furnish the only basis upon which the annexation of new territory could be justified.

With the annexation in 1898 of Porto Rico and the Philippines, however, the people of the United States have been forced again to consider this question. The character of at least a portion of the territory thus acquired is such that the United States is compelled to confront the fact that the prospect of such territory ever becoming of such a nature that it can safely be admitted into the Union as a State or States without detriment to the nation as a whole is so remote that for all practical purposes it can be dismissed from consideration. Willingly or unwillingly, the people of the United States are forced to recognize that by the accession of this territory the nation has come into possession of a territory that for an indefinite time at least will have to be held purely as a dependency.

Attention has already been called to the significance of the political effect, internal as well as external, that has resulted from this fact. As regards the subject immediately under consideration, the important point is that, though the United States has been forced to admit the possibility of owning territory that may not ultimately become a State or States of the Union, it has not been compelled thereby to abandon its historical policy as a general principle. All that has been necessary is the modification of this principle in the single respect that it is not feasible at the present time, as in the past, definitely to determine in advance what shall be the ultimate political status of this territory. So far as any immediate action regarding its administration is concerned, it can proceed, and in

fact has proceeded, practically the same as if no such question had presented itself. The same and even greater efforts have been made to extend to these territories a system of government and laws conforming to those existing in the United States, and to educate their inhabitants in the principles underlying them and to imbue them with the spirit in which they should be administered. If success is achieved in these efforts, it will then be time to determine whether the territory shall be erected into a State of the Union or into a commonwealth enjoying autonomy in some other form. When that decision has to be made there can be little doubt that the wishes of the dependent territory at the time will largely control.

Legal Right of the United States to Acquire and Govern New Territory. But one point further needs to be mentioned in this account of the general phases of the problem of the government of dependent territory by the United States. This is the legal right that the United States has under the Constitution to acquire new territory at all, and the limitations under which it rests in providing for its government and administration. The questions involved in this point have repeatedly been before the federal courts for determination and may now be said to be fairly well settled. The latest, and in some respects the most important, cases in which the question of this power has arisen are those known as the "insular cases," recently decided by the Supreme Court, which arose out of the annexation of Porto Rico and the Philippines. It is quite beyond the scope of the present work to enter

upon any detailed consideration of the questions here involved. The subject has already been exhaustively treated in other places and is, moreover, taken up in the introductory volume of the series of which this work is a part. All that will be necessary here, therefore, will be to state the points that may fairly be said. to have been definitely established.

These points, regarding which there can now be no question unless the Supreme Court should at some time in the future reverse itself, are: that the United States possesses power to acquire new territory to the same extent as any other nation; that, as a logical sequence of this power and the express provision of the Constitution that "Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful regulations and rules respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States," the United States has full authority to provide for the government and administration of such territory; that this power to govern new territory is vested exclusively in Congress; that in the exercise of this power Congress is subject to practically no limitations, but may take such action in each case as it deems best; and that neither the Constitution of the United States, except as regards those provisions relating to what may be called the fundamental rights of citizenship, such, for example, as that of liberty of worship, nor the general statutes of the United States, are extended to new territory by the mere fact of its acquisition, but only as they are expressly made applicable by legislative act. All of these points, it will be noted, tend to establish one fundamental principle-the plenary power of Congress to

take such action as it deems best regarding the government, administration and fundamental laws of dependent territory, whether that territory be on the mainland or be an island in the Pacific Ocean, and that in the exercise of this power Congress is under no obligation to adopt any rules of general application, but may modify its action as in its judgment seems wise in order to meet varying conditions. As it was excellently stated in a recent opinion rendered by the judge of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for California: "The Territories of the United States are entirely subject to the legislative authority of Congress. They are not organized under the Constitution nor subject to its complex distribution of powers of government as the organic law, but are the creation exclusively of the legislative department and subject to its supervision and control. The United States. having rightfully acquired the territory and having become the only government which can impose laws upon them have the entire domain and sovereignty, national and municipal, Federal and State. It may legislate in accordance with the special needs of each locality and vary its regulations to meet the circumstances of the people. Whether the subject elsewhere. would be a matter of local police regulations within the state control under some other power it is immaterial to consider; in a Territory all of the functions of government are within the legislative jurisdiction of Congress and may be exercised through a local government or directly by such legislation as we have now under consideration.""1

1 Endleman, et al., v. United States, February 28, 1898.

The importance of this interpretation of the powers of Congress cannot be overestimated. Without such unlimited power it is difficult to see how Congress would have been able properly to meet the different conditions that have existed in the different Territories that have been acquired. It is extremely fortunate, therefore, that the Constitution of the United States has permitted this interpretation.

Government of Dependent Territory by Military Authorities. While Congress thus possesses supreme power in respect to dependent territory, it should be noted that where territory has been acquired as the result of military operations and occupations, full powers of government, civil as well as military, may be exercised by the military authorities until such time as Congress sees fit to exercise its own prerogative. This power on the part of the military authorities exists in virtue of the general powers vested in the President of the United States as commander-in-chief of the United States military forces. The action taken by the commander in the field is, thus, legally that of the President acting through the war department. This power that thus exists of organizing and carrying on a purely military government for a considerable period of time, even after all hostilities have ceased, has given rise to one of the most interesting phases of the history of the government of dependent territory by the United States. As the exercise of this power has been of special importance in the work of re-organizing the governments of our newly acquired insular possessions, it is desirable that some few words should be said re