New-York tribune., 1907-06-01
CENTRALIzATION BY DEFAULT


The Hon. James A. Tawney, Of Minnesota, is
chairman of the Appropriations Committee OF
the House of Representatives and holds high
rank as a leader in that body because Of his
intelligence, application and Independence OF
judgment. The Tribune has more than once
commended his work as a critic and reylser OF
the governments annual estimates. II IS glad
to call attention to his Memorial Day address
at Gettysburg as a forcibe presentation OF tue
tendencies toward Capitalization in government
which, as Secretary Root recently pointed oU',
are fostered chiefly by the supinenesS and leth-
argy of the states. Mr.. Tawney agrees with Mr.
Root that the states are largely to blame for the
continual extension of the federal power into
fields, for the states have been themselves
most active in shifting unpleasant burdens from
their own shoulders 10 those of the national
government. The Capitalization which the orig
inaI advocates Of strict construction and state
rights feared has come about. But 1t has not
come about so much through pressure by the
federal government on the states as through
pressure by the states on the federal govern
ment The states have either been SO lax i'll
performing necessary functions that the federal
power has been driven to intervene, or they have
successfully petitioned Congress TO assume state
responsibilities and thus relieve them OF unWel-
come annoyance and cost,
Il
vices which the states have succeeded in sad
ding on the government at Washington Here
is his summary:
The recent surrender by the Southern States
to the federal government Of the exercise OF the
right reserved to them by the Constitution TO
maintain control and regulate local quarantine,
primarily because Of the expense OF state quar-.
antine; the practical surrender by the State of
Maryland of sovereignty over her oyster beds
that the state might be relieved OF the expense
of accurate and necessary survey; the federal
inspection of the products Of private manu-
featuring establishments and the sanitary in
spection and control of the establishments them
selves; the federal inquiry into woman and child
labor in local industrial occupations with a view
to securing federal legislation and control; the
inspection Of cattle and all other agricultural
products; the investigation Of soils in which the
federal government has no interest, the care and
disposition OF timber on state lands; the actual
breeding of horses and cattle primarily for the
benefit of the few fancy stock raisers of the coun
try; the making OF topographic and geological
surveys of states in which the federal govern
ment does not foot of unOcCupied mineral
or agricultural lands the making Of topographic
surveys of cities and counties primarily for the
benefit of municipalities, private owners. of
waterworks and interurban and other electric
railways; the free testing Of coal for the benefit
of private owners OF coal mines; the free test
ing Of building materials for the benefit of pri-
vate individuals, contractors and consulting
engineers; the work Of gduging streams that are
nOn-navigable and where the federal government
has no lands for the benefit of prospective in
Vestors IN water power, and the investigation Of
the business methods of private individuals and
corporations-these and many other undertake
ings which belong exclusively to the states
private interests TO do and TO pay for have been
authorized by Congress and must be paid for
out OF the federal treasury.
1t is, perhaps, chiefly as an economist and
Trainer of appropriation measures that MI
Tawney resents this tendency of the states to
force the national government to do their work
and pay their bills Yet he sees, as Mr.. Root
sees that our dual system cannot long stand the
strain of such a steady displacement of bal
ances, and that if the states do not soon awake
to a fuller sense of responsibility and duty the
people will uniformly. turn-as they have been
more and more instructed 70 dO-tO the federal
power as the only one worth invoking for any
important political purpose. Federal authority
has vastly increased in the last fifty years and
there is 4 good deal of force in the argument
that the central government can give q more
efficient and economical service than the states
each one for ltself-Could hope TO give Yet
the nation can not and should not do all things
and there is need Of a revival of state conscious
ness and activity If we are to preserve the eS-
sential character of the Republlc-its system of
counter-checks and Of variety in unity. The
growth of federal power and Jurisdiction IS nat
ural and unavoidable. But much can be done to
reinvgOrate the state governments and to re-
lieve them from the reproach of not really car
ing 10 preserve their own functions by perform
ing their own duties