for the year may amount to $1,500,000 instead of $750,000 as estimated by the committee which framed the law. Governor Allen says that the most intelligent Porto Ricans are looking forward with apprehension to the time when the island shall be given free trade with the United States and compelled to establish a system of internal taxation as in the Territories of this country. They prefer the present arrangement.

The courts have not yet passed upon the constitutionality of this act creating a civil government for Porto Rico. The United States Circuit Court for the Southern Circuit of New York has decided that the treaty is valid and that so far as the tariff law is concerned Porto Rico is a foreign country and not under the Constitution of the United States. A firm of tobacco importers in New York protested against the assessment of tariff duties on Porto Rican tobacco on the ground that Porto Rico is not a foreign country and that "therefore the imposition of duties on goods brought from a place within the territory of the United States into a port of the United States is not lawful and valid under the Constitution." This case was appealed from the General Board of Ap praisers to the Circuit Court of the United States, and Judge Townsent decided against the importers.

In his decision, Judge Townsent reviewed the history of the acquisition of territory by treaty, and then said:

"Before cession under conquest Porto Rico was a part of the United States as to foreign nations; the de facto title to the soil was in the United States, but its inhabitants were foreigners to the Constitution, and the provision for uniformity of duties had no application there. (Fleming vs. Page supra.) By cession the title becomes de jure, but in the status of the islanders as foreigners and so in the status of Porto Rico as a foreign country no change was to be made until Congress should determine its character.

"The treaty vests the sovereignty over the island in the United States, but postpones changes in the relations of its people, and in its relations to the body politic, until Congress shall determine what relations shall be best suited to the conditions of its inhabitants and to the welfare of the United States. Since Congress, at the time of this importation, had not performed this condition of incorporation, the status of Porto Rico, except as to other nations, remains unchanged."

* * *

"The only remaining ground upon which it can be urged that Porto

Rico status has been changed is that the treaty is unconstitutional. Thus far in the history of our country no treaty has ever been adjudged invalid on this ground. A treaty is not only the law of our land, but also a contract of the United States with another nation. A court would not be justified in overruling the act of the treaty making power unless its reasons for so doing were strong and imperative.

"The sole constitutional question is this: May our Government by treaty accept the title of and sovereignty over territory and at the same time preserve its status as foreign country so far as internal relations to us are concerned? Can we, in other words, hold sovereignty over territory without incorporating it into the United States?"

CHAPTER XII.

THE NEW CUBA

The war with Spain had its origin in the declaration of Congress that the people of Cuba are and of right ought to be free and independent. For two years there has been much suspicion aroused by Democratic accusation that this declaration was made in a Pickwickian sense and that the United States plucked "the pearl of the Antilles" from the Spanish crown to adorn that of the American Republic, but in two years the wise and tactful administration of Cuban affairs under military authority has brought order out of chaos and the Cuban people are preparing for the election of delegates to a constitutional convention. The order for this election was issued by Secretary Root Tuesday, July 31, 1900. The convention to frame a new constitution for an independent Cuba will be in session at the time when the voters of this country are deciding the issue of this campaign and whether they will uphold or defeat the present administration. This is a complete answer to the charge that the McKinley administration did not intend to withdraw American troops from Cuba, but sought to annex the island as a territory of the United States. The order of Secretary Root is as follows:

Whereas, The Congress of the United States, by its joint resolution of April 20, 1898, declared "that the people of the Island of Cuba are, and of right ought to be, free and independent; that the United States hereby disclaims any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction or control over said island, except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its determination when that is accomplished to leave the government and control of the island to its people"; and

Whereas, the people of Cuba have established municipal governments, deriving their authority from the suffrages of the people given under just and equal laws, and are now ready, in like manner, to proceed to the establishment of a general government, which shall assume and exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction and control over the island;

Therefore it is ordered that a general election be held in the Island of Cuba on the third Saturday of September, in the year 1900, to elect delegates to a convention to meet in the city of Havana at twelve o'clock noon on the first Monday of November, in the year 1900, to frame and adopt a constitution for the people of Cuba, and, as a part thereof, to provide for and agree with the government of the United States upon

the relations to exist between that government and the government of Cuba, and to provide for the election by the people of officers under such constitution and the transfer of government to the officers so elected.

