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The Commoner.
'Tho power,' ho said, 'to lay and collect duties, im
posts, and excises may bo exorcised, and must
bo oxercised, throughout tho United States. Does
this term designate tho whole, or any particular
portion of tho American empire? Certainly this
question can admit but of ono answer. It is tho
namo given to our great republic, which is com
posed of states and territories. Tho District of
Columbia, or tho territory west of the Missouri,
is not less within tho United States than Mary
land and Pennsylvania; and it is not less neces
sary, on the principles of our constitution, that
uniformity in the imposition of imposts, duties,
and excises should bo observed in tho ono than in
the other. Since, then, tho power to lay and col
lect taxes, which includes direct taxes, is ob
viously coextensive with tho power to lay and
collect duties, imposts, and excises, and sinco tho
latter extends throughout the United States, it
follows that tho power to impose direct taxes
also extends throughout tho United States.' So
far as applicable to tho District of Columbia,
these observations are entirely sound. So far as
thoy apply to tho territories, they woro not called
for by tho exigencies of tho case.
"Tills case of Loughborough vs. Blake may bo
considered as establishing tho principle that in
dealing with foroign sovereignties tho term 'Unit
ed States' has a broader meaning than when used
in tho constitution, and includes all territories
subject to tho jurisdiction of tho federal govern
ment, wherever located. In its treaties and con
ventions with foreign nations this government is a
unit. This is so not becauso the territories com
prised a part of tho government established by
the people of the states in their constitution, but
because tho federal government is the only author
ized organ of the territories, as well as of tho
states, in their foreign relations.
CONSTITUTION IN THIS DISTRICT.
"It may bo added in this connection that, to
put at rest all doubts regarding tho applicability
of tho constitution to tho District of Columbia,
congress by tho act of February 21, 1871, speci
fically extended the constitution and laws of the
United States to this district."
After citing many other similar cases Justice
Brown says:
"Eliminating, then, from the opinions of this
court all expressions unnecessary to the disposi
tion of tho particular case, and gleaning, there
from tho exact point decided in each, tho follow
ing propositions may bo considered as established:
"1. That the District of Columbia and the
territories are not states,, within tho judicial clause
of the constitution giving jurisdiction in cases
between citizens of different states.
"2. That territories aro not states, within the
meaning of revised statutes, section 709, permitting
writs of error from this court in cases where
tho validity of a state statute is drawn in ques
tion. "3. That tho District of Columbia and tho
territories aro states, as tnat word is used in
treaties with foreign powers, with respect to the
ownership, disposition and inheritance of property.
"4. That the territories are not within tho
clause of the constitution providing for tho crea
tion of a supreme court and such inferior courts
as congress may eoe lit to establish.
"6. That the constitution does not apply to
foroign countries or to trials therein conducted,
and that congress may lawfully provide for such
trials before consular tribunals, without the in
tervention of a grand or petit jury.
"G. That where the constitution has been
once formally extended by congress to territories
neither congress nor tho territorial legislature
can enact laws inconsistent therewith.
APPLIES IN PART TO PORTO RICO.
"To sustain the judgment in the case under
consideration it by no means becomes necessary
to show that none of tho articles of the consti
tution applies to tho island of Porto Rico. Thero
is a clear distinction between such prohibitions as
go to tho very root of the power of congress to
act at all, irrespective of time or place, and such
.as are oporative only 'throughout tho United
States' or among the several states.
, i'?i,hu' Tfifn th0 constitution declares that
no bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall bo
passed,' and that 'no title of nobility shall bo
granted by thq United States,' it goes to tho coni
, petency of congress to pass a bill of that descrip
tion. Perhaps, tho samo remark may apply to
the first amendment, that 'congress shall make no
law respecting an establishment of religion or
prohibiting tho free exercise thereof; or abridging
the freedom of speech, or of the press; or tho right
of the people to peacefully assemble, and to peti
tion the government for a redress of grievances
We do not wish, nowever, to bo understood as
expressing an opinion how far tho bill of richts
contained in the first eight amendments is of
general and how far of lonni nnniitinn
"In determining tho meaning of the words
of Article I., section 6, 'uniform throughout the
United States,' we aro bound to consider not only
the provisions forbidding preference being given
to tho ports of ono stato over those of another
(to which attention has already been called), but
tho other clauses declaring that no tax or duty
shall bo laid on articles exported from any state,
and that no state shall, without tho consent of
congress, lay any imposts or duties upon imports
or exports, nor any duty on tonnage. The ob
ject of all of these was to protect tho states
which united in forming tho constitution from
discriminations by congress, which would ope
rate unfairly or injuriously upon somo states and
not equally upon others.
