Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 December 1901 — ISLES ARE AMERICAN. [ARTICLE]

ISLES ARE AMERICAN.

Federal Supreme Court Decides the Important Question. Washington telegram: By the decision of the United States Supreme Court the Philippine Islands are domestic territory of the United States, this status being acquired at the moment of the ratification of the peace treaty with Spain. This decision was handed down today in the case of Emil J. Pepke vs. the United States government, commonly known as the “Fourteen Diamond Rings” case. The .decision is in full accord with that rendered last spring in what is known as the Le Lima case. It is plain that the Supreme Court found no distinction between the situation as it existed in the Philippines at time the treaty was ratified and the Porto Rican situation at the same time. The existence of the rebellion in the Philippines is not regarded as giving the government under the war power absolute control of the islands.' The. constitution and laws of the United States apply to the Philippines exactly as they were held to apply to Porto Rico, of their own force. But Congress is at liberty to enact a law imposing tariff duties on the trade between the Philippines and the United States.