The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-03
 THE INSULAR
 TEST CASES Tvs Decisions Of the Su- : preme Court. $ g THE DISSENTING OPINIONS The Fourteen Diamond Rings
 Not Subject to Duty. The Finding of the Tribunal May Lead to Effort to Secure Legis-
 lation for Regulation of
 Relations
THE DISSENTING OPINIONS

Washington, Dev. 2-Opinions were rendered in the United States Supreme Court today in the last two of the insular | test cases. One of them was that known | as the fourteen diamond rings case in- volving the relationship of the United States to the Philippine Islands from a | tariff point of view, and the other, what is known as the Dooley case No. 2. in- volving the constitutionality of the col lection of duty on goods shipped from 1 New York to Porto Rico. In the former | case the court, through Chief Justice Fuller, holds that the diamond rings
 brought in from the Philippines should l have been exempt from duty under the Paris treaty, as that treaty made the 1 Philippines American territory. The de- cision in the Philippines case followed | closely that of the first Porto Rican case | of last term. In the second Dooley case 1t was held that the duty collected on goods carried from New York to Porto Rico was permissible, but that 1t was in reality tax for the benefit of the Porto Ricans themselves rather than an export duty, as was claimed by the merchants who antagonized the government in the case.
 In both cases there were dissenting l opinions concurred in by four Of the nine
 justices of the court It Is generally be- lieved that the finding in the Philippine | case will lead to early efforts to secure | legislation for the regulation of our com mercial relations with those islands. As | the Porto Ricon opinions sustains the | constitutionality of the Foraker act no l such necessity will arise with reference 1 to Porto Rico.
 The case known as the fourteen dia- mond rings case involves the constitu- I tionaiity of the imposition sd customs du- | ties upon merchandise brought into the United States from the Philippine Islands
 after exchange of the peace treaty with 1 Spain, The opinion was handed down by | Chief Justice Fuller.
 The opinion was adverse to the claims | of the government on the ground that the Philippine Islands were at the time
 the rings were brought into American
 territory ceasing to be foreign territory
 and they became domestic territory, he | said.
 | The decisions in the DeLoma Porto Ri-
 can cases were cited at length and it was | held that the resolution adopted by Con- gress concerning the Philippines were not sufficient to change the situation.
 Justice Fuller concluded his opinion by
 reversing the decision of the court be- low Justice Brown read an opinion con- curing in the result, but differing from the conclusions drawn on points.
 Justices Gray, Shiras, White and Mo- | Kenna dissented.
 This case is one of the two important cases left undecided by the court at it's last term, when it decided number of cases involving the customs relations Of | the United States with it's insular posses sions. At that time it bore entirely on the regulations of this country with Por- | to Rico and there was only a case of the relations of the United States with the Philippines.
 | Much interest has been manifested in | the Philippine case because of the prob l ability of legislation relating to the Phil | ippines at the approaching session or Congress. The record shows that Pepke, who was the respondent in the court be-
 low, was a soldier in the army of the
 United States in the Island of Luzon. | That while there and after the ratifica- l ton of the treaty he purchased the four | teen diamond rings which were involved l in the case. He afterwards brought these
 rings, while still in the service of the | United States aboard the United States
 vessel transporting his regiment to San |
 Later he came with the rings to Chicago
 where the rings were seized by the cus- | toms officers under the claims that the | Philippine Islands were foreign territory | and merchandise brought from these is-
 lands to the United States was subject
 to customs which were not paid by Pep
 ke. Pepke set up the claims that the | imposition of duties upon merchandise
 under the circumstances was contrary to
 the Constitution of the United States in | violation of his right as citizen.
 The case came to the Supreme Court | from the District Court of the United | States for the Northern Division of Illi- nois In that court the facts set up by | Pepke were admitted by demurrer filed | hv inc Shifted States and that court sus- l tained the demurrer, everything the plea
 and entering judgment against the mer-
 chandise thus seized and directing that | if he sold In accordance with the law and | from this decision the recent writ of er-
 TOT was prosecuted.
 In the opinion in the Philippine case
 Chief Justice Fuller said that the Phil
 ippine Islands ceased to be foreign terri
 tory as soon as the Paris treaty of peace | was signed and the resolutions to which | he referred as being ineffective and not | binding was the resolution adopted by
 the Senate soon after the ratification of
 the treaty
 | The United states supreme CourL today decided the second of the Dooley cases 1 involving the constitutionality of the law
 of April F. providing for the collection
 of duty on articles shipped from the | United States into Porto Rico.
 The decision was rendered by Justice l Brown
 In the Dooley cases Justice Browns opinion that as Porto Rico is not foreign
 territory the goods shipped to Porto Rico
 are not exports, but whether exports or
 imports the wide range of Congress in
 the matter of taxation WAS sufficient for
 a contingency of this character.
 At best, he said, the duty was tenn
 porary eXpedient. and as 1t was explicit | Iy provided in the Foraker act that the
 Porto Rico legislature could change the | character of the enactment it was held
 that the Foraker act was merely legisla-
 ton in favor of Porto Rico. The Foraker
 act was sustained on the grounds laid