ONLYS FAR AS CONGRESS DIRECTS.
"Indeed, tho practical interpretation put by
congress upon the constitution has been long
continued and uniform to tho effect that the con
stitution is applicable to territories acquired by
purchase or conquest only when and so far as con
gress shall so direct. Notwithstanding its duty
to 'guarantee to every stato in this union a
republican form of government' (Art. IV., Sec. 4),
by which we understand, according to the defini
tion of Webster, 'a government in which the su
preme power resides in tho whole body of tho
people, and is exercised by representatives elected
by them,' congress aid not hesitate, Bin the orig
inal organization of the territories of Louisiana,
Florida, the northwest territory, and its sub
divisions of unio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and
Wisconsin, and still more recently in the case of
Alaska, to establish a form of government bear
ing a much greater analogy to a British crown col
ony than a republican state of America, and to
vest tho legislative power either in a governor and
council or a governor and judges, to bo appointed
by the president. It was not until they had at
tained a certain population that power was given
them to organize a legislature by a vote of the
people. In all these cases, as well as in territories
subsequently organized west of tlie Mississippi,
congress thought it necessary either to extend the
constitution and laws of tho United States over
them or to declare that the inhabitants should
bo entitled to enjoy the right of trial by jury,
of bail, and of the privilege of the writ of habeas
corpus, as well as other privileges of the bill of
rights.
"Wo are also of opinion that the power to ac
quire territory by treaty implies not only tho
power to govern such territory, but to prescribe
upon what terms the United States will receive its
inhabitants, and what their status shall bo in
what Chief Justice Marshall termed the 'American
Empire.' There seems to be no middle ground be
tween this position and the doctrine that if their
inhabitants do not become, immediately upon an
nexation, citizens of the United States, their chil
dren thereafter born, whether savages or civil
ized, are such, and entitled to all the rights,
privileges, and immunities of citizens. If such be
their status, the consequences will be extremely
serious. Indeed, it is doubtful If congress would
ever assent to the annextion of territory upon the
condition that its inhabitants, however foreign
they may be to our habits, traditions, and modes
of life, shall become at once citizens of the United
States.
PROVISIONS AGAINST FORMER ALIENS.
"In all its treaties hitherto the treaty-making
power has made special provision for this subject;
in the cases of Louisiana and Florida, by stipulat
ing that 'tho inhabitants shall be incorporated into
tho union of the United States and admitted as
soon as possible to the enjoyment of all the
rights, advantages and Immunities of citizens of
the United States;' in the case of Mexico, that thoy
Bhould 'bo incorporated into the union, and bo ad
mitted at tho proper time (to be judged of by tho
congress of the United States), to tho enjoyment
of all the rights of citizens of the United States;'
in the case of Alaska that tho Inhabitants who
remained three years, 'with the exception of un
civilized native tribes, shall be admitted to tho
enjoyment of all the rights,' etc.; and in the case
of Porto Rico and the Philippines, 'that the civil
rights and political status of the native inhabitants
shall be determined by congress.' In all
these cases there is an implied denial of tho right
of tho inhabitants to American citizenship until
congress by further action shall signify its assent
thereto.
