The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-07-03
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 The New York World deeaufs eEaR kindly to the suggestion thst fhs ns- pubiicans nominate Governor HuahsA of New York. for the Presidsncy. It argues that there are numbers of men who might make good Presidents. but that it might be difficult te md an- other who would do the work Hughes is doing for his State. It then odds; In the future the States must sith- CT exercise intelligently the-great pow CTS reserved Tor them or tne swing to- siecting Presidents who will not "usurp' power. While the state governments remain supine and insrt there re- will ao al central government to enforce the pop- ular win The best check upon Fed eral usurpation is the kind of State sSge'e tion indefensibie. This e is the % work that MT. Hughes Is doing for the na- ton. He is more than Governor of New York. He Is . college for the i'm poWers' d1tiss ut M and % responsiSiiities m 'os of State administration. The old State rights pregnant with tremendous pos- abilities for the maintenance of Re- battling to sustain 1t. not by academic protests against centralization, but by bringing State government to an intel ligent resumption of its inherent rights and authority.
 Who will say that the censure posi- tive and implied. of the State govern ment, is not justly deservedf The only hope of preserving the constitu- tional lights of the States lies in their honestly and feariessly performing the duties devolving on them and which they have no right to shirk. We have fallen on strange and periious times when State will shirk its own du- ties. and responsibilities and forego its own rights and privileges by turning to the Government at Washington to do that which belongs to its own pow CTS and with which the Federal Gov | ernment has no right to interfere. Nothing will more certainly bring about and encourage the usurpation of power by the general government; nothing more surely emasculate the States and make of them little better than mere dependencies; and nothing give more irresistible impetus to capitalization than the failure or refusal of the States themselves to do their duty.
 The World speaks in high terms of New York's Republican Governor. and from what we have noticed of his offi cial course he is not at all in accord with Roosevelt, Root and the other imperialists who are striving to con- centrate all power in the Government at washington. He has great pride l in his own State and his apparent de- sire is to guard it against encroach- ments from Washington or any other source. Whether he will succeed in holding his own, or whether he will eventually yield to pressure and out side as well as inside infiueace re- mains to be seen. but he appears now to be determined to maintain the rights. powers and privileges of the Empire State against all the world.
 It is unfortunate that all the States are not equally determined in the ex- ercise of the duties belonging to them. Some of them have Governors and Leg islatures who are either recreant to the duties devolving upon them. or are incompetent to perform them. Look ing to the Washington Government to do the things they ought to do for themselves. and allowing 1t to be done, is treason to the States and to the peo- pie thereof. It Is no wonder that an administration usurps the rights of the States when the proper guardians of those rights will not maintain them, and insist on their inviolability.
 No doubt 1t will be argued that Gov ernor Hughes and the New York Leg islature. in the passage and approval of what Is known as the public util- ities bill," have taken a long step to- wards centralizatLon of power in the State Government itself, and time may justify that contention. If this is true, and the State has gone too far. 1t is in the power of the State to correct 1t. At all events, 1t is better for a State to go a little too far in this direction than for the Federal Government to infringe on the reserved rights of the States and endeavor to take from them the powers which belong exclusively to them.
 
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