Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-01-17

sizing ard sppropriating power in ordel
to provide for the "common defense auC
general welfare" as claimed by tht
advocates OF this bill, why did thc
trainers OF the constitution il
article ], section s, of tina
instrument, enunerste and defiae The
specific purposes for which Congress!
Should lay aud collect taxes Il was ut
5eriy superfluous TO &c this under tia
construction Of the general welfare
clause. Mr.. MsdIson, in al extract from
one Of mis- speeches read by me- IN for.
mer debste on this bill. in few words
expressed the absurdity Of the corstruc
ton cOntended for. He said:
"There sre CONSEQUENCES Still more ex.
te1siye, which, es they follow cleal y
from the doctrine comb2ted, must either
be admitted or the doctrine must be
given up. Il Congress can employ money
indefinitely to the general welfare. end
are the sole and supreme JUICES of the
general welfare, they may take the care
Of religion into their own hands: they
msy appoint teachers in every crate, coun
try aud p2cish, ard pay them out Of their
public treasury; they NAV take
Into their own hands the education Of
children, establishing in ike msnne,
schools throughout the Uuion; they may
assume tue provision for the poor; they
mag undertake the regulation Of all roads
osher than post-rOade; il short, every
thiCg, from the highest object CT state
'egi-lation down To The most minute CO.
Jets of police, would be thrown under
ne power of Congress; for every Of iact
have mentioned WCu admit % the ao-
pIcation Of money, and might be called,
Il Congress pleased, provisions for the
general welfare"
lie cons querces per rayed by Mr..
VI olson. IS resulting inevitably from the
only construction Of the general wei
fare" clause upon which this bill can he
Justified, he says, "mu8t either be ad-
United or the doctrine given up, aGd he
groups them IL the declaration taat such
a construction would throw uu0er the
power of Congress every subject OF state
concern, from the Highest object
OF stste Legislation down to
the most minute object of police. Un-
limited power TO tax. coupled with un-
limited pwer OF appropriation, is the
theory Of this bill, and it cannot stand fer
one moment CT sny other. The pcopO-
sition that Congress Is the sole Judge Of
"haa the general welfare requires, aud
the discretion Of Congress the sole limit
upon The POWER Of Congress TO tax the
people ana appropriate money for the
promotion Of the "gerersl welfare" will
place every dollars worth Of property in
this country under the dominion of Con-
gres5 without single limita ION upon
t power of Congress to tax it not self
imposed. Judge Miller as the organ OF
the court, delivering the opinion OF the
Supreme court of the United States in
the noted Topeks czse reported in 20 h
Wallace, discussing the taxing power,
said:
81 may well be douotef, if s man Is to
hold al Re is act u 3.Cmed TO call his owp.
ali in which he has placed his happiness,
under the unlimited dominion OF others,
whether it is nos wiser that this power
should be exercised by one man than
by many. Tne theoryof cur government,
state srd nationsl, is opposed 30 the
unlimited deposit OF power anywhere"
Judge Miller, N :ae opinion 1 have just
read from, discussing and denying the
Unlimited power Of taxation and sppr0-
priafion, also said:
SIT must be conceded that there ara
such rights in every free government be-
y0nd the control OF the state. a govern
ment which recognized 20 such rights,
which held the lives, the liberty, and she
property OF It's citiz ms subject at all
times TO the absolute deposition snd uo-
limited control of even the most demo
cratic depository Of power is, nf:er ell,
but desp0tism. II is true il is O despot-
ism OF the many, Of the majority, il you
choose TO call it so, but il is none the less
Il dsspotism
II does seem that language so strong
AMI warning SO impressive ought to be
needed. The acceptance of this bill, il it
passes, by the Legislatures OF I'll or 8
ma jOrity OF the states, will have all the
moral effect Of an amendment TO toe
C constitution in that it will stamp UPON
that instrume Mt the construction elaine d
for it by the friends of the bill, involving
the consequences so graphically detsile d
by Mr. Madison, from whom l have Just
read, and which will strike down o. one
blow all the barriers erected by the
fathers of the republic for the prottc
ton CT the states in the sole and eZclu-
sive right TO manage and control in their
own way their domestic concerns. No
more far-reaching or revolutionary
was ever before seriously coz
sidered in Congress.
l grant that the power TO appropriate
money already in the Treasury is neces-
ssrily unlimited, except by the moral Oh
legation resting upon cur law makers 10
be economical and TO confine its expen-
dituTe TO legitimate constitutional pur-
poses, sid concede thst instances may
be shown IN which money in the Treasury
has been appropriated by Congress for
pu poses not entirely m accord with this
view. bu* affirm with entire confidence
that in the rare cases where it has been
done the debates show it to have been
done with extreme reluctance, under ex
press re, and frequently IN
der circumstances Were feeling and SEN
fluent were admitted by the actors to
as We dominated Judgment and reason and
tie smounts appropriated in suchinstances
have always been so small as TO be COM
psratively Insignificant. 1t Is also worthy
Of special emphasis here that in none of
these cases, su OF which have been in
hunted up and paraded as
presidents in former debates on this bill
and are familiar to the Senate, tas an sp-
been made and applied in a
wsy to trench upon or invade the pre-
negatives Of g state or state Jurisdiction
over domestic concerns, SO is done in this
bill. Not one Of them IN the remotest
degree touched the rights or the scknowl-