Durango semi-weekly herald., 1907-06-03


that contention will probably strik,
you with some degree of amusement
To show the wide possible meanin,
OF the word commerce" he cited def
nitions to show that 1t may mean al
sorts of communications and CORE
spondence, dealings. comminglings an,
interchanges; he then used an illus
tration from Lord Macauley. speak
ing OF Bunyan where Macauley saws.
Fifteen years of thought, observation
and commerce with the world hat
made him WISER
Commerce" in that sense means all
the relations of man to his fellow
men. If congress, under our consti
tuition. has the power to regulate com
merce OF that character. then. indeed
do states lines disappear and there
is no relation Of John Smith to Peter
Jones that the national government
may not control
Our national constitution. however
in the great wisdom of its creators.
| provided final tribunal, with power
| to construe that great instrument and
from its final decision there Is no an.
real. Time after time, through all
| these years, and without regard to
the political bias of its individual
members. that great tribunal, the su.
preme court of the United States, has
held even the balance between nation.
al and state sovereignty; 1t has main.
tanned to the full the integrity, now
er and greatness of the national gov.
| ernment as representing an indissol-
uble union, strong in its own sphere
of action; at the same time II has.
with equal emphasis. maintained that
| II is government of enumerated and
limited powers and that all elements
| of sovereignty not committed to 1t by
the constitution belong to the states.
or to the people. And SO in this case
of the control of the waters of inter.
state streams, decided in this very
month OF May, 1907. and after the
argument to which have called your
attention, that court again reiterates
those principles which are vital to the
integrity of our form of government.
In the decision of that case that
great court says:
No independent and unmentioned
power passes to the national govern
ment or can rightfully be exercised
by the congress-
THE proposition that there are leg.
lslatiye powers affecting the nation as
whole which belong to. although not
expressed in, the granted powers, is
in direct conflict with the doctrine
that this is a government of enumer-
ated powers"
"The powers affecting the internal
| affairs of the states not granted to
| the United States by the constitution,
| nor prohibited by 1t to the states, are
| reserved to the states respectively,
| and all power of national character
| which are not delegated to the nation.
al government by the constitution are
reserved to the people OF the United
| States"
| The federal supreme court holds, in
clear and explicit terms, that the ma.
tional government has no right or
| Pohtt " Nahh' Nohiioi lnt Sldtt
| of Colorado, of the waters OF an inter-
state stream, such, for example, as
your own Las Animas; that the con
| troll OF such water rests with the peo-
| pie of the state, and that the great
| and valuable work which the national
| government is doing for the reclama.
| tion of public lands must be carried
on, as by statute it is, subject to
the provisions of the laws of the
state, in which the waters are found,
in relation to the appropriation and
use of such waters.
suggest that in the form in which
the problem Of national and state SOY.
sreignty presents itself to us, the men
and women OF this day. we have sim.
| ply to hold to that golden mean be.
tween extremes, to see that the pen
dulum comes back to the medium line
sible way, as did our fathers before
us, the integrity of our national gov
eminent as one and indissoluble. yet
we will also maiantain, consistently
with that, the integrity and due SOW
ereign powers of the individual but
indestructible state In which we live
But, In all these relations upon
which / have briefly touched. whether
of man to man, of state to national
government, or whatever relation may
come under consideration In refer.
ence to civic duty. we should enter
into the spirit of that great man who
spoke those immortal words at Get
tysburg. and on an occasion such as
this, in memory. of those days OF the
past, and of those who fought to pro
tect our heritage, we cannot find that
spirit better exempliied than in those
other immortal words the same man
uttered only six weeks before his sad
taking off:
with malice toward none, with
charity for all, with firmness in the
right, as God gives us to see the light
let us strive on to finish the work
we are in, to bind up the nations
wounds, to care for him who shall
have borne the battle, and for hii
widow and orphans, to do all which