The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-01-29
THAT BOUNTY RULING.

The ruling by a. Federal court that
Congress has no constitutional power
to grant bounties to any private indus
try or purpose, is in accord with a Ions
line of rulings in relation to the powers
of state legislatures. The principle in
volved is the same whether In refer
ence to a state bounty or national
bounty. Taxes are collected for public
uses only. They must therefore be ex-
pended only for public purposes. That
is fundamental to our system of gov
eminent,
The celebrated Topeka case, in which
Justice Miller decided the Kansas law
unconstitutional which authorize cities
to appropriate money to encourage
manufactures, is a good precedent for
state courts to follow. And the Federal
court in this case has taken similar
ground. Justice Miller said in his de-
cision:
ITO lay with one hand the power of
government on the property of the
citizen, and with the ther bestow it
upon favored individuals to aid private
enterprises and build up private for
tunes, is none the less robbery because
it is done under the forms of law and
is called taxation
As far back as 1898 Justice Chase laid
down the axiom that:
ga law that takes property from A
and gives it to B is necessarily in
valid
1t Is clear that the same principle
that applies in the respective states
has at least equal application to the
national legislature. The powers of
Congress are delegated, specific and
limited. State legislatures are bound of
course by their constitutions, and bv
the Constitution of the United States so
far as it is applicable to them. But
they are, if anything, more widely en-
dowed with power in their respective
spheres than the Congress is in ma
tional affairs.
All the powers not granted to the
national government in the Constitu-
ton are reserved to the states respec-
lively, or to the people. There is moth
ing in the national Constitution which
gives power to Congress to bestow
bounties for private industries: even
the states with the reserved powers
they hold have no such right, and
therefore Congress in assuming it e1-
ceeds its constitutional prerogatives.
The argument advanced by a con-
temporary that Congress is a. sover-
eign power which is to decide what
concerns the good of all the people of
this country would do away with the
very purpose Of the Constitution
framed TO govern Congress. There
would be no need for any such instru-
ment. All that would be necessary
would be the declaration that Con
gress shall have sovereign power to do
anything which appears to be for the
public welfare" and the whole gov
ernmenital question would be solved at
one stroke.
The strictest constructions does not
dispute the power of Congress to leg
islate on anything that affects the gen
eral welfare. if that body is governed
by the regulations and keeps within
the limits Of the instrument from
which it derives all the power it holds.
1t is not contended that the Constitu-
ton goes into every detail or points
out Specifically everything which Con-
gress may or may not do. But while
the power Of legislation extends to
everything necessary to carry out the
requirements of the Constitution, it is
only to the extent of the authority
therein conferred and defined.
The Jeffersonian axiom, teWhatever
power in government is independent is
absolute also." is quoted against the