The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-13
ABROGATE
 STATES RIGHTS Secretary Roots Re-
 rnarkable Speech. CONSTITUTION IS OBSOLETE Declares for Centralized Govern ment for American Republic. Believes That Country Has outRro~n the Organic Law Framed by Jef-
 ferson--Address to the Pean-
 syIvanIn Society.

honor at the eighth annual dinner of the Pennsylvania Society of New York this evening. More than roo were pres ent.
 Secretary Root responded to the toast. Tine United States"
 Mir. Root said: This gathering pe- culiarly represents two ancient com monweslths, each looking back to e century and a half of colonial history before the formation of the American union, each possessed of strong individ- uality derived from the long practice of self government, and both conspicu- pus along the states for leadership Tn population and wealth, for commerce and manufacture; for art and science and for the priceless traditions of great citizens in former generations It seems appropriate to make here some observations on a subject which is much In the minds of thoughtful Amer leans in these days.
 Future of Union.
 What is to be the future of the states of the union under our dual system or constitutional government? The con dItlons under which the clauses of the constitution distributing powers to the national and state government are now and henceforth to be applied are wide Ky difHeren from the conditions which NN~~ contemplation of the framers of the constitution and widely different from those which obtained during the early years of the republic. Whom the au- thors of the Federalist argued and ex- pounded the reasons for union and the utility of the provisions contained In the constitution. each separate colony transformed into state was complete fin itself and sufficient to itself, except 1IrrIv @tV TatN nal relations of state to state and to foreign nations: from the origin of production to the final consumption of the product; from the birth of cttit- zen to his death; the business, the so- eial and the political life of each sepa- rate community began and ended for the most part within the limits of the state itself; the long time required for travel and communication between the different centers of population, the dtffi culties and hardships of long and Ia borious journeys; the slowness or the mails and the enormous cost of trans porting goods. kept the people of each state tributary to their own separate colonial center of trade and influence and kept their activities within the ample and sufficient Jurisdiction or the local laws of their states
 The fear of the fathers of the Re public was that those separate ana self-suficient communities would tali apart, and the union would resolve It. self into it's constituent elements, as II grew in population and area 1t would split up into c number of separate com tederacies.
 Few of the men of l7s7 would have deemed 1t possible that the union they were forming could be maintaine among S5.0o0 900 of people, spread over the vast X2ans fI0T from the the aEss tS tho gulf Three principal causes nave made this possible.
 National Sentiment.
 The first has been the rowth of a national sentiment which was at hrst almost imperceptlble. The very diffl- culties and hardshIps to which our nA- lion was subjected in its early years. the injuries to our commerce, nd the Insults and indiRnities to our flag on the part of both the contestants In the great Napoleonic wars. served to keep the nation and national interests anu national dignity constantly before the mlds and the feeligs of the people.
 As the tide of emigration swept west ward new States were formed of clti- zens who looked back to the older States as the homes of their childhood and their affection and the origin of their laws and customs and who never had the peculiar and separate politi- cal life Of the colonies. The civil war settled the supremacy of the nation throughout the territory of the Union and It's sacrifices sanctified and made enduring that national sentiment.
 The second graA. !nfiuencs has been the kitting together in ties of common interest of the people forming the once separate communities through the working of free trade among the States. Never was a concession dictated by enlightened judgment for the common benefit more richly repaid than that by which the States surrendered in the Federal constitution to the rigsk to lay iInposs or duties on imports or exports without the consent of Congress. To it we owe the domestic markets for the products of our farms, mines and fac tories without a parallel i'll history and In International trade of all the rest of the world
 ''The third great cause of change IS the marvellous development of facili- ties for travel and communication caused by the inventions and discover ies of the past century. Our whole life has swung away from the old State centerS and is crystalizing about ma tiopAl conters. \
 The growth If national habits in thS daily life of a homogeneous people keeps pace with the growth 1f national senti- ment. ..-.-...
 Produce Political Changes.
 Such changes in the life of the peo- pie cannot fail to produce correspond ing political changes. Some Of these changes can be plainly seen now in progress. 1t Is plainly to he seen that the people of the country are coming to the conclusion that In certain ifii- portant respects the local laws of the several States which were adequate for the due and just regulation and con trol of business which was transacted and the activity which began and end cd within the limits of several States arc inadequate for the due and just control of the business activities which existed throughout all the States, and moro power ot regulation and control is gradually passing into the hands of the national Government
 Some time by an assertion of the in- terstate commerce power, sometimes by an assertion.-of the taxing power, tho national Government is taking up the performance of duties which, under the changed conditions. the separate States are no longer capable of ade- Iuately performing. The Federal anti trust law. the anti-rebate law. the railroad rate law. the meat inspection law. the oleomargarine law the pure food law are examples of tho o,irnose