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Conservative *
SUBORDINATE TERRITORY AND THE
SUPREME COURT.
ALBERT BUSHNELL HART.
"Wo are in a state of nature , sir , "
said Patriok Heury at the beginning of
the first continental congress , "all
America is thrown into one mass. "
Like many of the declarations of that
famous orator , and imperfect reasouer ,
this assertion has more sound than
solidity ; for the colonists were thenand
for some years remained , divided from
top to bottom on the question of the
revolution. Nevertheless the idea that
there is only one sort of territorial sys
tem within the dominion of the United
States of America is still deeply rooted ;
it appears constantly in letters and po
litical writings , and apparently finds
favor from an imposing minority of the
supreme court.
It is of course a fair contention that
the welfare of mankind requires the
United States to observe a simple and
single territorial system. It would sim
plify our government and save a lot of
printer's ink , if we could settle down to
the fundamental idea that the constitu
tion and the union knows only states
and inchoate states , that it has within
it no expectation of and no provision
for other communities , which are never
to become an integral part of the union
of states ; that the constitution knows
no such thing as colonies or dependen
cies or empire.
So fax from such a comfortable and
comprehensive state of things , the con
stitution adopted in 1787 distinctly con
templated at least five kinds of territory
within the national boundaries : States ,
territories , the District of Columbia ,
forts , light-houses , and public build
ings , Indian reservations. In practice ,
seven other kinds of jurisdiction have
arisen tinder the constitution ; as en
closed bays and parts of the great
lakes ; the decks of public and private
American ships on the high seas ; the
decks of public vessels in foreign ports ;
the residences of ambassadors in foreign
countries ; guano islands ; territory oc
cupied in war previous to a treaty of
peace ; and territory acquired by pur
chase , or conqaestbut not yet organized
by act of congress. Perhaps it may. be
worth while briefly to consider each of
these eleven different kinds of territory ,
to see what light experience throws on
the present controversy over Porto Rico
and Philippine Islands.
These two important questions have
both been reviewed in the recent decis
ions of the Supreme Court which , with
s a variety of dissenting opinions , were
handed down May 27 , 1001. The two
decisions taken together do not seem con
tradictory. They simply set forth (1) ( )
that when territory is annexed , it ceases
to be a foregin country , and is therefore
not subject to duties laid on importations
from foreign countries , but (2) ( ) that it is
in the province of Congress to determine
what duties shall be laid on trade to such
a territory from foregin countries , and to
and from the United States.
It is of course significant that in each
of these decisions the judges stood five
to four. Even though none of these
cases involve , the important issue of the
collection of duties in Porto Eico on
goods exported from the United States ,
the general purport of the decisions is
that it is for Congress to determine when
annexed territory becomes entitled to all
the privileges of the Constitution , and
it is for Congress to determine whether
the territories shall or shall not have the
same revenue system as the organized
states. Although Congress tries to rea
son away the natural result of the decis
ion , the principle undoubtedly includes
the right of Congress to put the District
of Columbia , forts , posts and light
houses , and public buildings , and Indian
reservations , and organized territories
under a special regime of taxation , and
to impose duties on commerce from such
areas of territory to the states.
It will be seen that of all the eleven
forms of territory within the United
States , by far the most perplexing are
the newly annexed territories , and that
they ore perplexed because of the doubt
whether , by the character of the popula
tions , their traditions , their local sys
tems , their religious organizations , they
are fitted to look forward to statehood.
Not only is the Union made up of a va
riety of territorial units , not only has it
been so since 1757 , but so far as we can
see into the future , that variety will con
tinue. Modern Culture for August.
RAILWAY-TIE INDUSTRY.
A writer in the "American Manu
facturer" treats of the making of rail
road ties in the mountainous district of
southwestern Pennsylvania , Maryland ,
Virginia and West Virginia , and refers
to certain changes which have taken
place in late years in methods of hand
ling timber and working it up into
products. This writer reports a revived
activity in tie-making , which he ex
plains as being partly duo to increased
facilities for marketing ties by railroad
extensions into hitherto untouched
tracts of laud in the Allegheny moun
tains. As compared with methods in
vogue in years past , much larger use is
now made of the saw , and the timber is
much more economically utilized. In
stead of chopping the trees down , they
are now usually out off with a saw close
to the ground , saving much material
which was formerly left in the stump
and which went to chips , and leaving
one end of the log squarely cut , thereby
saving extra work in cutting off the
timber after it is made into a tie. The
sawmill has also taken the place of the
hewer , and in some instances , where the
industry is being worked on a large scale ,
tramways are being used to got the
timber out to the mills. These sawmills
save much valuable material which
formerly went to waste in the hewing ,
and as the mill plant is not very extensive -
tensive , usually consisting of a boiler
and engine , each of ten to tweuty-flvo
horse power , with only two saws , one
for longitudinal ripping and the other
for croBs-grain cutting , a great deal more
money is being realized from the timber
than was formerly the case , notwith
standing that tics in some of these local
ities are now cheaper than they were
years ago. Slabs cut off are worked
into wedges for use over mine props ,
slats and various other useful articles ,
while the top part of the tree , too small
for making ties , is cut up into-mino
props , pit ties , spags for locking wheels
of coal wagons , tool handles , etc.
Methods of getting ties to market have
also undergone a considerable change ,
the railroads now being used as the
means of transportation more largely
than was formerly the case , and the rat
ting or drifting of the ties less. One
reason for the change has been the very
large losses which have sometimes
occurred by the breaking of booms built
to catch the ties , and another is that
freshets do not come with enough
regularity to suit the orders in the ice
market. The economical use of tim.bor
in connection with the manufacture of
ties is a gratifying fact to reflect upon
and in line with the reform that is need
ed to effect a conservation of the timber
resources of the country. Railway Ago.
CUBA'S AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES.
The island of Cuba is a gigantic farm
of 28,000,000 acres of marvelously fertile
soil. Thirteen million acres remain as
virgin forest. Her present population
is a little above one and a half mil
lions.
lions.Were
Were Cuba as densely populated as
Massachusetts , her census would show
11,000,000 inhabitants. An equal den
sity with that of England would give
her upward of 22,000,000. Her ability
to support a population per square mile
equivalent to that of England , so large
a percentage of which is dependent upon
manufacturing interests , is somewhat
doubtful , from the fact that Cuba pre
sents little or no possibility of ever becoming -
coming a manufacturing center. In a
measure , the comparison with Mas
sachusetts is also faulty , for the same
reason. Yet , in the latter case , the
vastly greater fertility of Cuban soil
would offset the manufacturing feature ,
and there is little doubt that Cuba , along
the line of her particular agricultural
advantages , can provide a comfortable
and reasonably profitable living for a
population of 20,000,000 of moderately
industrious citizens. From "Cuba's In
dustrial Possibilities , " by Albert G.
Robinson , in the American Monthly Re
view of Reviews for August.