The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1907-11-08
Matchmaking the Country

Matchmaking the Country
The etrict constructionists of the
constitution and other adherents OF
states rights, so called, are in the
habit of brushing aside with con-
tempt the doctrine that the funda.
msntal law of this country should be
Interpreted in the light of changed
conditions since 1789 They insist on
being literal, rather than practical,
though they are forced to admit that
necessity has already read into the
constitution what could not have been
dreamed of by those who framed that
instrument. Among the illustrations
of this expanding of the federal pow
or, familiar to all are the police pow
ers of the national government, tina t
have been deduced from the opera
ton of the postoffice. Under federal
and not the state laws many methods
of defrauding the gullible, are ex-
posed and punished and the lottery
business has been destroyed in all its
many forms. The national quaran-
tine, the pure food act and the laws
requiring safety for railroad opera
tives, are more recent evidences of
the tendency to secure reforms thru
national legislation wherever it is
possible. The acts regulating the
hours OF labor en- railroads and re-
pealing abe common law rule as to
negligence of fellow servant, though
disputed, are further steps in the
same direction. In fact, this dispo-
sition to nationalize the United States
is growing at constantly accelerat-
ed pace.
It is interesting to consider the
most recent revival of the claim Ut
stete's rights, by the litigation over
railroad enactments in the states, in
the light of an early chapter of the
history of this country, we'll known
to school children as we'll az those
of larger growth. The whisky insur-
rection bears some strong resemblan-
ces to the present concerted move
ments Of many states to raise the
standard of state sovereignty. 1t
was the first resistance to the power
and authority of the federal govern
ment, curiously enough, it involved a
transportation of goods. The people
of Western Pennsylvania and Virginia
rebelled against the excise tax of 1871
because it put burden on their sole
article of export, whisky. They could
transport their produce in the form Of
distilled liquor, but the post of car
rying grain over the Allegheny noun
tains prohibited shipments. II re-
quired two years TO enforce the law,
but the federal government eventual
ly;triumphed.
How different were the conditions
of trade in that day, two years after
the federal constitution had been rat
flied and put into effect, from those
of today, though the language Of that
instrument, in regard to inte1state and
intrastate commerce has not been
changed in one syllable. From Pitts
burg 70 Philadelphia it was regarded
as utterly imprscticable 10 transport
grain in bulk. It took two weeks fol-
= passenger to travel between those
points and no one ever undertook a
journey fraught with so much peril
to life without making his will and
bidding his family what he feared
might be last farewell. Today we
ship l5O,00O,O0O bushels of wheat to
Europe and the cost is only about s
cents bushel from Chicago to Liver
pool.
Yet some people think we should
define the powers of the federal gov
eminent over commerce just as the
Pittsburgers did in 1791.-St. Paul
Dispatch.
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} Washington Notes !