Arizona republican., 1904-06-18
President Roosevelt to Visit the
 Philippines


 Members ef the Honorary Filipino commission. No& visiting this country, called at tine White House the other day, and theg were told by the presi- dent. they report. that he intends 10 visit oths Philippines in the near fu- ture. IL see1ns that MT. Roosevelt did not make it clear as to the time ka aad fixed npoa for his Journey to the AnG- podes, but the FilipinOs got the irl- pression that the trip is :9 be r:eae next year, ias company with Secretary Taft-pFoviaed. of course. that the cleo ton goes as it should this fall
 In deciding the various constitutional qUestio raised by ouT aequirement of the Philippines the justices aS thg su- pIeme court of the United States Lave several times divided SO awenls and some of the ajority opinieEs have been so obscure that la sftesg a5 not yet understand whether the Philippines ars to be considered American ten l!tory in. all respects. For this reaSJa. W MT. Roosevelt does decide to isig thas brrh- :oe.ago while he is still presid a, there will be lively discussion of the le- gal questions that will be in sight. tt is tradition that the president. ot the United States must not leave American territory, and there will be sharp cea- troyersy as to whether the Philippines are sufficiently part of the United States to render the presidents visit to the islands no violation of this tra- dition. There is no statute prohibiting the presidents travel abroad, We be- heye, and the constitutional provision covering such a contingency IS found in this paragraph of Article II:
 Tn case of the remova! of the presi- dent from office, or of his death. resig- nation or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the vice-presi- dent, and the congress may by law pro- vide for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability. both of the president and vice-president, declaring what officer shall then act as president. and such officer shall act accordingly, until the liability be removed or president shall be elected.
 Assuming that the Philippines are not a part of the United States, and that the presidents visit thereto would constitute an absence from the coun- try, another question of great deli cacy would arise. It has always been assumed that were the president to ab> sent himself from the United States that act would constitute an inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office" in the view of the con- stitution, but would MT. Roosevelt's trip to the Philippines bring about such inability? Who is to decide when the president of the United States is ''uH- able" to perform the duties of his of- fee? Finally the question would be for the supreme court, of course, but there might be dangerous period of uReer- tainty. The same question of inability was raised during the weeks of Presi- dent Garfield's suffering before he died from Guiteau's bullet, but nothing came Of the discussion, the govern ment "stin lived" run by subordinates.
 Presidents have uniformly been sx- tremely cautious about leaving the ter ritory of the United States. .tf MT. Roosevelt should go to the Philippinas he will be the first president to leave the contiRental boundaries of the Ea- tion during his term of office. PTesi- dent Cleveland went out beyond tle marine league limit once in E. c. Bsne- diets yacht, but that was the faTthest that @ny chief magistrate of the na- tion got @@ay frem the shores of ais countgy.. c. ss
 When President Harrison swung around th@ eiZele in 1891 an eI'aeavor was made by the Mexican authorities to .ha%e Aim cross over the inteFnation- al bridge from Fl Pase, Tex. to JHareE O on the Mexican side, in crder that he might tneet President Diaz. but Gea. HarrisQn would not consent.