Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1901-02-07
EX-PRESIDENT
BENZ. HARRISON
Says the Constitution Accompanies the Flag
North American Review Article Condensed for the
Readers Of the Aberdeen Herald
1.-The Man Whose Protection from Wrong Rests Upon the
Benevolence of Another Man Congress- Is Slave.

Ex-President Harrison's article in
North American Review, for January,
attracted wide attention among states
men of all parties.
The editor regrets that space forbids
the reproduction Of Mr.. Harrison's paper
in full, but we will undertake to give
readers of the HERALD the benefit OF all
the most vital points.
In discussing the Mckinley policy of
expansion, Mr.. Harrison declares that,
eve have done something out of line
with American history, not in the matter
of territorial expansion, but in the char
acter of it,"
In contrasting the difference between
the expansion of Jefferson and the inn
perialism of Mckinley, he says:
"These annexed regions were also, at
the time of annexation, either unpeopled
or very sparsely peopled by civilized men,
and were, further, by their situation,
climate and soil, adapted to the use of
an increasing American population. We
have now acquired insular regions, stu
ated in the tropics, and in another hemi-
sphere, and hence unsuitable for Ameri-
can settlers, even if they were not, as
they are, already populated, and their
lands already largely taken up
Mr.. Harrison is not sure that such
expansion will prove blessing to the
wage-earner, for he says:
eve have taken over people rather
than lands, and these chiefly OF other
race stocks. The native labor is cheap
and threatens competition"
In the opinion OF MIR. Harrison our title
to the Philippines is not sound, on "the
ground that Spain was not in possession
when she conveyed them to us. 1t is a
principle of private law that deed of
property adversely held is not good. If
have been elected from farm to which
claim title, and another is in possess
sion under claim OF title, must recover
the possession before can make good
conveyance, otherwise l sell lawsuit
and not farm, and that the law counts
to be immoral
After making this simple, clear and
forcible statement, Mr.. Harrison proceeds
to draw the following comparison:
ut is very certain, l suppose, that if
Great Britain had, during our revolu-
tionary struggle, concluded a treaty OF
cession of the colonies to France, we
would have treated the cessiOn as a nullity
and continued to fight for liberty against
the French. No promise of liberal
treatment would have appeased u.s."
He then continues:
"The questions that perplex us relate
to the status of these new possessions,
and to the right of their civilized in
habitants, who by choice or operation of
law have become American something's.
What? Subjects or citizens? There is
no other status since they are not aliens
any longer.
"Thc fact that a TREATY MUST BE CON-
srIruTIoNAL, as well as an act of con-
yress, seems to have been overlooked by
those who refer to the treaty of cession
as giving congress the right to govern the
people who do not retain their Spanish
allegiance. Has the queen regent, with
the island, decorated congress with one
of the jewels of the Spanish crowno
"The constitution OF the United States
cannot be abrogated or impaired by a
treaty. Acts of congress and treaties
are only part of the supreme law OF the
land, when they pursue the constitution.
The supreme court has decided that a
treaty may be abrogatcd by a later
statute, on the ground that the statute
is the later expression of the sovereign
will. We DO KNOW THAT NEITHER A
THE CONSTITUTION.
eff we seek to justify the holding OF
slaves, in territory acquired by treaty,
or the holding OF its civilized inhabitants
in condition less favored than that OF
citizenship, by virtue of the provision OF
a treaty, it would seem to be necessary
to show that the constitution in the one
case, allows slavery, and in the other q
relation OF civilized people to the govern
ment that is not citizenship. Now, the
constitution declares Oath amendment,
that all persons born, or naturalized in