The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-08-20

I, Is singular bow some good men
mix4nterPrct tho rights Of NJ sssss
for which Indiana Ohio. North Caro-
lima and Alabama contend in the mat
ter 81 regulating freight and passen-
ger rates within their borders The
Washington Pos; quotes the follow
Ing from Nj. John u. Lsdoux. q New
oSieans lawyer:
The South does ont seem te realir~
that States rights were gfvsl Q oo6s
blow at Appomattox from which shes
will never recover One must Always
expec, q certain number of people In
the community 10 be behind the
times. bur II seems to me that there IL
an tnordinately large unee N 'ne
South who do not realize thai Fsii-
roads. telegraph. newspapers. the
telephone. and enhanced travel from
State 10 State. as well as the growth
Of interstate business. have resulted
in q natural and easy oaliteration OF
STATE lines. II Is but natural that the
power Of the Federal government
should grow. and that OF the states
should be lessened. The talk Of States
rights by governors and other politi-
clans OF Southern States Is largely
buncombe. When they want the Fed
eral government 10 make some Inn
provement for which they do not care
TO expend the money from the State
treasury they forget all about the
States rights principle. but Just be-
fore an election. when they are o
ing for votes. they do not hesitate 10
find that the palladium Of their sacred
liberties is being assailed by the Fed
eral government. and h q they are
the only ones who can protect the
down-trodden State"
two things only were settled by the
arbitrament Of arms:
I. That the doctrine that a state
could secede from the American
Union had been declared no longer
the right of an American State. There
is no doubt that this right was be-
iieved to exist by the trainers OF the
Constitution, though many who held
it to be true in the abstract believed
IL was impracticable. The war settled
that no State ear secede unless IL can
whip all the States that do not Sc
cede. Therefore the war settled that
no State can secede.
2. The war settled that slavery
could no longer exist in the United
States.
But nothing else affecting the
rights of the States was affected by
the war. They have the same consti-
tutional rights to regulate business
within the State as they have always
had. Ohio said that railroads should
not charge over two cents TO trans
port passengers in that state. If the
railroads could have shown that the
rate would be confscatory they
could ave defeated the operation OF
the aw. How did the war affect Ohio's
right in that natter North Carolina
reduced the rate to 2 Ia cents after
two years debate and careful consid-
Grafton of all matters bearing upon
the receipts and expenditures Of the
railroads. An attempt was made in
North Carolina to set aside that law
pending appeal, but 1t failed. If the
railroads can convince the Supreme
Court at Washington by facts and
figures that the 2 IA cent rate is
confscatory, the rate will not stand.
There is nothing in the fact hat a
railroad does interstate m
business that deprives a State of the
legal rights to regulate its intrastate
business. h Federal Interstate Com
merce Commission has been given the
right to regulate the interstate bust
ness. The State cannot regulate any
Of that business, but it has just as
much right to fully regulate in
terstate business rs the Fedora adj
m~inistration has to regulate by in
functions by inferior courts or other
wise the interstate business.
The war settled some things, but
the Supreme Court of the United
States in many decisions has made it
clear that it did nothing like the New
Orleans lawyer thought was done. The
State still has the right to regulate
public service corporations on bust
ness beginning and ending wholly
within the limits of the State. If there
is to be any judicial construction to
deny the State rights it has always en-
joyed, it must be done In the future.
until 1t is done by the highest court,
the States will continue to regulate
their own matters without waiting
for the aid or consent of any Federal
judge or other power.
EATTJI IN ny-DCEr .-ES