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purposes are to be achieved. Planting himself on the
written Constitution, Chief Justice Marshall defined
the fundamental principle of liberty in declaring void
all arbitrary acts of the enacting power.
Tlio administration represented by these re
publican orators has arrayed itself against Mar
shall the jurist. Their party insists that the
government is liigher than the law, and that the
whims of president and congress are capable of
setting at defiance the fundamental law and the
first principles of the land.
Could any one imagine John Marshall admit
ting the war-making power to bo with the Presi
dent? Could any one imagine John Marshall giving
sanction to a tax on exports in the face of a plain
constitutional prohibition?
Could any one imagine John Marshall giving
his approval to tariff laws that violated the ex
press constitutional requirements of uniformity
and equality?
Could any one imagine John Marshall giving
approval to "purchase" as the method of emanci
pation in territory subject to United States juris
diction, in the face of an explicit constitutional
provision that slavery or involuntary servitude
shall not be tolerated "within the United States
or in any place subject to their jurisdiction?"
Could any one imagine John Marshall giving
approval to a president who assumed the power
and authority to appoint a commission of men
and send them to an American "colony" en
dowed with the privilege of collecting and spend
ing the revenue, of making the laws, of exercis
ing all the powers delegated to Congress and
many powers which the people would not even
delegate to Congress?
Could any one imagine John Marshall giving
approval to an administration that had deliber
ately set the Constitution into the background and
had assumed to say that it would be governed by
the Constitution only when the constitutional
government best suited its whims and best sub
served its imperialistic purposes.
W
General MacArthur's Report.
The annual report of Maj or General MacArthur,
U. S. V., commanding, Division of the Philip
pines, Military Governor of the Philippine Islands,
is very interesting. It makes two large volumes
and is full of statistics and other information.
It presents a number of facts heretofore carefully
concealed and just as strenuously denied by the
authorities at Washington. It is not possible
within the limits of an editorial review to mention
even a small portion of tho interesting matters
discussed and the valuable information furnished
by General MacArthur's report. The report is
dated "Manila, P. I., October 1, 1900," and is,
therefore, well down to date.
Among other interesting facts furnished is one
concerning the number of summary courts martial
held in the Division of the Philippines. The
report shows' that about 20 per cent of the soldiers
serving in the Philippines have been tried by sum
mary court martial and about 18 per cent con
victed. It is also shown that 9 per cent of tho
soldiers are in the hospital from one month's end
to another. Of the hospital cases 23 per cent are
due to the malarial fever. The death rate is 28
per 1,000 per annum. This is rather large when
Hie Commoner.
it is remembered that the soldiers were selected
with a view to their physical fitness.
Here is a very interesting paragraph interest
ing to those" who have loved ones in tho Philip
pines: Tho number of deaths in tho army has steadily
increased and diminution of the death list can
scarcely be expected. The number of men shot
from ambush by small guerilla bands now exceeds
those killed at any previous time, and as timo pro
gresses AND THE MEN BECOME MORE AND MORE DEBILI
TATED by tropical service, tue more marked will be
THE RATIO OF DEATUS.
This is the country that is to offer such wonder
ful opportunities for American settlement!
Another very interesting fact is sot forth by
General MacArthur in tho following words:
Wherever, throughout the archipelago, there is a
group of the insurgent army, it is a fact, beyond dis
pute, that all contiguous towns contribute to the main
tenance thereof. In other words, the towns, regardless
of tho fact of American occupation and town organ
ization, are the actual bases of all insurgent military
activities; and not only in the sense of furnishing
supplies for tho so-called "flying columns of geurillas,
but as affording secure places of refuge.
There is something humorous about this. Tho
idea of a town garrisoned by American troops
"affording secure refuge" for insurgents is likely
to produce a smile.
General MacArthur has been in tho Philippines
something like two years. After eighteen months
service and observation there ho wrote, under
date of October 1, 1900, tho following words:
The Filipinos are not a warlike or ferocious peo
ple. Left to themselves a large number (pephaps a
considerable majority) would gladly accept American
supremacy, which they are gradually coming to under
stand means individual liberty and absolute security
in their lives and property.
It seems that General MacArthur made another
guess between October 1 and December 25, 1900,
for on the latter date he wrote to the adjutant
general in Washington as follows:
Expectations, based on result of election, have
not been realized. Progress of pacification apparent
to me, but still very slow. Condition very inflexible,
likely to become chronic. I have -therefore initiated a
more rigid policy, etc., etc.
