The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-23
Discussion OF the Three Great Legal
BIunders Of Mr.. Roosevelt.

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Biunders Of Mr.. Roosevelt.
The three capital blunders committed
by President ROOSEVELT within nine
months continue TO engage the attention
Of many of our esteemed contemporaries.
The exhibit, indeed, has an awful fasci-
nation for the mind:
7. The Roosevelt doctrine of sovereign
power inherent in the Congress to deal
with all subjects Of national concern not
expressly prohibited or reserved TO the
States.
II. The Roosevelt doctrine of Federal
power to enter within State lines and
regulate and manage private business OF
all sorts under the post roads clause.
III. The Roosevelt theory of govern
mental action through extraleGal, not
TO say illegal, receiverships, established
to enable the Administration itself to run
the bad trusts.
Our esteemed contemporary the Com
mercidi- Appeal of Memphis publishes
some just remarks on the general sig
n%ificance of these three propositions.
We venture, however, 10 call its atten-
ton to one inahvertent statement:
Nothing. II seems 10 us. can he more detrimental
TO American liberty, especially as applicable 90
the individual. than i~nfrtngements upon the Con-
stitution. We have 9 written Constitution so plain
IN wording that the verest schooIboy can under
stand ~. There Is absolutely no excuse for q pub
nc mans misunderstanding ~. and IL Is an indie
fens,ble offence for any public oficial to ignore and
violate II. It ia q document that Americans were
wont to reverence and that all foreign sta
have learned to admire. Being a written constitu
ton. IT is the best safeguard for the liberties OF the
individual. President ROOSEVELT has seen NJ to
make a football NJ THE superb instrument. ana
unless Their. is emphatic condemnation Of his stti-
tude the Constitution will be brought into con
tempt"
We incline to the opinion that il is not
the Constitution which will suffer most
by these frequent and violent and indie
fensible interpretations Of expediency.
Somebody or something may be brought
into contempt, but not the venerable
document that is outraged in the name Of
my policies" On the contrary, the more
frequent, the more violent and the more
preposterous the attempts Of the Chief
EActutlNC w tWlbl tIf lutIAdIilrhJui law
into the shape ~momentarily desired by
him for the furtherance of his personal
ideas of what is good for the public,
the more alert and prompt will be the
Supreme Court of the United States in
rebuking the attempted perversions.
This has been shown satisfactorily in
the opinion in kansas vs.. Colorado" last
AHnv -kAn vhA c,.trt xuopt 20. hx,~.l
the immediate demands Of the occasion
10 register its unanimous and emphatic
dissent from the Roosevelt doctrine Of
unenumerated national powers in the
Congress, as promulgated by him at Har-
risburg last October and as revived in
the sophistical argument Of his Solioi-
tor-General in the irrigation case. We
are not among those who have lost faith
in the Supreme Court as the ultimate
safeguard. We are not at present count
ing the Federal Judges and Justices to
see how many OF them were appointed
by Mr.. ROOSEVELT and how many are to
be succeeded by ~jurists Of his selection.
Why, Mr.. Justice HOLMES and Mr.. Jus
tice DAY were both appointed by Mr..
ROOSEVELT, and yet we find the names
of neither VI them attached to any dis
senting og3ion UNFOLDING the Roosevelt
Doctrine or Blunder No. !, which the
Supreme Court demolished and exposed
two months agoi
The Union and Advertiser OF Rochester
does us too much honor when it attrib-
utes TO our enterprise Of research the
aA1ntinn of Whaf IL Gnnpaa % vonarI
as a mystery-thc origin Of Roosevelt
Doctrine or Blunder No. .:
IT Il. interesting 20 learn that the 'seductIv.
reasoning Of Judge FARRAR led President RoosE
WELT into adopting the post road theory for In
~terfering in the Management OF railroads within
the States. . . II such was the case, TIL
SON has done good service in making known the
source of the Presidents Interpretation"
There never has been any secret or
r,vr.sry aheut the origin Of Mr.. RoosE-
vELT's recent great interest in the post
roads clause. On the second of last
April Judge FARRAR OF New Orleans
addressed to the President a long letter
oataloguing the supposed capabilities
of the post roads clause as the warrant
for an almost infinite expansion of Fed
eral power over the highways within the
States and the cities, and over almost
every conceivable form OF human &C
tivity that is incidental TO the use oil
these highways. This letter was given
10 the press about a month after it was
received at the White House, the state
u1ent being made that the publication
was at the Presidents request. That
was on May s. Twenty-Five days later
at indianapolis. Mr.. ROOSEVELT de-
cinred It as his opinion that in so far
as the common carriers carry the mails
their business is to the same extent under
Federal control within the States as
when interstate. Our friend in Roches-
ter will see that nc great amount OF
penetration or Of perseverance, was re-
quired to trace the second capital blundeI
Of MIR. ROOSEVELT to the source Of liz