n possess "appurtenant" territory, subject to, but not part of
itself, to which the Constitution does not apply save so far as Congress
votes that it shall apply. So construed, the Constitution does not ex
proprio vigore follow the flag. Under that construction, inhabitants of
the acquired islands could not plead a single one of its guaranties
unless Congress voted them such a right. If Congress failed to do this,
then, so far as concerned the newly acquired populations, the
Constitution might as well never have been penned. They were subjects of
the United States, not citizens.

The Republican party's first avowal of this "imperialist" theory and
policy was the Porto Rico tariff bill, approved April 12, 1900,
establishing for Porto Rico a line of customs duties differing from that
of the United States. This bill was at first disapproved by President
McKinley. "It is our plain duty," he said, "to abolish all customs
tariffs between the United States and Porto Rico, and give her products
free access to our markets." Until after its passage the bill was
earnestly opposed both by a number of eminent Republican statesmen
besides the President and by nearly all the leading Republican party
organs. Every possible plea--constitutional, humanitarian, prudential--
was urged against it. The bill passed, nevertheless.

The result was a momentous improvement in Democratic prospects. The
schism on expansion which had divided the Democratic party was closed at
once, while many Republicans who had deemed the taking over of the
Philippines simply a step in the nation's growth similar in nature to
all the preceding ones, and had laughed at imperialism as a Democratic
"bogy," changed their minds and sidled toward the Democratic lines.

In their long and able arguments against the Porto Rico tariff,
Republican editors and members of Congress provided the opposite party
with a great amount of campaign material. Often as a Republican on the
hustings or in the press declared imperialism not an issue, or at any
rate not an important one, he was drowned in a flood of recent
quotations from the most authoritative Republican sources proving that
it was not only an issue, but one of the most important ones which ever
agitated the Republic. As Democrats put it, Balaam prophesied in favor
of Israel.

Several minor matters were much dwelt upon by campaigners, with a net
result favorable to the Democrats. A great many in his own party
believed, n