When the commanding officer of tho Philip
pines docs not know from one month to another
what the conditions are in the Philippine Islands
it is too much to expect that the administration
organs will be implicitly believed every time they
say the insurrection is ended and the Filipinos
happy under American rule.
An Expert Opinion.
What is the purpose of a railroad in giving a
pass? If it is given by the freight department to
a shipper it is probably given for business reasons,
but suppose it is given to a legislator, is it given
for business reasons also? Some say that it is a
courtesy extended without any reason in particu
lar. In order that the readers of Tue Commoner
may have the Highest expert testimony on this
subject the following letter is reproduced:
Your letter of the twenty-second to President
Ripley requesting an annual over the railroad of this
company has been referred to me. A couple of years
ago, after you had been furnished with an annual
over this line, you voted against a bill which you
knew this company was directly interested in. Do
you know of any particular reason, therefore, why we
should favor you with an annual this year?
This letter was written to a member of the
Illinois legislature by tho attorney of tho Santa Fo
railroad, of which Mr. E. P. Ripley is president.
It is of recent date and was read on tho floor of
tho house of representatives. It states as plainly
as language can that a railroad gives passes to
legislators as a matter of business, expecting to
receive a valuable consideration in return, and it
shows further that tho legislator who refuses to
recognize tho pass as a bribe must not expoct to
get any more passes. A similar caso occurred in
Nebraska a few years ago when a pass issued to a
member of tho legislature was recalled because ho
voted for a maximum rate bill which the railroad
objected to. Unless a legislator can produce bet
ter ovidonco of tho railroad's purposo than tho
railroad's own admission, ho cannot accept a pass
without admitting cither that ho intends to repay
the railroad in service or that ho secures tho pass
under false pretenses.
Delightful Uncertainty.
There seems to bo a movement toward tho es
tablishment of oivil government in tho Philip
pines. Tho Spoonor resolution which receives
most favor in administration circles is as follows:
Be it enacted, etc., That when all insurrection
acrainst tho sovereignty and authority of the United
States in the Philippine Islands, acquired from Spain
by the treaty concluded at Paris on the 10th day of
December, 1808, shall have been completely .sup
pressed by the military and naval forces of the United
States, all militar3 civil and judicial powers neces
sary to govern tho said islands shall, until otherwise
provided by congress, be vested in such person and
persons and shall bo exercised in such manner as tho
president of the United States shall direct for main
taining and protecting the inhabitants of said islands
in tho free enjoyment of their liberty, property and
religion.
This is an innocent looking resolution, but only
a few explanatory words are necessary to make it
fully understood. Translated into plain English
it would read about as follows:
Resolved, That when the war is over (nobody
knows when that will be) the President shall es
tablish somo kind of a government (nobody
knows what kind) and maintain it (nobody knows
how long) until Congress does something (nobody
knows what).
It is now more than two years since the'trcaty
was ratified and this is the nearest approach that
the republicans have made toward a definite plan.
They are not willing to give the .Filipinos their
independence and they are not yet willing to
openly repudiate the doctrine of self-government.
Therefore they find cover behind commissions
and delegations of authority which conceal, so
far as possible, their imperialistic purposes.
W
The Cause Grows.
Mr. Glapp, the newly elected United States
Senator from Minnesota, a republican, is on
record in favor of tho popular election of sena
tors. His position having been questioned by a
member of the legislature, he replied:
Having for years advocated an amendment to the
Federal Constitution which shall provide for the elec
tion of United States senators by direct vote of the
people, I supposed that a statement to that effect was
a sufficient answer to the question as to my views on
the subject.
But to put the matter at rest, I desire to say that
I have not changed the position I have long held on
the question, and that in ray off hand, impromptu re
marks to the caucus I wish to be understood as pledg
ing myself, and, that there may be no room for cavil,
I do heartily pledge myself to use my best efforts to
aid in securing an amendment to the Federal Consti
tution which shall provide for the election of United
States senators by the direct vote of the people.
There is no formal assurance to that effect to which
I am not more than willing to subscribe.
It is gratifying to see the cause grow. Every
legislature should commit the legislative candi
dates to this reform before a selection is made.
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