Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1885-10-29

ooI"5 PohuSdi dI HuuSuNd dlHHS iOm HHlCidCy, vi uoWv U9ZB
In ability the States may be to provide the means for its removal this
objection, which is pressed with zeal and confdence-and from quarters
which enute 1t to respectful conscientious well taken; if there is
really no power In Congress to apply public funds to such an object; or ii
the application involves any encroachment upon the reserved rights and
powers OF the States, the question Is settled, the discussion ended, and the
States must be lett to struggle on, unalded, with this great problem Of
llhteracy, and comteract and correct as best they may, the perls, dangers
and disadvantages which its existing and prospective conditions entail
upon them.
Before entering upon the discussion of this constitutional question and Of
the general considerations which render Federal aid to education at this
juncure a matter not only of wise expediency and enlightened public
policy, but Of most imperative necessity, allow me o make a few general
statements in order to AVOID misunderstanding and the more clearly to de.
fine my position. l shall not discuss the details of any particular measure
nor am l here to advocate the granting Of aid as the permanent policy ofthe
General Government but as a temporary measure of relief required by
the emergencies now surrounding a considerable number of the States,
and which tney are unable to meet In maintaining the general authority
OF the Government to grant aid to education in the States, and in advo-
eating the policy OF It's 50 DONG do not wish to be understood for a
moment as admitting that such aid involves any right of control. deny
emphaucaly the authority OF the Federal Government to assume or exer-
else any control or jurisdiction over State educational systems and instnu-
tons. They are domestic concerns over which the General Government
possesses no power or sovereignty. Whether the United States could
with the assent and within the limits of the States lawfully establish and
maintain a separate system and distinct schools Of their own, need not be
here and now considered, for the policy OF such separate school systems.
State and Federal, would not be advisable, as the two could hardly be
made to work harmoniouay, and would involve extra and unnecessary
OUTLAWS. Il
In trying to find constitutional warrant for Congress to bestow the aid
now required in many of the States to meet the exgencies Of the situation,
l shall not ann to press the powers of the General Government beyond
lr legitimate scope. l subscribe FULLY to that grand declaration of fes-
p principles" announced by MIR. Jefferson in his inaugural address,
Be which should shape the administration Of the Government, among
were :" the support of the State Governments in SQkthan vahts asl
st competent administrator Tor our domestic Conce&as and the
bulwarks against antlrepuDlCan tendencies and the preservation
e General Government in It's whole constitutional vigor as the sheet
oHhor of our peace at home and safety abroad" No pressure of mere
expedency should ever lead us either to encroach upon the rights and
powers reserved to the States, or to disregard the limitations of the Con-
sttuton and extend the powers of the General Government beyond their
legitimate and appropriate functions. But while | believe in holding the
General Government within the sphere of its delegated authority and in
preserving to the States all their reserved rights, as essenhalto our highest
welfare and the preservation of our dual system of divided sovereignty,
we must not forget as a late writer has well expressedt, THAT the clauses
conterrng on the Federal Government prerogauves essential to empire are
in the nature of bnk P0W0S to be filled up by the unconscious legBl-
ton of eras." The f0hWMOAS OF the Constitution stand upon a different
footing. They can never be overeaped. No change of condition, for
instance, can operate to abrogate the provisions OF the Constitution pro-
hbiung the establishment of religion; the taking of life, liberty or prop
ery, unless ''by due process OF law the deprivation of civil equality,
Or the restriction of the freedom Of speech and OF the press. But in re-
spect to the P0uts OF government a different and broader rule prevails
They are imperial in their nature and have an elasticity and expansive
force adequate TO the varying conditions and exlgencles OF a great and
growing people. So, while necessity, eXpedency Or emergency does
not abrogate constitutional limitations or enlarge constitutional powers,
their meaning, when couched in e general terms, is untoded under the &C
ton of changing conditions; Or, as Mr., Clay expressed the idea, in 1916,
"Ihe Constitution never changes, It IS always the same; but the force o
circumstances and the lights OF experience may evolve to the falibe per-
sons charged with its administration the fitness and necessity of a parrcu
lar exercise OF constructive power to-day, which they did not see at Il al
previous perod." There must from the nature OF the case, be in the
constitution of a great government like ours a certain elasticity in all
powers expressed III general terms. If time permitted many illustrations
OF this proposition might be suggested. The Florida telegraph case, de-
cided within the last few years by the Supreme Court of the United States,
furnishes a striking instance, as every lawyer familiar with that decision
will readily recognize.
We should, therefore, discard that spirit of jealousy which manfests il
self in the disposition to limit and curtal the powers OF the General Cow
eminent, by strict and narrow construction, on the unwaranted assump.1
ton that the States can more safely and benehclaLy exercise such powers fl
have more capacity anda greater desire to preserve the rights and
of the people. In his celebrated opinion in the case of Gibbon Us. Og-1
den, 9 Wheaton, Chief Justice Marshall entered the protest of his great
mind, and OF the great court over which he presided, against this strict
construction theory, in the following striking and neverto-b eforgoten
language: "Ihe Constitution contains an enumeration of powers ex
these powers ought to be construed strictly. But why ought they to be so
construed? Is there one sentence in the Constitution that gives counte-
nance to this ruler In the last of the enumerated powers, that which
grants expressly the means for carrying all others into execution, Congress
isauthoized ito make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for
the purpose But this limitation on the means which may be used is not
the Constitution which has been pointed out, or which we have been able
to discover, that preScrbes this rule. We do not therefore, think our
selves justified in adopting it. What do gentlemen mean by a strict con-
srucion2 Ii they contend for that narrow construction which, in support
of some theory not to be found in the Constitution, would deny to the
Government those powers which the words Of the grant, as usually under
stood, import and which are consistent with the general view and objects
of the instrument; TO. tina" narrow construction which would cripple the
Government and render it unequal to the objects for which it is declared
to be constituted, and to which the powers given, as fairly understood,