Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-04-03

Iufe, anu Tue worn Will Ue pdSstu TOuHu
for the g henchmen to applaud the GEN.
Trailing movements as they are developed,
and to conceal their real significance by
accusing all protestants of want of patriot
ism, or sympathy with the rebellion, or
some other such canting stuff. But the
American people will be compelled to put
aside all these distractions, and examine
the situation which has grown up so silently
and insidiously, with the care and thor
oughness due to its gravity. For 1t is APP
parent to all who do not willfully refuse to
see, that under these recent decisions the
power of Congress to usurp the entire con-
troll of State affairs is practically affirmed,
and that therefore the States are hence
forth at the mercy of Congress even in
regard to those matters which concern
them most deeply, and in relation to which
the alienation of local control means ex-
posture of communities to imitless plumber
and ultimate ruin.
There is no question of North and South
in this matter. The question is of the
protection of the citizens of the States of
the Union against tendencies and con-
structions OF law which threaten them
with the worst, short of absolute anarchy,
that can befall nations For be it observed
that while the Courts are every year
charging the power and jurisdiction of
Congress, and curtailing the power and
jurisdiction of the States, the control of
the people upon Congress is growing
weaker continually, and the difficulty of
holding members of it to any account
ability is increasing Thus the movement
is steadily towards the comforting of
plenary power upon an irresponsible
and corrupt body. The machine in pol
tiles is being erected into the central agency
of Government tits at once a buffer against
whichpopularpro protests against Congressional
usurpation and corruption are harmlessly
| expended, and means of Stimulating public
opinion which furnishes an excuse for dis
regarding the real voice of the masses.
The only hope of reform lies in the with
drawal of the patronage from Congress !;
but Congress alone can inaugurate this re-
form, and it will not surrender the power
it has found so useful and so pleasant
Meantime the original sovereignty of the
States is thing of the past, and not only
the original sovereignty, but even those
powers which are necessary to the main
tenance of any kind of Independent au-
thority, are now formally argued away by
the majority of the Supreme Court
What is there left to the State under
the Coles decision Judge Field holds,
and we hold with him, that I'M
der the Interpretation of the majority
the powers conferred upon Congress by the
Fourteenth Amendment must be regarded
as practically unlimited That is to say,
that there is no subject of State legislation
which may not be brought under Congress
sional control, and which may not be de-
termined in direct contradiction to the
wishes and views of the people of the
State. This is Capitalization beyond a
doubt, but it is Capitalization without re-
sponsibility. Had the people of the United
States undertaken to change the form of
government under which they live, and
had they, after due consideration, con-
Guided that it was best to abrogate the SOW
ereignty of the States, and vest all author
ity in the Federal Government, they
would have taken such measures to prevent
the abuse of power by the central Govern
ment as would have guaranteed safety to
the nation. But as it is, we are being
plunged into condition every feature of
which increases the prevailing danger and
insecurity. The States are being stripped
of their independence, and the control of
their most weighty affairs is being trans
ferred to body which has already alien
ated itself from the body of the people by
the prostitution of patronage, and the
selfish interests of which urge it perpetu-
ally to make holder use of those corrupt
and corrupting agencies upon which it
depends so largely. There is but one
means of escape from the threatening dan
gers of the situation, and that is by edu-
eating the public mind as to the real sig
nifcance of these denials of and encroach-
ments upon State sovereignty.
TIE PUBLICATION OF THE DEBATES.