"Grave apprehensions of danger are felt by
many eminent men a fear lest an unrestrained
possession of power on the part of congress may
lead to unjust and oppressive legislation, in
which the natural rights of territories, or their
inhabitants, may be fengulfed in a centralized des
potism. These fears, however, find no justifica
tion in tho action of congress in the past cen
tury, nor in the conduct of tho British parliament
toward its outlying possessions since the Ameri
can Revolution. Indeed, in the only instance in
which this court has declared an act of congress
unconstitutional as trespassing upon the rights
of territories (tho Missouri Compromise), such ac
tion was dictated by motives of humanity and
justice, and so far commanded popular approval
as to be embodied in the thirteenth amendment to
the constitution. Thero are certain principles of
natural justice inherent in tho Anglo-Saxon char
acter which need "no expression in constitutions
or statutes to give them effect or to secure de
pendencies against legislation manifestly hostile
to their real interests. Even in the Foraker act
itself, the constitutionality of which Is so vig
orously assailed, power was given to the legis
lative assembly of Porto Rico to repeal tho very
tariff in question in thiB case, a power it has
not seen fit to exercise.
PROTECTION OF PERSONAL RIGHTS.
"Whatever may be finally decided by tho
American peoplo as to the status of these islands
and their inhabitants whether they shall be" in
troduced into the sisterhood of states or bo per
mitted to form independent government it does
not follow that, in the meantime, awaiting that
decision, the people are in the matter of personal
rights unprotected by the provisions of our con
stitution, and subject to the merely arbitrary con
trol of congress. Even if regarded as aliens, they
aro entitled, under the principles of the constitu
tion to be protected in life, liberty, and property.
This has been frequently hold by this court in
respect to the Chinese, even when aliens, not pos
sessed of tho political rights of citizens of the
United States.
"Large powers must necessarily be intrusted
to congress in dealing with these problems, and
we aro bound to assume that they will be ju
diciously exercised. That these powers may be
abused is possible. But the same may be said
of its powers under tho constitution, as well as
outside of it. Human wisdom has never de
vised a form of government so perfect that it may
not be perverted to bad purposes. It is never con
clusive to argue against the possession of certain
powers from possible abuses of them. It is safe
to say that if congress should venture upon legis
lation manifestly dictated by selfish interests, it
would receive quick rebuke at the hands of the
people. Indeed, it is scarcely possible that con
gress could do a greater injustice to these islands
than would be involved in holding that it could
not impose upon the states taxes and excises with
out extending the same taxes to them. Such re
requirement would bring them at once within our
internal revenue system, including stamps, li
censes, excises, and all the paraphernalia of that
system, and applying it to territories which have
had no experience of this kind, and where it
would prove an intolerable burden.
CONSIDERED BY SENATE COMMITTEE. '
"This subject was carefully considered by tho
senate committee in charge of the Foraker bill,
which found, after an examination of the facts,
that property in Porto Rico was alreauy bur
dened with a private debt amounting probably
to $30,000,000; that no system of property taxa
tion was or ever had been in force in the island,
and that it probably would require two years to
inaugurate ono and secure returns from it; that
the revenues had always been chiefly raised by
duties on imports and exports, and that our in
ternal revenue laws, if applied in that island,
would prove oppressive and ruinous to many
people and interests; that to undertake to collect
our heavy internal revenue tax, far heavier than
Spain ever imposed upon their products and vo-i
cations, would be to invito violations of the law
so innumerable as to make precautions impos
sible, and to almost certainly alienate and destroy
the friendship and good will of that people for the
United States.
"In passing upon the questions involved in
this and kindred cases we ought not to overlook
the fact that while the constitution was intended
to establish a permanent form of government for
the states which should elect to take advantage
of its conditions, and continue for an indefinite
future, the vast possibilities, of that future could
never have entered the minds-of its framers. The
states had but recently emerged from a war with
ono of the most powerful nations of Europe; were
disheartened by the failure of the confederacy,
and were doubtful as to the feasibility of a strong
er union. Their territory was Confined to a narrow
strip of land on the Atlantic .coast from Canada to
Florida, with a somewhat indefinite claim to terri
tory beyond the Alleghenies, where their sover
eignty was disputed by tribes of hostile Indians,
supported, as was popularly, believed, by tho
British, who had never formally delivered pos
session under the treaty of peace. The vast terri
tory beyond the Mississippi, which formerly had
been claimed by France, since 1762 had belonged
to Spain, still a powerful nation, and the owner of
a great part of the western hemisphere.
SINGLE CLAUSE ON TERRITORIES.
"Under these circumstances it is little wonder
