The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-02-10
IT IS DAFT.

AH AS nSfAE 4s iif
 From having been a sane. conservat- i've and reasonable newspaper. The Portland oregonian has become one of the most rabid advocates of centraliz- gtion that comes to our table. Here Is "a specimen of recent editorial:
 Throuzhout it's long and evil history the doctrine of State rights has never heen invoked for single good purpose. No reform has 1t ever helped; no move ment to promote tho public welfare has it ever promoted; but on the contrary. 1t has stood as a stupid barrier m tne pathway of advancing civilazallon, n has aided every bad cause that any enemy of the Republic has undertaken to defend, and has impeded the progress of every good one. State rights stand in the way of National lcgislatlon to protect the rights Of children, Just ss they have stood in the way Of enorts to promote the welfare of workingmen, to protect private property from the as, satiits of the piratical plutocracy ana poisonous food and drink. doctrine which Is invariably invoked on the slde of evil and never by any chance can pc made to move forward good cause ought not to expect the approVal or humane and Christian nation. .
 Here is an indictment. both general and specific, of the very foundation up- on which our government is builded. Democratic, constitutional government in America rests upon the theory and practice of States rights, as understood and maintained by the founders of our government, and those who succeeded them during the generations up 10 a recent period. It has only been late thing comparatively. that there has ex- isted a new cult which apparently has for its object the total abrogation of the constitutional rights of the States and the wiping out or breaking down of all the limitations which the consti- tuition of the United States placed on the Federal government.
 This new political religion has name which is both appropriate and de- scriptive. That name is Rooseveltism. There were here and there to be found advocates of a strong centraliz- ed government before his day. but he has strengthened. encouraged and built up a party which thinks with him and will act with him whenever it has the opportunity To destroy the independ- ence of the States and their govern ments, and to substitute therefor one man rule, with a Roosevelt at its head, and thus, change the entire nature Of our government from democracy to an autocracy, is what 1t means. It would be a waste of time to point out to a newspaper which uses the assert ions we have quoted. the many and spe- cific blessings and advantages that have come from a divided but harmonious sovereignty during the life of our gov ernment A newspaper that uses such arguments or substitutes for arguments, as we have quoted, is not open to req son and would not acknowledge itself convinced by any arguments that could be advocated though they should come from the lips of Wisdom herself. It is a disheartening reflection that great newspaper should be so anxious to stand well in the favor of Theodore Roosevelt that 1t would be willing to see free government abolished and the government of the United States reduc- ed to a level with that of Russia. The oregonian has evidently gone daft.