The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-24
TOWNSEND
 MAKES REPLY Defends Supreme Courts
 Decision. ACCORDING TO PRECEDENT Littlefield'S Sarcasm Not
 Grounded on Law. American Bar Association Adjourns Sine Die After the Election of
 oficers-Mr. U. M. Rose is Chosen President.

business of the main organization at today'S session. The educational branch held meeting this afternoon and the annual dinner occurs at the Brown Palace Hotel tonight
 The Grand Council reported the fol- lowing nominations this morning:
 PreAdent-U M. Rose, Little Rock Secretary-John Hinkley, Baltimore. Treasurer-Francis Rawle, Phlladei- phia. . 1o Executive Committee-U. M. Rose, Little Rock; President. ex officio; Ed rnund Wetmore, retiring President ex otficio: John Hinkley, Secretary, ex officio: Francis Rawle, Treasurer. ex officio; William A. Ketchum. lndian- apolis Henry St. George Iucker' HeA jneton. Va: Charles F. Libby. Port land Me: Rodney A. Mercer, rowan da. Pa. and James Hagerman, St Lou Is, Mo. -,,. ,yara also announced:
 indian Territory-L. c. Jackson.
 Kentucky-SterlingB E. Tonev I,ouisiana-Ernest B. Kruttschmltt'
 Mississippi-C. B. Howry,
 North Carolina-John l. T. Briuses' South Carolina-George Lamp bui'" Tennessee-James s. Pilcher.
 Texas-Robert G. West.
 Virginia-W. A. Glasgow L,Jr.
 West Virginia-W. P. Hupparo'
 Tba nominees were all unanimously elected. yoh,, The report of the Committee on 1on,i Marshall day was read py rhehiS Davis of Washington. o,. The renort told of the various exer- cises over the country in celeoratlon of tho centennial of the great Judge. Tha cotton of the General Counch Ra- -,oriny constitutional amendment, sSn,jttinp women to membership "as After a brief address by Presidenla, elect Rose, the convention
 zine die. .-,...o .his after ,oon decided that the next meeting oi +ho Association shall be held at sdra- toea August 27, 2S and 29, l9oz:
 RePore the section of legal education +b,a afternoon a paper on "Graduatloh Examinations in the Law School was read by R. c. Minor, University ol Virginia. ,.oo 1urnber of toasts were responded to
 The most notable response was py fudge William K. Townsend Of the Trnjted States District Court. New HTaven. Conn.,, who originally decided the Porto Rican, tariff eases. the decls- Son of which by the Supreme Court has caused much comment He said;
 .sMr. Chairman, I was greatly in terested yesterday in the satlrlcal, though forcible address ot-the eminent gentleman from Maine CMr. Littleheld) [ honor his courage. ability and inde- nandence. hut. Sir. I listened in vain throughout the entire address for any statement of law or fact to support his assertions that the decision of the Sunreme Court was contrary to prece- dent and authority. From the time af the Louisiana purchase in 1903 down Ao the treaty of Spain in 1898. the treaty making power of the government has exercised the right to deal as 1t saw At with the status of the inhabitants of ceded territory and, as MT. Justice Brown says in his opinion. the statutes nassed in pursuance of the Louisiana purchase show the view of Congress that a discrimination in favor of foreign vessels trading with the ports of a newly acquired territory Is no violation of the clause of the constitu- tion that declares that no preference shall be given to the ports of one State over those of another. The same prac- tical construction was put upon the constitution in the case of the purchase of Florida and in the annexation of Hawaii. .-: ..- ." Now. gentlemen. one hundred years ago the Supreme Court of the United States said that contemporaneous con- struction. especially when long ac oliesced in, was very strong if not controlling. with reference to the pro visions of the constitution. Chief uustice Marshall expressly left open the question whether any act of Congress was necessary to incorporate the in hajbitants of newly acquired territory. For 100 years we have acted upon the theory that such an act of Congress was necessary, that the imposition of different rates of duty was not in viola lion of the constitution, and in our civil war we stamped out the heresy that the constitution followed the nag
 And so, gentleman. l rejoice in this rreat decision of the Supreme Court that the framers of the constitution must not have intended that this coun- try should come forth born as cripple into the family of nations. but she should possess all the especial attri- butes of sovereignty which would ena- ble her to govern her possessions ac- cording to the best interests of the American people and subject only to those prohibtive provisions of the con stitution which guarantee protection against the interference with natural rights