The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1901-06-06
THE SUPREME COURT
Sustins the Insular Policy Of the
Administration.


Administration.
GOVERNMENT LOSES ONE CASE
outiss Collected Before the Passage Q.
the Psrto Rlean Act Must % Return
sd-Perts Rico hsvsr Foreign Terri
tory After the Treaty Of PssiA
Washington. May 28.-ln The United
States supreme court ysstssAay epin
ions were handed down in an but two
Of the cases before that sssst iavoiv.
Ing the relation Of the UAitsd States
to It's insular possessions. TIE two
cases In which no conclusioa vas an.
nounced were those known - the II
diamond rings case and the second Of
the Dooley cases. The undecided Doc
Icy ease deals with q phase ef the Por.
to Ricah question. and he diamond
rings case involves the nght to the
free importation q msrcAAadise iron,
the Philippines to the United States.
OF the several cases decided yester.
day the two which attracted the great.
est share Of attention from the court
were what is known as the De Lima
case and that known as the Downes
case. and Of these two the opinion In
the Downes case IL considered the
most far reaching. as 1t affects our fu.
ture relations, whereas the De Lima
case dealt with transitional phase
Of our insular relations. The court
was very evenly divided on both cases
but political lines were not at all con.
trolling.
The De Lima case involved the pow.
ef Of the government to collect a duty
on goods imported into the United
States from Porto Rico after the rati.
fication Of the treaty of Paris and be.
fore the passage Of the Porto Rican
act. The court said the governments
contention in this case was substan.
italy claim that Porto Rico Is foreign
territory. The court held that the po-
sition was not well taken: that Porto
Rico was not at the time foreign ter.
ritory. and that therefore the duty
which had been collected must be re.
turned.
The Downes case dealt with the le
ganty Of the exaction Of duties on
goods imported from Porto Rico into
Now York after the passage of the For
aksr act providing for a duty upon
goods shipped from the United States
int Porto Rico and also on those ship.
ped from Porto Rico to the United
States. In this case the court held that
such exaction was legal and constitu.
tional.
The point Of the two opinions consid.
cred collectively is that Porto Rico
was never after the acquisition Of that
island foreign territory: that until con.
gress acted upon the question NO duty
could be collected. but that % soon
as congress outlined q method OF con.
trolling the islands revenues that &C.
tion became binding; IN other words,
that congress has power under the con.
stitution to prescribe the manner OF
collecting the revenues Of the coun.
trys insular possessions, and has the
right to lay duty on goods imported
into our insulsr possession from the
United States or exported from them
into the United States. It holds in
brief that for taxation purposes they
are not . part of the United States to
the extent that goods shipped between
their ports and the United States are
to the same treatment a.
though they were shipped between
New York and New Orleans.
Justice Brown delivered the courts
opinion h both. and there were vigor.
ous dissenting opinions in both In
the Downes case four Of the nine mem.
bers Of the court united in An opinion,
In strong language the
opinion Of the majority In that case.
In tAis opposing opinion the chief Jus.
tice and Justices Harlan, Brewer and
Peckham united. Justices Gray, Shiras,
White and McKenna also. while agree.
ing with the conclusion announced BY
Justice Brown, announced that they
had reached the conclusion by differ.
ent lines Of argument, and Justices
Gray, White and McKenna announced
opinions outlining their respective no |
siuons. Justices shiras. white and
AcKenna also dissented IN the De |
Lima case. uniting in an opinion. JUS
lice Gray also presented an independ.
mt and dissenting opinion in that case. |
The other cases decided BY the court |
we're those Of Goetxe W. the United |
States. involving duties on importa.
lions from Porto Rico. and Crossman |
IA. the United States. duties On Ha-
waiian imports being involved. In
'hsse two cases the De Lima decision
ras followed and assessment Of duties
prior to enactment of legislation for
he islands held illegal. .,
The assessment Of duties was partly
and partly upset IN the cases
II D0oley and Armstrong VI. the Uni.
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