Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-15

of free trade between the states IN de-
veloping the common interests OF the peo-
| pie and contributing to their prosperous ac-
tivity and the establishment of systems of
Transportation and communication which
| transcend state lines and spread the opera
tons o. industry and trade over the face CT
| the country, to the benefit of the common
veal, make many interests national which
were segregated in the early days and rem
der the consistent exercise of national juris-
diction necessary to their proper protection.
Country Has Grown.
From the Brooklyn Times.
Secretary Root in his address before the
Pennsylvania Society. in Manhattan, last
night expressed an idea that has long been
strongly entertained in the heart of every
thinking American when he declared that
the time has come for a reconsideration of
the whole question of state rights as a
check on the supreme power of the central
or federal government. sometimes, by an
assertion of the interstate commerce
power" he said sometimes by an asser-
ton of the taxing power, the national gov
eminent is taking up the performance of
duties which under the changed conditions
the separate states are no longer capable of
adequately performing.
There will be many protests against the
position taken by the Secretary of State,
but its soundness and timelfness cannot be
in the federal system, adopted by the
revolutionary fathers; it has preserved us
from the danger which was by no means a
chimerical danger at that time, nor Is yet,
of having our liberties overthrown by the
usurpation of the powers Of the central
government. But it has it's weak points.
The republic has developed since the adop-
ton of the Constitution to an extent and in
directions which could not then be possibly
foreseen, and its growth and development
have raised new and complex problems
which cannot possibly be solved except by
the application of methods for which the
Constitution makes no provision.
Capitalization.
From the Baltimore News
Mr.. Roots speech was marked by the
ability which usually characterizes his ut
terances. 1t was not so extreme an advo-
cacy of Capitalization as might appear at
first blush, as it is almost inevitably made
to appear in newspaper headlines. That the
powers of the federal government are grad
ually and steadily being enlarged is a phe
nomenon We must all recognize. There are
some fields in which We should all welcome
this tendency, in SO far it is carried on
with due regard for constitutional rights
namely, in those fields in which, from the
nature of the case, it is impossible for the
states to exercise effective control. The
developments Of modern iDdustriaism and
| modern business methods have been such as
necessarily to merge the business affairs of
all parts of the Union in "a way that was
income eivable at the time OF its formation;
and we must. in one way or another, adapt
our governmental methods, and our
governmental ideals, to this radically
changed situation. But to do this with de-.
liberation and caution, and not with the
! blind zeal of suddenly awakened convert,
| is the dictate OF sound craftsmanship.
Creation of Corporations.
| From the New York Globe
! Chief among the duties to the country at
| large which each state must respect if cen
| traliZation is to be prevented is the one of
| chainng up state-nlade cornorant corpora
| tions. If states, in contempt of the general
| interest continue to fit out business pri-
| vateers to prey their neighhors, sooner
or later the national government will as
| tofore have been entertained of the duality
| of government cannot or will not achieve a
| the powers OF the first viii atrophy and the
lowers Of the second develop.
! Nevertheless, Secretary Root asks of the
| states what is practically impossible for
! them to do-which there is no reasonable
| hope of their dong. No one knows better
! than the Secretary that it is not feasible to
| get forty-siX separate states to enact a
common corporation code. One might as
| well try to get forty-siX clocks to tick eX-
actly in unison. Such a thing has never
| happened, ard there is no reason to believe
| it will ever happen.