The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1876-08-12

and also in producing direct tendency &,
restrain the Statc.bank circulation within
the limits Of the State from which it ha
obtained its chartered privileges. Such
result, | believe, could bo reasonably ex
pccted to follow the establishment o
the State banks upon equal terms with til,
national banks.
In this opinion | am fully sustained By
Mr.. Webster, who in q speech delivered
at the merchants meeting in Wall street
New York, on the 18th of September
1910, said
My opinion is that currency emanatlnl
partly from national authority as broad il
its origin as the whole country, and partl,
from local banks organized rs our banks nov
are, and issuing paper for local circulation
is better currency for the whole people thar
ever before existed in the world Each o
these classes of institutions, aud each of these
kinds of currency, has its own proper use aud
value.
If this be true, where are We to look fol
the remedy? The answer can be found
in the opinion of Chief Justice Chase, in
the case twice heretofore referred to, the
Veazie Bank rs. Fenno, in which, almost
in terms of apology, he finds himself con
stained to say that
1t is insisted, however, that the tax in the
case before us is excessive, and so, excessive
as TO indicate purpose on the part of Con-
gress to destroy the franchise of bank,
and is therefore beyond the constitutional
power Of Congress. The first answer to this
is that the Judicial cannot prescribe to the
legislative department of the Government
limitation upon the exercise of its acknowl
edged powers. The power to tax may be ex-
ercised oppressiyely upon persons, but the
responsibility of the Legislature is not to the
courts, but to the people by whom its mem
bers are elected. So if particular tax bears
heavily upon corporation or class of cor
porations, it cannot for that reason only be
pronounced contrary to the Constitution.
If, therefore, Congress has been the in
strument by which this wrong was CON
summated, and is to be held responsible
for the results which have followed, it
should be prompt to afford the only ade-
quate relief attainable by reducing this
tax to an amount equal to that paid by the
national banks, which, if done, could work
no possible harm to the national banks,
while it might be very reasonably produc-
tive of enlarged and needful banking ia
cilities to localities now unprovided for
and supply the requisite circulating me-
dium TO meet the wants Of trade in those
localities.
| have thus briefly and impcrfectly pre-
sented some of the phases of this impor-
tant subject, and trust that l may succeed
in exciting sufficient interest in it to cause
the able and experienced men who have
so largely contributed to the greatness of
our common country to give to it patient
and careful investigation, that properly
considered action may follow. In treat
ing this subject have duly appreciated
its delicate and sensitive character, because
of the fact that to treat it with ordinary
intelligence would compel me to claim for
the States certain rights which are re-
served to them under the Constitution.
1t has become the rule and fashion of late
when any one seeks to claim for the States
certain rights which were supposed to have
been reserved to them to stamp the utter
ance as disloyal, and if it come from any
one Of southern birth or proclivities, as
showing unmistakable evidence of the bad
temper of the southern people toward the
Federal Government, and especially to-
ward the northern people. And yet you
find Mr.. Justice Miller, in delivering the
opinion of the Supreme Court in the cele-
brated Louisiana Slaughter.house cases,
which were decided SO late as the Decem-
Der term, 1872, uses the following COM
forting words
Under the pressure of all the excited feel
ing growing out of the war, our statesmen
have still believed that the existence of the
States with powers for domestic and local
government, including the regulation of civil
rights of person and of property
was essential to the perfect working OF our
complex form Of government, though they
have thought proper to impose additional
limitations on the States, and to confer addi-
tional power on that of the nation. But
whatever fluctuations may be seen in the his.
tory of public opinion on this subject during
the period of our national existence, we think
il will be found that this court, so far as its
functions required, has always held with a
steady and an even hand the balance between
State and Federal power, and we trust that
such may continue to be the history OF its re-
lation to that subject so long as it shall have
duties to perform which demand oft con.
struction Of the Constitution or any of its
parts.
Mr.. Justice Miller will not be accused
of any undue partiality for States rights,
and therefore any expression from him on
this subject is entitled to the careful peru
sal Of those partisans who in their ardor
seek to clothe the Federal Government
with every attribute of authority and cen
tralize within it every source Of power by
stripping the States Of the very last YES
tige Of that sovereignty which the Consti-
tuition solemnly guarantees to them. l
entertain no such vain belief that proper
legislation concerning the State banks is
the only want from which the country is
suffering, nor by any smeans the remedy
which will bring complete relief to the
large manufacturing interests of the coun-
try and employment to the suffering labor
ers, whose cry of distress is daily heard
throughout the land 1t, is too plainly
manifest that the country in seeking to
adjust itself to the grooves of prosperity
in which it successfully moved before the
war now finds the large and lucrative trade
of the South an absolute requisite in the
restoration Of the former energy and vital
ity Of the business interests of the whole,
country, aud without which the country
will be long in rcgaining its lost equilib-
rum.
Those then, who seek to build wall
of prejudice and of bitter animosity be-
tween the sections; who strive for political
asendency by postponing complete re-
Cancellation of the interests and sentiment
of the country; who see In an impovefish-
ed and stricken South the highest evidence
of our country's magnanimity and great,
ness, they may, If the country in an evil
hour assent to these propositions, realize
their wishes, but they viii never live to
see this country again prosperous and hap
py. If our republican form Of govern
ment, the perpetuity of which is largely