St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-11-24
REFINEMENT OF STATES RIGHTS

The New York Sun is good Demo
that it stretches the old doctrine of states
rights a little beyond the constitutional
limit when it objects to President CLEvE-
LANDS Thanksgiving proclamation on the
ground that 1.-THE constitution nowhere au-
thorizeS the federal executive to issue re-
ligious manifestos. AS rule Democrats
are anxious to keep the powers of the vari-
GUS departments of the government within
a constitutional limitation. The Democratic
party is the jealous guardian of the safe
guards which the constitution has thrown
around the people of the states to protect
them from the entertainments of federal
power. But never until this day did it ever
enter the head of the most technical Demo-
GRAFT that Thanksgiving proclamation was
a usurpation of executive power. And it
is gratifying to observe that Brother DANA
stands alone in this respect. His position is
sustained by no one. Neither the puritan
Mugwump nor the infidel spokesman gives
cOuntenance to it. The Thanksgiving
festival is becoming as much of national
"
Christmas day. In fact so deep a hold
has the autumnal Thanksgiving feast
taken upon the affections and stomachs of
the American people that the majestic tur-
key cock is rapidly supplanting the yora-
cious eagle as the national bird. Thanks
givings would come with each returning
autumn whether executive prOclamationS
were issued or not. AS the year draws to
the close and the harvests have been gath
cred and the people enjoy that sense of con-
tentment which comes from the possession
of an ample store, their hearts naturally fill
with gratitude for the blessings which have
been showered upon them by the hand of a
beneficent Providence, and they feel that
they want to set apart one day
to be observed in commemoration
of His goodness. 1t is natural that they
should observe this grateful festival under
national leadership, and hence it is the GUS
tom which was inaugurated in the midst of
civil war, when the fate of the nation hung
upon the decision of battles, should have
grown into permanent feature of our ma
tional life. The Sun has no foundation for
its argument that the duty of issuing these
proclamations belongs exclusively to the
governors of the states. There is no more
warrant in the constitutions of the different
states for issuing such proclamations than
there is in the federal constitution. While
the executive proclamation naming the
day which is to be observed may be
surplusage. it is a very graceful
one. And if President CLEVELAND makes
no worse break during his administration
than the PRONUNCIATION of Thanksgiving
prOclamations, he can rest assured that,
with the possible exception of the editor of
the Sun, the Democratic party will give
him hearty and solid support. The gas
tronomic principle in the average Democrat
is too strong to permit any such hair-split-
ting definition of states rights to interfere
with his enjoyment of Thanksgiving turkey
and that, too, without regard to whether
the bird bears the impress of the state or
national seal. We are disposed to regard
the Suns sensitive condition in this particu-
lar not so much the result of oyer-zeal for
Democratic principles, as that of impaired
digestion, the result of an overdose of But
lerism year ago, from which it has not fully
recovered.