarchical and despotic
governments, unrestralned in their pow
ers by written constitutions, may do with
newly acquired territories what this gov
eminent may not do consistently with
our fundamental law. The idea that this
country may acquire territories anywhere
| upon the earth by conquest or treaty, and
hold them as mere colonies or provinces
is wholly inconsistent with the spirit and
genius. as well as with the words Of the
constitution. II will be an evil day for
American liberty II the theory OF a gov
eminent outside OF the supreme law of the
land finds Judgment in our constitutional
jurisprudence.
Juggling Not Justified.
'srhe expanding future OF our country.
iustifying the belief that the United
| states Is to become what Is called a
world power-of which so much was
hoard at the argument-does not Justify
! any such Juggling with the words Of the
I Nr