The age-herald., 1901-01-10
PARIS TREATY
 AND PORTO RICO Argument Before J. s. Supreme
 Court Resumed. THE ADMINS TRATI0N'S SIDE Brilliant Counsel Contend That Island is Not Foreign Territory and Solicitor General Contends It is Not Part
 of This Country.
THE ADMINS TRATI0N'S SIDE

Washington, January 9.-Upon the re- conyening of the United States Supreme Court today Mr. F. R. Coudert, Jr.. re- sumed his argument in the Porto Rican cases, continuing his contention that Porto Rico is not foreign territory and hence 1t is incompetent for the government author ities to levy and collect duties upon articles imported from Porto Rico to New York; Before taking up the thread of his argu- ment Mr. Coudert undertook to respond to a question propounded to him yesterday by Justice Brown. The question was whether a country can cease to be a foreign coun- try and yet not be a part of the United States-whether there is an Intermediate condition.
 Replying, MT. Coudert expressed the opinion that such a condition might exist temporarily, and he added that the Su- preme Court had recognized it dn dealing with Tampico in the case of Fleming vs. Page, and in dealing with California in the case of Cross ys. Harrison before the ao- quisition of California to the United States was completed
 Before he concluded MT. Coudert was sub- jected to number of questions from the benck, and obtained leave to file a supple mentary brief which 1t Is presumed will contain replies to them.
 Mir. Coudert was followed by A. O. Hart, who spoke especially of the Armstrong case, in which the question involved Is the col lection of duty on goods shipped from New York to Porto Rico. He contended that the constitution of the United States extends over every portion of the national domain whether State, territory or district He also argued that the President, being an execu- 1fa nffl had i1ht to iropn dhti on commerce between Porto Rico and "other parts of the United States by ex- ecutive order after the ratification of the Paris reaty. "The idea" he said, that in one portion of the country the executive and legislative authority is subject to re- strictions and is without restriction in an other part is repugnant to the theory of our government and cannot be tolerated.
 There is, said he no such thing as divided soYereignty-half empire and half republic, half Spanish and half American.
 H. W. Ward, counsel for Dooler, Smith & Co.,, laid especial stress upon the fact that the portion of Porto Rican law provid- ing for the collection of duties is separate from other parts of that law.
 Solicitor General Richards gave special attention to the ratification of the Paris treaty on the relations of this country and Porto Rico. He said that denial of power being exercised by the President amounts to saying that ceded territory becomes by the act of Congress an integral part of the United States to which the constitution of its own force applies, placing its people, its products and its ports on an immediate equality with ours, and also extending the constitutional limitations to such countries. If this was the case, said MT. Richards, the treaty-making power in acquiring ter ritory is not necessarily limited to provid- ing for the mere act of cession. ''It is thus,' he said, stripped of its proper func- tions; it cannot treat, it is lame, impotent, impossible, ridiculous"