The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-11-25

may be but a part of the business of such corporation or partnership, as they may likewise be engaged in intra- state commerce. So that if the reg ulation of corporations is a regulation of interstate commerce it may be a regulation of intrastate commerce at the same time.
 If congress has jurisdiction over every corporation which to any extent engages in interstate commerce, then what is there to prevent congress from declaring that the vast properties which these corporations control, shall not be taxed by the state governments without the consent of congress The states cannot tax national banks ex- cep to the extent authorized by the national banking law. If all corpora tios eagaged in interstate commerce are to be compelled to incorporate under a national incorporation law. why may not congress prohibit the states from taxing such corporations or the prop critics which they own? It is nothing to the purpose to say that congress would never exercise the power The fact that it could exercise the power and might some time do so to a greater or less extent Is one not lightly to be lost sight of, These corporations own a very large proportion of the wealth of the country, which if withdrawn from the taxing power of the states would be most lnischievous, crippling the resources of the states and impos- ing new burdens of taxation on the in- 1ividual citizen.
 Congress has already assumed that under it's power to regulate commerce it can pass an employers liability act and apply it to all employees of com mon carriers engaged in interstate commerce even though such employees render no service in the transporta- tion of interstate commerce, such as engineers of local trains, sec tion hands, mechanics In car and ma chine shops, and clerks in offices. It limits the rights of employer and em- ploye to agree upon the terms of em- ployment. The Supreme court will soon pass upon the constitutionality of the act and when that court has spoken we shall know better than we do now the limits of the power which congress can exercise under the commerce clause of the Constitution.
 The extremes to which advocates oi the new federalism arc willing to go is further shown by the proposal to enact the Beverldge child labor law. The Supreme court has decided that the power to regulate manufactures, as commerce and manufactures are not synonymous. But the advocates of the
 Beveridge bill assert that the govern. nent has the power to shut out from interstate commerce any article manu- | factured in violation of the act. To as- sume that congress can do this Is to assume that congress can regulate the hours of labor, the wages paid, and the | prices charged by any factory in the United States for goods which are to find their way Into interstate com merce. And to assume that congress | has any such power is ot assume that | American statesmen and American 1 lawyers for 180 years have not under stood aright the Constitution of their country.
 Local government develops an energetic citizenship, and centralization an enervated one. Local self-gover- met is conducive to the steady progress of society and centralization involves conditions which are unsound and dc
 not make for the progress of society Under local self-government officials
 exist for the benefit of the people, and under standardization the people exist for the benefit of the officials, Local self government provides for the pollt ical education of the people. Central lzation based upon the principle that everything is, to be done for the people rather than by the people, creates a the people, spirit of dependence which dwarfs the intellectual and moral fac ulties and incapacitates for citizenship Local self-government exerts an infu- ence which invigorates and centraliza- ton an Influence which blights. The basis Of local SelfgoVefnment IS con hdence in the people, while the funda- mental idea of centralization is dis trust of the people. Local self-goyern- ment fixes responsibility for wrongs and enables a redress for grievances No responsibility anywhere exists under system of centralization and redress is difficult to obtain for acts of com mission or omission. Under local self government every individual has part to perform and a duty to discharge ir public affairs, while under a central. ized government ones affairs are man
 aged for him by others. The nobest
 system of political institutions the
 world has known and the most con
 ducive to the happiness and welfare ot nnarl+ind is that of local Self-govarn-