The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-01-18
Right 10 Require
and Hold Colonies
Walter wellman in Golfers Weekly.

7 IS REMARKABLE coincidence that at the |
beginning OF the new century the statesmen |
OF America are perplexed by the same great |
problem that bothered our forefathers at the |
beginning Of the old century. In the Arst years |
OF the century just ended President jefferson and
his cabinet were considering the acquisition Of |
Louisiana and the constitutional difficulties in. |
volved therein today President Mckinley and his
advisers are harasscd by the problem Of how 10
take in the Philippines and Porto Rico and get
over the constitutional stumbling blocks which
some people think stand squarely in the way
Noteworthy. too is the fact that IL the great
Napoleon who started the United States upon this
great career Of expansion year ago, and who set
certain moral or civic standard in that expan
sion which our Napoleon OF a hundred years later
finds 1t difficult to ignore. IL was Napoleon, then
first consul, who by secret treaty In the closing
months of the eighteenth century acquired Louisi
ana from Spain, md who Immediately turned
round and sold that vast expanse Of territory, an
empire in itself, to Thomas jefferson. Napoleon
named price which seemed insignificant enough.
only fifteen million dollars, but by insisting that
the inhabitants Of the territory should be taken
in the American Union, and enjoy all the rights
and immunities Of American citizens, he made no
end Of trouble for jefferson and impressed him.
self more than he could have dreamed Of doing
upon the policies and sentiments Of the New
World-hn impression which survives and is real
and vital to this day. Doubtless IL Is a somewhat
surprising discovery that the American notion,
that all acquisition of new territory should be
hut preliminary to incorporation and citizen.
ship, had its origin with Napoleon, and not in
the 'basic principles upon which our foreiathers
founded the republic, but this appears to be the
fact. II is not disputed that Bonapartc drew that
clause OF the treaty which provided that the in
hah!tants should be taken within our system;
nor is it denied that this was agreed to on ac-
count Of the first consuls insstence and with
| reluctance upon the part Of Jeffersons commits.
sioners, because jefferson himself had instructed
them to the contrary. But the treaty was so
drawn, and in that form was accepted and az
this was the first acquisition of territory by the
young republic there was nothing TO do but to
conform to it, and thus model was set which
ever since has lived in the minds of the Ameri-
can people.
In vicw OF the overwhelming Importance Of the
expansion and constitutional problems with which
all departments Of our government are now strug-
Cling, and which the Supreme court is to
give what is hoped will be final pronouncement
| upon, it is most interesting to recall the phases
Of that same problem which harassed our fore.
fathers jefferson claimed his commissioners had
exceeded their authority; at first he was doubtful
il the conditions OF the treaty which Napoleon
had insisted upon could be carried out with al
tering our Constitution, and he even went SO far
as to draft amendments which he proposed to
submit to the people ior their ratification. Out
Of JeGerson's early doubt this subject has
grown the quite general belief that he thought
| the Constitution gave no power to acquire terri
| tory. But whatever may have been his doubts at
the outset in the end they did not at all run In
! this direction, but wholly to the power OF
gress to incorporate foreign territory and its in
| habitants within the Union The two drafts of
| proposed constitutional amendment which he
made (hut which were never pressed) said nothing
| about power to acquire but related wholly to the
| power to incorporate.
Now, after the lapse OF century, it is curl.
| Gus circumstance that popular ideas upon this
question, both in its sentimental and legal aspect,
have apparently not clarified at ALL but remain
| hazy and confused. The notion which Napoleon
| put into minds. that whenever acquire
| must incorporate, has not only survived but ii
| has developed far beyond the original limits with
| an accompanying confusion Of thought as to the
| power of our government. 1t is contended now,
not that we have not the power to incorporate
| (Which Jefferson and Madison were doubtful
about, but that we have not the power to do
anything else. Our first eXpansonists agreed
| with Napoleon to make the inhabitants Of Lousi-
| ana citizens "as soon as possble' but now IL is
| contcnded that this is government OF such lin
| tied powers that it has not the right Of choice as
| to time or means, but automatically effects such
| incorporation both Of territory and its inhabi.
l
ratification OF a treaty of cession. This confusion
| as to both principles and history shows that for
| almost hundred years the minds OF Americans
| have run strongly in other channels We have
| been passing through the age Of elementary edu-
cation, of physical and mechanical conquest, Of
economic stduy, Of internal revolution due to the
| presence Of slavery among us, and we have had
| neither time nor incentive to dclve into these
questions of Our outer relations and powers. Sud-
| denly an access OF sentiment pushes us forward to
| the emancipation Of Cuba from Spanish rule, and
almost in a twinkling find ourselves confronted
| by problems about which we know almost moth
| ing and which the most Of us appear to approach
with plenty of sentiment but very little expert
| ness.
| A majority OF the people OF this country think
| American citizenship such great and glorious
| thing that they cannot see how any one can pos
sihly deny that inestmable privilege to our
wards in Porto Rico and the Philippines. This
generous impulse does not stop to consider that
such citizenship may be the worst possible thing
for the people of the acquired territory and still
| worse for oursclyes The American people are so
| big and broad and beautifully unsefsh that they
do not wish to consider such things as the practi-
! cal effect They want these poor people to come
| in out Of the cold not 10 be compelled to sleep
in the national woodshed and they are counting
neither the first cost OF such hospitality nor how
much trouble the newcomer may make after he
gets in. That will come later, though when it is
too late. II any one ventures to suggest that the
best thing for these outlying territories is colo
NAL condtion-not crown colonies but congress
sioual territories at first, and aiterward self'gov
enng colonies in the fullest sonse-the generous
| people will have none of it, They say there is
no place in republic for subject peoples show
ing how prone they are to follow a phrase IL it
only be sonorous one, and ignoring the fact that
we have subject peoples, governed without parti
cpatiun and taxed without representation, at the
present time. What else the territories in the
West and this District of Columbia itselfH
There is a popular conviction, too, that the
founders Of the republic never thought of such
thing as a colony--that subject region was alb
h0yrent to them and was not dreamed OF in their
philosophy. 1t is instructive therefore, TO turn
10 debates In congress in the first years OF the
century which has just passed. The Louisiana
purchase was strcnuously discussed by the states
men Of that day. Both Tederalists and Republic
cans agreed that the United States had the power
to acquire territory and govern II as such, but
the opponents Of the jefferson administration de-
MED that the Constitution gace congress any
power 10 annex such territory and to incorporate
II within the Union in any way Timothy Pick
ering did not believe this could be done without
an amendment to the Constitutions and he went
so far as TO say that in his opinion the right to
enlarge the boundaries Of the nation was such a
sacred thing that it could not be exercised eX'
cept by the consent of each individual state lie
wanted Louisiana governed as "a dependent Prov
ince," and thought that would ensure it a better
! government than annexation OF it to the United
States. James Elliott, of Vermont, argued that
| the clause OF the Constitution to uniformity OF
tariffs and duties did not refer to colonial or
territorial acquisitions" and hence not TO Louis
lana Mr. Smile, o. Pennsylvania, wanted the
In. agln al