Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1907-04-19
Hostility to States Rights.

II IN Oruer TO ne esteemed Il ldiIlollC !
American, a true lover of his country, |
one must have an affectiOnate regard for
his country's plan of government as laid |
down in the Federal Constitution, Sena- |
tor Beverage, and all other statesmen
and politicians OF the school to which he
belongs, would have to be classed as de-
cidedly unpatriotic citizens. Fortunate |
ly patriotism does not demand admiration |
of, or love for, the work performed by
our forefathers who met in Philadelphia
in 1887 to form "a more perfect union
1t is fairly presumable that even those
Abolitionists of antebellum days who
denounced our Constitution as "a league
with hell and a covenant with the devil
loved their country. Undoubtedly Othello
loved Desdemona when he choked her 20
death. Obedience to the Constitution and
to all laws made under it is all that is
required Therefore. the Indiana Sena-
tor is free to go on with his advocacy of
very radically different government
from that with which the American CO.
pie have managed to get along for more
than hundred and eighteen years.
In his article in the Reader for April
the Senator makes this statement: "Shall
we be one people, the greatest force for
righteousness beneath the skies, or shall
we be fortysix people? That, in the final
analysis, is the question. Shall we have
one flag or forIy-six flags" 1t will be
perceived that the Senator'S longing for a
strong central government, possessing
powers that belong to the several States,
is growing. 1t appears more and more
intense every time the Senator takes it
out for an airing. We are one people,
and we shall remain one people, the
American people, not the Maine, the Kan
sas, the Alabama, or the New York peo
States belonging to the Union of all the
States. And the better man loves his
own State, the more ardent his affections
for the Union and its plan of govern
ment. Senator Beverage knows full
well that there can be no surrender by
the several States of any of their reserved
powers. He knows that every attempt
to amend the Constitution by aggran-
dizing the central authority or agency
at the expense of the several States has
failed saving only the three war amend
ments. The Senator says that there is
reason to fear the establishment of a
| 4 ~.
government is the American people"
To that prodigous mistake the Indian
apolis News replies: The American gov
eminent is nothing of the kind. 1t is in
reality committee of the people author
lied by them to administer their affairs
under limitations imposed by the people.
When people cease to be jealous of their
government, and watchful lest it extend
its power, despotism is not far off. One
of the great glories of our race is sturdy
opposition to even the beginnings of ar
bitrary power. If the Beveridge theory
is to become popular, we may have to
make the old fight over again" 1t really
ought to be made in the next Presiden-
tial election, but with Mr., Bryan as the
Democratic candidate, he standing as he
does with Mr. Beverage ON national
interference with labor in the States, a
States rights plank in a Democratic
platform would have a grotesque APP
pearance.
Just how the expunging of the indi-
vidual States by Federal usurpation-the
only way possible-would make the
American people a greater force for
righteousness" is not quite clear. There
will, however, be lime enough to discuss
this point when, if ever, the expunging
process gets so much further along as to
show likelihood of being carried to
completion Washington Post.