Mexico weekly ledger., 1894-10-18

~A~
sovereign powerfs the highest power; it is
supreme. h Federal government is SOW
ereign, with respect to its granted powers;
the states are sovereign with respect to all
other powers Neither can lawfully or safely
invade the other. To tmpugn is to put slight
and indignity upon the sovereignty aSsailed.
To openly invade is to attack the Constitu-
ton of the ountry and menace the integrity
of our governmental Institutions. The form
of the government established by the Con-
stitution ought not to be the subject of con-
lecture or discussion. There is, indeed, NJ
just reason why it should be. If the plain
terms of the Constitution do not themselves
instantly dissipate all doubt, then the oft
repeated decisions of the Supreme Court of
the United States interpreting the Constftu-
tiGn should put the matter beyond the do
main of legitimate disputation. A half CEN
fury before the civil war that great %tribunal
used this expressive language:
'.The powers of the Genera government
and those of the States, although both exist
and are exercised within the same terrific
rial limits, are none the less exercised by
separate and distinct s~overeignties."
Nearly a decade after the war that same
high court used this unmistakable lam
guage:
1.-THE General government n the State,
although within the same territorial limits,
are separate and distinct sovereignties, act
ing separately and independently of each
other within their respective spheres. The
former in its appropriate sphere is supreme;
but the States, within the limits OF their
powers not granted, or, in the language of
the Tenth amendment, reserved are as
independent of the Federal Government as
th-% - a. -l-~ l-
pendent of the States.'
Later still the same court gave the same
construction to the Constitution In the fol-
lowing language:
1.-The government of the United States is
one of delegated powers alone. Its author
ity is defined and limited by the Constitu-
ton. All powers not granted to 1t by hat
instrument are reserved to the states or the
people,"
These judicial expressions, which might
be multiplied Indefinitely, are the interpre-
tation, the definition, of our Constitution
made by the highest judicial authority in the
Republic. These ought to silence discussion
and put the question at rest. U%nhappily
they have not had that effect. The mon
archical notions of the Federalists were set
aside at the beginning, and the Democratic
idea was triumphant. But Federalism was
only defeated; unfortunately 1t was not ex-
tirpated. 1t rose almost instantly from the
ashes OF its first great defeat to confront It's
old and victorious adversary, and ever since
has sought by %artifice, by force, by whatever
means 1t could, to warp and twist our gov
ernmental structure into a form more con-
sonant with its purposes. 1t has remained
with US a living, potential force. 1t has
sought constantly to impress its %autocratic
spirit upon our Constitution. 1t has sought
unremittingly to amplify the powers of the
Federal government, n to diminish those
of the states. 1t has striven after new
grants of power, and sought by cunning and
licentious construction to enlarge those al
ready granted. And no Wonder, my fellow
citizens, for the advance of Federalism
means the more easy promotion of private
or selfish interests. The government at
people, and is less subject to the re-
straints of public opinion. The stronger
it is made, the more independent 1t be-
comes; the greater the power conferred
upon it, the more it IS tempted to defiance
and aggression. Hence, Throughout our
ish interests to promote anxious to rob the
people OF power and bestow it upon a great
central government, which they can the
more easily corrupt or control. All such have
been, and are, the stalwart champions of a
strong government, of Capitalization of Fed
eralism. sustained n stimulated by these
powerful Influences, which were never so
powerful as now Federalism has for decades
waged an incessant and most audacious
warfare upon our democratic institutions,
seeking to dwarf and to break down the
states, which constitute the fortress of pop
ular sovereignty, and to exalt the Federal
establishment into a universal supremacy.
Against these o~nslaughts the Democratic
party has offered its uncompromiSing re-
sistance. For a century that party has up
stood as the organized exponent of the JEFF
fersonian plan of government thereon es-
tabliShed.
But in recent years Federalism has been
more arrogant, adroit and successful than
formerly In Its assaults. 1 cannot be I'M
mindful of the fact that Democracy is on the
defensive. Federalism has been gaining
and Democracy losing ground. The old
party still stands forth the battle-scarred
and the tnestimable right of the people to
| govern themselves; but 1 am not oblivious
of the truth, which, unhappily, is too appa-
rent, that the party, and the cause it repre-
sents, have suffered g~rievously in recent
years. strange things have come to pass.
h Democratic faith, the doctrines of
Thomas Jefferson, have been diScredited
by some who should nave been the first to
vindicate them. There are those who have
betrayed, where gratitude meant fidelity;
who assailed, where duty required defense;
who dealt a blow where love nj loyalty
should have lifted a shield. Democrats have
been SO tossed about in the storm of recent
and some have lost their way.
There are men AFFILIATED with the Demo-
"a "a SlltA IA = NhCtASClfCS
to be Democrats, who are nothing but rant
ing Federalists. Judged by their acts and
utteranceS. they have never known what
Democracy means, or have wholly lost the
tenets of their faith. hear of men holding
high place in the counSelS of the party pooh
pooling the doctrine OF state sovereignty,
and boldly asserting tina all such questions
were settled thirty years ago by the arbt-
trament of the sword: assertion L
most positively deny. There Is no truth In
1t. The effect of such statements from high
sources is vicious. They create wrong Inn
~preSsionS; they beget false education; they
undermine and weaken great constitutional
barriers which the well-betng of the repub-
lie requires should be strengthened from
day to day. These questions settled by
the war? Why, they were not aver
involved in the war. Whosoever think so.
or says so, does not understand what he as
sumes to discuss He ignores alike the Con-
stitutfon and the post bellum decisions of
the supreme Court of the United States. He
does not comprehend what was involved In
and settled by the war, nor understand what
is Involved in the discussions of TODAY.
What were the issues involved in that