about the same functions as those of the States, but any of their acts may at any time be modified or annulled by Congress. The usual Territorial courts are provided for the adjudication of legal controversies. Alaska, purchased from Russia in 1867 has an area of 590,884 square miles (land and water) and a population of 63,590 (1910). The Governor is appointed by the President for four years, and he has as assistants a Secretary, a Surveyor-General, marshals, and minor officers to aid in the execution of the laws. By the act of Congress of August 24, 1912, Alaska became a Territory with a legislature consisting of two houses, with eight members in the Territorial Senate, and 16 members in the House. Congress reserved power over certain legislative subjects, "so that the Territory is governed jointly by Congress at Washington and by its local legislative assembly." I Hawaii, or the Sandwich Islands, became a Republic in 1894. By the consent of this Republic and in accordance with a resolution of Congress of July 7, 1898, the Islands were annexed to the United States. On June 14, 1900, they were given a Territorial government, with a Governor and Secretary appointed by the President for four years, and a legislature of two houses, a Senate of 15 members.2 The Philippine Islands came to the United States by the treaty following the Spanish war, Dec. 10, 1898. The central government of the Archipelago is composed of the Governor-General, the Philippine Commission, and an elective Assembly. The Governor-General is appointed by the President of the United States and he is the President of the Philippine Commission, which consists of eight members, three Americans and five Filipinos. The Commission is the upper house of the legislature, and the Assembly is the lower house, whose members are elected by the voters of the Islands for a period of four years. The 1 Statesman's Year Book, 1915, p. 626, a Statesman's Yeur Book, 1915. Assembly was first opened in October, 1907. This legislature elects two delegates to the Congress of the United States, for a period of four years, who have a voice but no vote in Congress. There are four Executive Departments for the Islands: (1) Interior; (2) Finance and Justice; (3) Commerce and Police; (4) Public Instruction. Of these departments, one has a Filipino Commissioner as a Secretary, the other three are presided over by American Commissioners as Secretaries. There are thirty-six provinces in the Islands, each province having a governor, secretary, treasurer, and prosecuting attorney. The provincial governor is elected by popular vote, except in certain non-christian provinces where the governor is appointed by the Governor-General, with the advice and consent of the Philippine Commission. There is local self-government for the towns and cities. Porto Rico also came to the United States by the Treaty of December 10, 1898. The "organic act" for its government passed Congress, April 12, 1900. The act with its amendments gives to the island representative government, the franchise being restricted to male citizens of Porto Rico or of the United States, 21 years of age, of one year's residence in the island. The Governor and the Executive Council (6 heads of departments and 5 natives) are appointed for four years by the President of the United States. The House of Delegates, of 35 members, are elected by the people for a term of two years. Porto Rico also elects a delegate to Congress in Washington, who has the privilege of the floor without a vote. The Council and the House of Delegates constitute the legislature, with the veto power in the Governor. The judiciary consists of an Attorney-General and Assistants and a United States Court appointed by the President, a A fifth department has been created by Congress but has not yet been organized by the President. 2 Statesman's Year Book, 1915. Supreme Court of five members appointed by the President and seven district courts appointed by the Governor. A new "organic act" for Porto Rico has been before Congress. This proposes to grant American citizenship to the people of Porto Rico, to make the Senate partially elective, to extend the appointive judiciary system, and to institute a more liberal American form of government in which the executive and legislative functions will be separated. It is expected that Porto Rico will in time be given a larger measure of local self-government or even be admitted as a State in the Union.1 Constitutional Since the acquisition of the Spanish islands, five judges of the Supreme Court, constituting a majority of the Court, though not the same five in each case, have agreed to the following as constitutional law: Island Possessions, I. After a territory has been acquired by conquest or purchase by the United States, it ceases to be When Terriforeign territory and the tariff laws applicable tory Ceases to to imports from foreign countries no longer apply.2 be Foreign. and such Revenue Military Government. 2. While it is under military government, the military authority may establish a system of taxation, system of taxation can be constitutionally enforced. It may assess duties on goods brought Powers of the from New York to Porto Rico, though in another decision this trade is declared to be coastwise. This power comes within the " of the President. But this war power to exact duties upon imports from the United States ceases upon ratification of the treaty.4 war powers While this volume is going through the press a treaty is pending for the purchase by the United States of the Danish West India Islands for $25,000,000. a De Lima vs. Bidwell, 182 U. S., 1. 3 Huis vs. New York and Porto Rican Steamship Company. 4 Dooley vs. United States. The Islands 3. Such territory is not an integral part of the United States, but a possession of the United States: it cannot be made a part of the United States by the Are a Posses- treaty-making power-i. e., by President and Senate, but can be made so only by some act of the United of Congress which explicitly or by necessary imStates. plication incorporates it into the United States. sion, Not an Integral Part The treaty-making, or the war power may acquire, but cannot incorporate, new territory into the United States. The treaty power may convert foreign territory into domestic territory, but the power to bring this territory into the corporation known as the United States is in the representatives of the people in Congress.' By the first decision it is agreed that the treaty and war powers of the Government may convert foreign into domestic territory. No act of Congress is necessary.' In the fall of 1899, a firm of importers protested against paying duties on Porto Rico sugars, and they sued the Collector of the Port of New York (Bidwell) to recover back the duties paid under protest. The importation occurred after the ratification of the treaty with Spain ceding Porto Rico, but before the passage of the Foraker Act providing a civil government for the island. The duties were collected under the Dingley Law of 1897, enacted before the beginning of the Spanish War, which authorized the imposition of duties "on goods imported from a foreign country." In another case, a soldier by the name of Pepke, returning from the Philippines after the treaty of peace with Spain, but before Congress had passed an act of civil government for the Philippines, or any act regulating the tariff rates between those islands and the States, brought with him a number of diamond rings. These were taken from him by the custom-house officers 'See the opinion of Justice White on this point. 'See De Lima vs. Bidwell, May 27, 1901, and the Pepke case, or the "Diamond Rings" case, December, 1901. because he had paid no duty on them. Pepke sued for recovery. In this suit for recovery the question was whether these rings were imported from a "foreign country." In both these cases the Court held that by the fact of cession Porto Rico and the Philippines ceased to be foreign territory. A foreign country is one exclusively within the sovereignty of a foreign nation and without the sovereignty of the United States. A district ceded to and in the possession of the United States does not remain for any purpose a foreign country. Both of these conditions must exist to produce a change of nationality for revenue purposes. Possession alone is not sufficient; nor is a treaty of cession sufficient without a surrender of possession. But when both conditions exist the district ceases to be foreign and becomes domestic. A country cannot be foreign for one purpose and domestic for another. The country does not remain foreign with respect to the tariff laws until Congress has acted embracing it within the customs union. Therefore no act of Congress is necessary to make foreign territory into domestic territory. According to this decision, when the Treasury Department proceeded to collect the same duties that had been collectible before the cession it acted unconstitutionally and illegally. The principle here decided is not very important, for it has to do with a temporary condition only, though this condition may recur frequently. A more permanent and fundamental question relates to the power of Congress over the ceded territory. Is Congress restrained in its government of the ceded Territories by the limitations of the Constitution? The Constitutional Powers of Congress in the Island Possessions. As a ques This has been the most prominent question in American law and politics in recent years. tion of constitutional law it has been but recently passed upon by the Supreme Court in what are generally known |