The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1907-01-31
REMITTANCES;
THURSDAY. JANUARY 81. 1907.
EXTREME GENERALIZATION
NOT POSSIBLE.

NUi TUOOtDLCs
Taking recent utteranceS of President
Roosevelt and Secretary of State Root
in favor of enlargement of the powers
of the General Government, as a sort
of text, Hon. VIM. Pinkney Whyte, U.
S. Senator from Maryland, made
carefully prepared speech on the floor of
the Senate on Friday last in advocacy
of the maintenance of States Rights.
AS was fitting, the venerable Senator
was listened to with respectful atten
ton, and nearly all the Senators were
present during the delivery of the speech.
Senator Whyte expressed alarm lest
a growing tendency to Capitalization
may deprive the States of the rights
reserved to them by the Constitution,
through judicial interpretations of that
instrument less strict than is warranted
by its terms, the President and Secre-
tary having intimated that the changed
conditions of the times has given rise to
questions which cannot be dealt with by
the States separately and which can
only be met successfully by liberal
construction of the organic law of the
whole country.
The Senator's alarm may be natural
to believer in extreme States Rights,
and TO one who looks upon this great
country as a mere Federation and
claims THAT it is in no sense a nation.
But there can be no doubt that in many
contingencies the government must and
always has acted as National Power.
Senator Whyte has simply revived
the old contention between Republicans
and Federalists-tha is between the
followers of Jefferson and Madison on
one hand and Washington, Hamilton
and Marshall on the other. The Fed
eralists favored a strong central gov
eminent and the Republicans opposed.
Time has at least demonstrated the
necessity of such central authority as
was conferred by the Constitution, and
questions are now and again arising in
whichsonly such central authority can
be eXerted successfully for the benefit
of the people. The creation Of the Inter
state Commerce Commission, the pas
sage of the railroad rate law, the pure
food, law etc, are all measures that
could have no, effective existence if
solely dependant upon State action.
They are predicated upon the authority
conferred by the Constitution upon the
General Government to regulate com
merce between the States, and the laws
referred to will probably stand the test
of constitutionality in the Supreme
Court, the opinion of Senator Foraker
to the contrary notwithstanding. They
are certainly less centralizing than the
government ownership of railroads, ad-
vocated by Mr.. VIM. j. Bryan, the idol
of a large portion of the Democratic
party, would be. They do not trench
uponI. States Rights or, if otherwise.
will be declared unconstitutional bv the
Supreme Court. That Court will never
be so constituted that it will, by its de-
cisions, deprive the States of the rights
now reserved to them by the Constitu-
ton. There can be no reasonable fear
Of serious encroachment upon the
rights of the States through decisions of
this great national tribunal.
1t is certain, too, that no change in
the Constitution calculated to abridge
existing rights of the States can be
made. The.refusal of twelve States t.
consent to change Of that character
would be--sufficient to defeat it.
Then, it must be remembered that
to effect such change would require the
support of 258 of the 1856 Representa-
tives in Congress of any proposition
for the amendment of the National
Constitution and, after that, the concur
renee of three-fourths Of all the States.
We do not believe that with all these
obstacles in the way of interference
with the existing rights of the States
there is any danger of their serious in
frlngement by the General Government.
Such domestic concerns as public schools
cannot beiforced to receive objection
able pupils under the treaty making
power of the Executive There is no
danger that the votes Of two-thirds of
the Senator's could be obtained to sane
ton a treaty embracing such a provis-
ion, and, if such thing were possible,
the SupremesCourt would promptly de-
clare the treaty to be in contravention
Of the right of the States to regulate
their own domestic concerns.
The alarm of Senator Whyte is there
fore not we'll founded and the people of