The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1907-03-15

Page Two.
prohibiting railroads and express com
panies from carrying certain kinds Of
insects. such as the boil weeyiI and
gypsy moth; and nobody objected
no great business interests were thriy.
ing on the boil weeril and gypsy moth.
But States rights did resist, de.
terminedly, even to the Supreme
Court, the laws prohibiting interstate
carriers from Transporting obscene lit.
erature and lottery tickets. And now,
behind the mask OF States rights"
the interests profiting by child labor
are frantic against the proposed law
prohibiting interstate commerce in the
products Of child labor this, too. nj.
though States rights is not technical.
ly touched by the bill.
1t is significant that the degree Of
resistance In each OF these three
cases was measured exactly by the ex.
tent OF financial interests involved.
The resistance to the lottery ticket
law was greater than the obscene lit.
erature law; and the financial inter
ests concerned in lotteries were mani.
fold greater than the financial inter
ests concerned in obscene literature.
United We Stand.
The determined fight against the
child labor bill is thousandfold great
er than against either the obscene lit.
erature or the lottery laws: and the
financial interests profiting from child
labor are thousandfold greater than
the financial interests concerned in
both lie lottery tickets and obscene
literature. am not drawing any con.
illusions from the fact that States
rights" slumbers when no financial IN
terests are involved and is aroused
only when financial interests are In.
VOWED: am merely stating the fact.
For a feet 1t is which no man can dis
pute.
So We see what States rights" and
napthality respectively have stood
for during century and a quarter.
and what each stands for today. ]
have given these details SO that no one
can accfse ME of ",agueness," which
is favorite word with the State :;
rights" doctrlnaries. But these exam.
pies do more than that-they are
themselves the unanswerable argu.
ment fol nationality. They show the
progress of the American people to-
ward that national unity, by which
alone the American people can real.
lie 'life. liberty and the pursuit OF
We are one people, speaking one
language, living in one country. I'M.
der one flag. What affects one, of us
affects all of us. Most of The evils
that develop among us are common
evils. to be reached only by common
remedy. Scarcely any evil is confined
exclusively to one State. 1t is cfenr
that whore an evil Is general, States
acting separately can not uniformly
attack 1t; and 1t Is fact that In the
case of every general evil the States,
acting separately. never have uniform.
iy attacked 1t. The American people
alone, acting in common-that is, act
ing as n nation-can destroy evils
which affect them Ia common-that Is,
affect them us n nation. Proof OF this
is found in al the illustrations above
and in scores OF others equally strong.
So nationality means merely the
American people, acting tn common
against evils which affect them in
common. States rights mean merely
these same American people divided
into forty-six Sovereign" groups, and
therefore acting not harmonIousTy and
in com,non, but separately and there
fore impotently. The extent to which
the American people are divided pre-
cisely measures the extent to which
their power to end abuses Is diminish.
ed. 1t is all summed up in the repub.
lies motto. United we stand, divided
we fail"
This does not mean destruction of
the stHtes in their natural spheres
Of action. And their natural spheres
of action are described by the phrase
local seIf.governmens." The dfvld.
ing line between the legitimate devel.
opment of nationality and the proper
exercise OF honest states rights"
may be stated thus:
When an evil or benefit is so wide.
spread that it affects so much OF the
country as to be called national, the
nations power should be equal to end
that evil or secure that benefit to the
people.
Changed Conditions.
When an evil or benefit is pure
iy local and affects none of the Amer