The election will be held in the several voting precincts of the island under and pursuant to the provisions of the electoral law of April 18, 1900, and the amendments thereof.

The order also apportions delegates among the provinces. The province of Pinar del Rio will elect three delegates, Havana eight, Matanzas four, Santa Clara seven, Puerto Principe two and Santiago seven.

Two years ago there were few people in this country who believed that a stable government could be organized in Cuba within the next ten years, while the outside world would not be convinced that the United States even desired to give Cuba an independent government. Egypt was offered as a visible proof that the temporary occupation meant permanent occupation. Europe could not understand the American policy and love of freedom and believed that a war for humanity was only a war for aggression. No island ever offered worse conditions for redemption from disorder. A seventh of the population had in three years perished of hunger. A tattered army that had fought for independence, sullenly demanded immediate control of the island after the United States had driven out Spain. The revolutionary warfare against Spain had destroyed property on sugar plantations estimated at $868,000,000, a yield of 100,000,000 tons of sugar had dropped to 250,000, the loss in live stock had been as heavy as other losses and the island was denuded of cattle and other domestic animals. Poverty and starvation were not the only difficulties which Cuba faced. It had its double race question. In a population of only 1,500,000 there were nearly 130,000 Spanish immigrants, nearly 80,000 other immigrants and half a million of negro or mixed negro ancestors. In other words, one-half the population was negro and foreign. Of the whole population over ten years of age one-half were illiterate. The church question touched every relation of life. Sepulture was in the exclusive control of the priest, and high fees for marriage had bred a wholesale concubinage embracing a fifth of the population of marriageable age. Sanitary improvements were unknown and Havana was a breeding ground for yellow fever. The cynical corruption for centuries had left its impress on the whole people and honesty was regarded as an unknown quantity in official life. This was the problem which confronted the United States when the

Spanish army was withdrawn and this government became responsible for the conduct of Cuban affairs and also for the stability of government which should be organized by the people of the island. Yet in two years from the date of conquest and eighteen months after formal occupation the call is issued for a constitutional convention. The Cuban army has been peacefully dissolved and its strongest division has become an efficient police for Havana. Order and security exist throughout the island. Freedom for marriage and lay sepulture have come. The revenues have been freed from a debt charged of $12,600,000 and military charges of $5,900,000. The Spanish army was supported by Cuba. The United States army in Cuba pays its own bills. Where nothing had been spent for sanitation under Spanish rule, in 1899 more than $3,000,000 was devoted to this reform and Havana has become one of the healthiest of tropical cities. Last year in August the deaths from yellow fever in Havana were 10, where, in the last year of peace, 1896, there had been 296 deaths in the same month. In Santiago the water supply was doubled, the death rate halved, the birth rate increased, sewerage introduced and yellow fever suppressed. Out of 300,000 children of school age less than 50,000 had ever been in a school house. Today Cuba has a school system covering the island with 2,500 teachers, who are now enjoying the hospitality and sharing the instruction of the oldest and most conspicuous university in America. Courts have been purified and bribery in them has been exposed and punished. Fraud and corruption have been as unsparingly attacked in American as in Cuban appointees. Not one charge made in regard to the administration of Cuban affairs under American control but has been sifted and guilt has been punished. Last spring municipal elections were held, which demonstrated the possibilities of self-government for the Cubans. Municipal self-government already exists. Monopolies have been abolished and odious taxes on occupations repealed. No concessions have been made; no charters have been issued; no Cuba bonds have been sold. All these things were predicted as the result of American control. None of them have been realized. In September the voters of Cuba will select delegates to their constitutional convention. That convention will meet in November and proceed to the adoption of a constitution for Cuba.

The American occupation of Cuba has bridged over the chaos which would have resulted from the revolution and the withdrawal of Spain. The first duty, that of pacifying the island and maintaining public order,