Wichita eagle., 1890-02-09

tracts in agricultural products or other
productions shall be unlawful"
SEC. 2. That congress shall have power,
concurrently with the several states, to
enforce this article
In answer to letter of inquiry touch
ing this matter have received the fol-
lowing letter from Senator ingalls,:
UNITED STATES SENATE COMMITTEE
ON THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. Z
! WASHINGTON, d. c., Jan. 20. 1850.
Kos Harris Wichita Kan.
Dear Sir-In reply to yours of the 18th
inst, would say that petitions from the
county organizations. forwarded through
your bureau, might be of advantage. Ii
you will have them sent to me l shall,
with pleasure. present them to the senate
and have them referred to the committee
having the bill in charge for consideration.
Very truly yours, JNO. j. INGALLS,.
In connection with the joint resolu-
/ ton and Senator ingalls, letter I desire
| to state that some time last year, in pa
| per published in the EAGLE, I advanced
the idea that the only solution of the
'.grain option" problem and "trusts' was
either convention of states, adopting
and recommending to the several legIs-
| latures an uniform law for passage, or
an amendment to the federal constitu-
| ton, granting to the general government
power to regulate commerce within as
well as ''among the several states. The
idea in my mind was that the federal
instrument was, at present, too narrow
and restricted in its provisions to admit
of construction, that would constitution
ally uphold an act of congress looking to
the regulation of domestic or internal
commerce. This view was sustained by
the senate committee.
Since congress convened Mr.. Euloe, of
Tennessee, has introduced a bill fore
shadowing an amendment to the federal
constitution. So far am from suppos-
ing that Mr.. Enloe has read my paper
and been influenced by it that [ really
conclude that the sentiment is gaining
ground: that the restriction on the gen.
eral government and the reserved power
of the states in strict sense is a govern
mental error.
And no better testimony of this growth
of opinion can be found than the intro
duction of such bill by a member of
the territory south of Mason and Dixon's
line. 1t is at least straw showing that
nation is recognized; that there
are some things even in domestic affairs
where the general government can aid
state; a concession that the hands of the
federal government are tied to the posi-
tive disadvantage of the several states;
an admission that the arm of the state is
too short to punish certain practices of
iligitimate trade and commerce, the re-
suits of which are sapping and under
mining the prosperity of producers,
which producers are the life of the
country and whose ruin is widespread
insolvency and disaster UNIVERSAL
confession, at least, that the federal con-
stitution, though broad enough for an
infant nations swaddling clothes, will
not cover the loins of lusty youth or
meet round full grown adult govern
ment The reserved power of the states
or ''keep-your-han policy
was all right until the boy got hurt, and
now he wants his mother to stretch forth
her arms and protect him from his Sis
tiers.
An Irish statesman once said he "was
willing to sacrifice the entire constitu-
ton to preserve the remainder SO /
have concluded to sacrifice part of the
states constitutiOn-the states rights
doctrine-and grant greater power to the
federal government to preserve from
annihilation and utter destruction the
grain and stock interests of the west, the
commerce of the country, the founda-
ton stone of all our wealth, the source
of all our grandeur and glory, the tenn
pie of future greatness, and the only
substantial hope of our future.
The corporations which like spider
webs, have been wove, in a night; and
spread through the country, have
laughed to scorned the puny efforts of
federal and state legislation to hinder,
delay, hold in check or control them.
Relying on the restrictions on congress
and the weakness of the states to extend
jurisdiction, these corporations and their
confederates have defied the general and
state governments. Their real argument
Is that congress has the power, but no
jurisdiction; that the states have terri
torrial jurisdiction only and no substan-
tial power. To endeavor to control these
corporations and stop option dealing,
crush trusts and combines by states, will
simply be to chase them all over the
United States and be ruined before the
chase is over. But to grant the power
to congress will enable us to arrive at
degree of strangulation in few years,
perhaps not more than two.
The congressional investigations of
last year resulted in the representatives
of the people being insulted, the COM
plants of the agricultural interests snot
only disregarded, but their investigation
treated with insolence and with defiance
This denial, by the option dealer and
his confederates, of congressional juris-
diction over his vices, (Which should be
made crimes), demands that power be
vested somewhere to check, if not de-
stroy the evil. That this power is not
possessed by the federal government is
conceded by most jurists.
ToAstrain the language of the con-
stitution to give congress this power will
not only do violence to- its plain terms,
but will create precedent that may
be hateful in the future. Precedents
founded on necessity, not sanctioned
by law, become at last examples
that are used to justify legislation
that otherwise would be at once stamped
as pernicious, dangerous and harmful. |
Hence we should be careful about giving
sanction to laws created by necessity, |
the constitutionality of which is not war
ranted, save through torturing from |
words a meaning that is not plainly in |
tended from the language.
TWO COURSES OPEN TO Us.
There is one of two sources open to US |
warranted by law; either submit to the |
present condition or grant the power to |
the general government.
If the grant to the general government |
is too great sacrifice for the several |
states to make, then submit to the grad |
nal destruction of the grain growing