Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-12-09
A NATIONAL LIMBO
The Political Purgatory Of American
Appurtenant Territory.
THE STATUS OF APPURTENANCY
Its Occupants, Their Term of De.
tention and Their Limitations.
PRIVILEGES OF THIS LIMBO
No. 7.

second DOoley case, JUST uecldeu, mas given
local habitation and a name" to status
of American territory, occupied for time
by nearly every new acquisition, but not
hitherto authoritatively bounded and de-
scribed. This status is the initial stage Of
development in American national life, oc-
cupied by territory which has been annexed
by the United States, but which has not
been absorbed by it; in which the people are
not citizens of the United States; to which
neither the burdens nor the privileges
which are limited in the Constitution to the
United States necessarily extend, and
which may even be separated from the
body polite, if that is found nationally de-
sirable.
The condition is preliminary, like the
status of food in the first Of the camers
stomachs removed by several stages from
the fourth stomach, where begins that pro-
cess of digestion which incorporates the
food into the camels body as an integral
part thereof.
The condition is experimental affording
opportunity for the applications of tests of
worthiness. 1t IS a purgatory, a transition
stage either to the inferno of expulsion
from the American system or to the para
disc of perfect absorption therein.
The condition is preparatory and educa-
tional, national kindergarten. wherein in
FAINT communities are fitted to enter the
higher classes of instruction in American
ism.
To this condition the Supreme Court has
attached the name of "appurtenant terri
tory as territory appurtenant to the
United States, but not incorporated therein
as an integral part thereof.
The dissenting justices IN Downes against
Bidwel1 deny the existence Of this interme-
diate state and submit caustic definition
OF their understanding Of the status of this
appurtenant territory, as created or de-
clared to exist by the court.
Says Chief Justice Fuller: The contention
seems to be that II an organized and set
tied province of another sovereignty is ac-
quired by the United States, Congress has
power to keep it like a disembodied shade
in an intermediate state of ambiguous ex-
istence for an indefinite period
How far has the Supreme Court itself
rendered unambiguous and definite the
status Of the occupants of this limbo?
Boundaries of Appurtenant Territory.
How much Of American territory does it
include? All the justices of the Supreme
Court agree that the states and the Dis
trict of Columbia are outside Of it. Eight
justices, all except Justice Brown, agree
that organized, or what Justice White calls
Incorporated territories, are not included
within it. Five Justices-Justice Gray ex-
pressing the opinion, and the four dissent
ing justices necessarily. though tacitly and
inferentially, sustaining him-agree that so
far as this decision is concerned there are
In it no territories in the strict and tech
nical sense, only territory in the broader
sense, acquired by war from a foreign
state,'' as our insular acquisitions from
Spain. The four dissenting justices hold
that there is no territory whatsoever in
this category, but this opinion falls one
vote short of counting as authority.
The boundaries Of appurtenant territory
may therefore be roughly outlined as fol-
lows:
Enthusiastically within:
Porto Rico and our other West Indian
islands. Tutuila and the seventy guano
islands "appertaining to the United States"
Guam, the Philippines and all other Asiatic
islands ceded to us by Spain.
In doubt:
District of Alaska.
Without:
All other American territory.
Justice Gray, in holding that the cases be-
1OTe int tobtt tiu iiSt todSA tAS datiioiity
of the United States over the territories in
strict and technical sense, specified as
such territories those which lie within the
United States as bounded by the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans, the Dominion of Canada
and the Republic of Mexico" and the terri
tories Of Alaska and Hawaii. The discrfm-
nation of Alaska and Hawaii from terri
tories which lie within the United States
was probably not deliberate or intended to
be significant but Alaska displays certain
Of the conditions which characterize ap-
purtenant territory and may perhaps be
properly left in the doubtful category. In
the case Of Alaska, the precedent was set
% for the annexation of non-contiguous
territory; CO for the annexation Of terri
tory in some degree unSuited In it's climate
for habitation by the people Of the tenn
perate zone; 90 for the annexation Of land
not intended to be carved into states Of
the Union, and apparently unfit ever to be-
come states; az for the annexation of a
territory whose native people are uncivil-
lied and unfit for American citizenship and
are specifically denied incorporation as citi-
zens Of the United States, and 90 for the
annexation of land bordering on the Pacific
and Of Pacific islands for the avowed pur-
pose Of protecting and increasing our
Asiatic trade and Of controlling and Ameri-
canizing the great ocean which is to be the
scene of the future triumphs Of civiliza-
ton and of the worlds commerce
These conditions. in which the case of
Alaska resembles that of our recent Asiatic
sion from the Alaskan treaty Of cession Of
those guarantees of statehood, involved in
pledges of incorporation "in the Union of
the United States" which are found In
every previous annexation treaty to which
the United States has been a party. The
Alaskan treaty did contain a promise that
inhabitants who did not elect to return to
Russia within three years should enjoy the
rights, advantages and immunities Of citi-
Zens of the United States, and should be
maintained and protected In the free en-
joyment of their liberty, property and re-
ligion. But the Inhabitants referred to
were the handful of Russian residents, and
there were excepted from this promise of
individual Incorporation into the United
States the "uncivilized native tribes" con-
shutting nearly the entire population of
Alaska, which were specifically denied citi-
zenship and placed on the same footing as
our aboriginal Indians. The treaty's prom
Use Of the rights Of American citizenship to
the Alaskan whites was for at least thirty
three years disregarded. For seventeen
years after cession Alaska remained under
the absolute despotism of military rule. It
was brought within the customs union, but
there was no other Indication that 1t had
ceased to, be appurtenant and had become
incorporated. In 1881 civil government
was provided for the district Of Alaska.
1tA1, l., n