The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-06-14


except at the risk of a EDITORIAL gov
eminent. A new school of comment
ators and political philosophers has
risen in our midst who contend for
a different doctrine. aud whose theor-
les have lain dormant for nearly a
century, but now they are being put
into daily practical operation. The
executive judicial and legislative de-
partments of the government must BE-
kept separate and distinct, as intended
by the men who framed the organic
law under which we live: n while
| may be possessed Of an uneasy anx-
iety upon the subject, ] have an omi-
nous fear that If we proceed a. the
rate we are now going, and if any
present or future president, TO what
ever party he may belong, can Or
rOgate himself to the right to usurp'
o~mnipOtent executive functions unpro-
yided for in the charter that created
his Office. and unrestl aimed bv law.
that the whole character Of our in
situations will be i~nsi1iously changed
and that we will have a form Of gov
eminent rejected in the constitutional
convention and that was never de-
signed for a free people by the found-
ers Of the republic.
DEFINITION OF STATES RIGHTS.
This brings me to the last and to
my nina, the most important propo-
sitlon OF all of those | have adverted
TO. The phrase States rights in its
present practical significance is not
lully understood by the people gener-
lily We do not mean by States
rights a notification of powers of the
general government. That definition
has been settled by war and the adj
quotations Of the supreme conrt |
what We mean now by States rights
IS something old in theory but entire
~ new III practice. 1t is not so much
a political issue as it is a social and
commercial issue. II is = o,estion
that appeals to the business interests
OF the country, and to the local insti-
tutlons OF the states. Let me illustrate
1t If [ can. Has this government the
right to make a treaty that will sweep
the usages and customs of the state
away and take jurisdiction. for
instance over the school systems of
California or South Carolina, 50 as
to admit into the one the children of
Orient, into the other the in
Of San Domingo? This isl
not a question with Japan or any 9TH
ar nation. So far as l am concerned 4
my sympathies are strongly with ia
pan in the strides her people are MAX
ng upon this plane Of civilization.
This is one Of The series of questions
hat will quickly arise. and must be
disposed Of, not by the subterfuge of
diplomacy, but upOn the broad field .
II constitutional law The states nav !
or and support tneir public systems I
If education, and the government has
1othing whatever TO do with them, q
CAN STATES CONTROL THEIR \
SCHOOLS? y
Nov, can the states conduct and ! n
administer them accCTding to their
>Wn laws, or do they lass under the =.
.reaty-making power Of the govern :
nent? And is the trea.y-making- pow I
IF an inherent power that OverrideS :,
he reserved rights of the states when :
ever they come in conflict with it? =
only Illustrating what the demo- :,
cratic party means by States rights '
20 as to relieve the public nina, from :
he impression that it means What it 4
lid a half century ago. Let ne pro- \
ICED to the next Illustration. Can we 4
Under the clause to regulate commerce q
axe the governmental possession of
he manufacturing establishments and /
business enterprises o. the states, and \
)y a system Of inspection and super
vision and prohibition not regulate \
heir products in their trarsit from r
state, but absolutely provide what J
kind Of labor they shall employ and !
what kind Of they can en- T
in? This is aQuestion of States, I
involved in a numbe1 Of meas y
lres that have been and will again
be, before congress IT its, next saS- {
Is there any doubt about the 7
position the democratic party will and L
must take upon measures Of this sort?
Is there any substantial division in L
our ranks upon these subjects? When {
by strained constitutional cOnstruc-
ton, legislation is attempted to de- I
prive the states of their reserved :
rights and nullify them, as guaranteed :
by the Tenth Amendment, how will
the democratic party stand? For the .
and encroacl1ment Of the fed :
Rral government, or Tor the reserved =
of the states? This is the con- =
test. The powers not delegated to .
United States are reserved to the
states. This is Jul emblem and we +
must not blur it over with grotesque \