The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-05-31

Hon. Alonzo Greene Smith thinks the re-
cent decision of the Supreme Court fur
nishes plausible ground for reviving the is
sue of Imperialism. He characterizes the
decision as the first great blow at consti-
tutional government and the first effort to
establish by law a colonial system in this
country and says that if 1t is TO stand lit
marks the beginning of the empire and the
passing of the republic and so on. Mr..
Smiths political prosenitors talked the
same way about the acts of Congress and
of President Lincoln during the civil war
and predicted the downfall of the Republic
with equal assurance; but the war left the
Republic stronger than ever. and it has con-
tinued to grow stronger ever since.
No doubt other Democrats will take the
same view Of the question that Mr.. Smith
does, and probably an attempt will be made
TO reorganize the Democratic party in OPP
position to the decision. The Democratic
party will and must lead against this blow
at constitutional government" says Mr..
Smith. If it does. II will fail. as it has in
other attempts to prevent the growth and
expansion of the government on natural
lines. The American people will never ac-
cept a construction OF the Constitution
which would prevent the United States
from a%nnexing or acquiring new territory
under any circumstances whatever, or from
governing newly-acquired territory in its
own way. The decision of the Supreme
Court does not make the acquisition of ter
ritory, or Imperialism. If you please. a dis
tinctive feature of American policy, nor is
there any danger that 1t will ever become
new territory except under circumstances
and for reasons making it necessary to do
so. and II Is not likely we ever shall. Com
pulsory circumstances Of this kind may
arise in the future as they have in the past.
1t may become necessary for the United
States to purchase the Danish West Indies
in order to prevent them from passing into
the possession of another power. The time
may come when we will have to face the
alternative of annexing Cuba, at the solicit
tation of the Cubans themselves. or seeing
the island become a dependency of some
EQiOpCdH HoNCi. II lbAAt VI THESE ell
should occur Congress must have a free
hand to legislate for the new Territories,
pending their full admission to the Union.
The government should be left free to deal
with each situation as ii may arise and not
be tied down by a hard and fast rule that it
shall not acquire new territory under any
circumstances. or that it must govern the
same in a particular way. The Supreme
Court says, in its decision:
Patriotic and intelligent men may differ
widely as 10 the disturbances of this or
that acquisition. but IL is solely a political
question. We can only consider this as
pect Of the case so far as 10 say that no
construction of the Constitution should be
adOpted which would prevent Congress
from considering each case upon its merits
unless the language OF the instrument i'm
~peratiVely demands il. . Choice in
some cases. the natural gravitation Of small
bodies towards larger ones i'm others, the
result Of a successful war in still others
may bring about conditions which would
render the annexation Of distant posses
sions desirable. II those possessions are in
habited 10y alien races differing from us in
religion. customs. laws. methods of taxa
ton and modes of thought the administra-
ton or government and justice according TO
Anglo-SaXon principles may for a time be
impossible. and the question at once arises
whether large concessions ought not TO be
mace Tor a time tnat ultimately our own
theories may be carried out and the bless
ings Of a free government under the Con-
stitutiOn extended To them. We decline to
hold that there * anything in the Constitu-
ton 20 forbid such action.
II may be accepted as a fixed fact that
the American people will never indorse con-
traction. They will not adopt territorial ex-
pansion as a fixed policy. but they will new
er consent to giving up what comes in a
natural and unavoidable way, nor to a con-