The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1901-12-11
THE PHILIPPINE DECISION.

TINE minority of the Supreme Court which dis
scented from the Porto Rico decision ac
cepts that the law of the land, and. unexpect-
edly the majority which delivered it, applies to
the Philippines. In this application Chief Justice
Fuller is joined by Justices Brown, Harlan, Peck
ham and Brewer; Justices Gray, Shiras, White and
McKenna dissenting. 1t will be seen that Justices
Brown held the balance of power, as he did in the
Porto Rico case This decision is said to have been
hailed with mad delight by the commercial classes at
Manila, those philanthropsts leaping to the conclu
sion that it free trade with the United States
There nothing in the decision to justify this exul
tant expectation The court decides that the Philip
pines domestic and not foreign territory Up to
this time have collected Dingey duties on their
importations to the United States But the Dingley
tariff was made to apply only to mportations from
foreign countries As the Philippines are decided
not to be foreign, cannot apply to them a law
made for foreign goods only. But that does not at
all mean that they to have free trade with
The court has already settled in the Porto Rico
that Congress may pass tariff law applying to do
mestc territory, and Congress has acted upon that
authority. 1t will act upon it in regard to the Phil
ippnes, and that speedily All the duties heretofore
collected here and in the Philippines will have to be
refunded But hereafter a tariff wall against them
country feel to be necessary There is no question
of sentiment about it. 1t is practical business Be-
coming part of territory has made political not
physical change in the Philippines Their produc-
ton is just nimical to ours as it was before The
sun is vertical still. The land is tropical. It's only
possible labor is servie These conditions nhere in
physical that neither politics prayer
bulge, and the sooner people comprehend this
the better will it be for all concerned Information
and vigilance required to prevent to this nation
consequences like those that the small boy
who eats unripe fruit bill is already before Con-
gress to admit Porto Rico as a State We have seen
few Porto Ricans in California, en- route to the
plantations of Hawaii They were representative
citizens of that tight little island The idea of their
equal fellow-citizenship with us is repugnan Very
speedily there will be statehood proposition for the
Philippines We don't want our birthright divided
with them. The Fipinos and the Porto Rcans are
the fruit of conquest we did not intend to make,
and the fruit is unripe 1t will never ripen into
American ideas of government. To parrake of it as
statehood dish the grpes and pains that al
ways follow such experiments.
Let US put statehood for these islands away, and
let us put between them and our producers a tariff
that will protect The free traders and sentiment
alists will talk about our obligation to those peo-
pie We are under no obligation to inure our
selves The Porto Rcans and Filpinos are not hurt
by tariff against them 1t takes banana off
their tables, nor nipa leaf off their huts They
are not clamoring for free trade Those who do are
the exploiting classes from this country and else
where, who want free trade that they may make a
fortune before the climate makes their liyers declare
war and strike for the temperate zone.