The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-05-28


change the source of the power to lay
ttlinly Is not strengthened when based on
the diversion of duties collected frs all
parts OF the United States to territorial
treasury before reaching the treasury of
the United States. Clause of section
8 of article / provides that no money
shall be drawn from the treasury but
IN consequence of appropriations made
by law and the proposition that this
may be rendered inapplicable If the mon
ey is not permitted to be paid in so as to
be acceptable of being drawn out. is
somewhat startling.
The proposition that Chief Justice
Marshall had erred in his opinion. and
that the rule of uniformity was q l.-,ita-
ton to the states as such, was Cecil ared
to be wholly unwarranted, and a-ite
number of cases were cited in which the
supreme court and congress, notably by
the fourteenth and fifteenth am endments
to the constitution, had sustained the
view that the United States meant terri
tories as well as states
Chief Justice Fuller then advanced the
proposition enunciated in Ma, bury VS..
Madison, l. Cranch, that the constitut on
was written in order to define and limit
and keep within it's restricted bolrdar es
all persons and departments of govern
ment and was meant tc leave no room
for the play and action of purely ger
sonal and arbitrary power. He added:
FEDERAL POWER LIMITED.
From Marbury vs. Madison to the pres
ent day, no utterance of this court has
iptimated a doubt that in it's operat ON
on the people by Wllom and for whom
1t was established the national govern
ment is government of enumeratos
powers the exercise of which is re tr cted
to the use of means appropriate and
plainly adapted by constitutional ends
and which are not prohibited, but con-
slstent with the letter and spirit of the
constitution The powers delegated BY
the people to their agents are not en-
larged by the expansion Of the doma!a
within which they are exercised. When
the restriction on the exercise of a par
tlcular power by particular agent IS
ascertatned that is an end of the ques-
ton.
ITO hold otherwise is to overthrow the
basis of our constitutional law. and
moreover. in effect, to reaSSert the prop
osition that tie states and not the peo-
PIE created the government"
There are many prohibitory claus g in
the constitution, and this court repeat
edly has given effect to them in respect
of the territories and the District of CO.
lumbia.
OF the contention that by International
law Porto Rico came to us subject to
such legislation as congress might enact.
THE new master was, in this instance
the United States, a constitutional row
eminent with limited powers and the
terms which the constitution itself i'm
posed, which might be imposed in ac-
cordance with the constitution Were Il :.
terms on which the new master took pos
session
CONSTITUTION SUPREME.
''The power of the United States to ac-
quire territory by conquest by treaty or
by discovery and occupation, is not dis
puted, nor is the proposition that in all
international relations interests and re-
sponsibilities the United States is a sep
arate, independent and sovereign nation;
but 1t does not derive it's lowers from
International law, which 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 AFT lirs
Pcss sses no inherent soverei n powe not
derived from that instrument and incon-
slstent with it's letter and spirit"
With reference to the paragraph in the
treaty of peace declaring that the civil
rights and political status of the native
inhabitants of the territories hereby
coded to the United States shall be de-
termined by congress" the chief justice
said this was nothing more than dec
laratton of the accepted principles of
international law applicable to the status
of the Spanish subjects and of the ma
tive Inhabitants. A treaty which under
took to take away what the constitution
provided or to enlarge the federal juris-
diction would be certainly void. 1t can
not be admitted that the power of con-
gress to lay and collect taxes and duties
can be curtailed by an arrangement
made with a foreign nation by the pres
ident and two-thirds of the senate. The
constitution did not yield to treaty or
enactment, nor did its theory bend to
circumstances.
Chief Justice Fuller absolutely rejected
the contention that the rule of uniformity
was not applicable to Porto Rico, be-
cause 1t had not been incorporated into
and become an integral part Of the
United States The word incorporation
had no occult meaning, and, whatever
its situation before the Foraker. act
made Porto Rico an organized territory
of the United States.
FULLER SARCASTIC.
He could not accept the view that
even after organized congress has the
power to keep it, like a disembodied
shade, in an intermediate state of am
biguous existence for an Indefinite pc
riod, and, more than that, that after it
merce with 1t is absolutely subject to
the will of congress, irrespective of con-
stitutional provision
Justice Fullers opinion continues:
The concurring opinion of the ma
1or1ty recognized that congress- in deal
ing with the people of new territories or
possessions, is bound to respect the
fundamental guarantees of life, liberty
and property but assumes that con-
gress is not bound in those territories
or possessions to follow the rules of tax
alton prescribed by the constitution.
power to destroy, and the levy of duties
touched all our people in ALL places un-
der the jurisdiction Of the government.
THE logical result is that cong g
may prohibit commerce altogether be-
tween the states and territories and
may prescribe one rule of taxation in
one territory and a different rule in an
other. That theory assumes that the
constitution created a government en-
powered to acquire countries throughout
the world to be governed by differ Mt
rules than those obtaining in the orig
inal states and territories and substi-
tuteS for the present system of govern
ment a system of dominant power over
provinces in the shape of unrestrictive
power. In this way the Porto Rican act
authorizing the imposition of this duty
is Invalid and plaintiff is entitled to re-
cover.
some argument was made as TO gen
eral consequences apprehended to flow
from this result, but the language Of the
constitution Is too plain and unambigu-
Gus to permit its meaning to be thus in
f1uenced.
again, 1t Is objected on behalf Of the
government of the possession that abso-
Lutte power is essential to the acquisition
of the vast and distant territories, and
that we should regard the situation as