The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-02-25

E4 the effect of the initiative and refer-
 T think the initiative and refersn- dum. az applied to the Federal govern ment. is q very undemocratic and in- opposite suggestion. Some of the Pop ulfste have a notion that it 10 a good thing, but it would be the unheavai and inversion of representative gov ernment. The Ang1o-Saxons and their affliants have been the only people on earth who have founded and preserved representative republic. They have accomplished this achievement and crystaiized their though in the most noble constitutional instrument that was ever devised by the wit of men. Our constitution has one department of government balanced against the oth- CT; one section and one State balanced against others. In States. local sub Jects may fitly be referred by the Leg islature to the local constituencies. that is to say, whether the county shall permit or prohibit alcoholic drinks, whether a county shall sub- scribe to a local improvement, and the like. This and other questions or q like order are very appropriately re- ferred to the local committees which they concern, and home rule Is thus stimulated and preserved. Our Fed- erai republic, however. is unsuited to such experiment. Here we select our senators and representatives by States. We also select the electors for Presi- dent by States. The States created the republic, and the preservation Of their autonomy Ia absoiutei essential to pre- vent the consolidated mass loosely bound together without regard to ell its parts. wreaking it's will upon the whole people. The whole people of the United States have never yet cast q vote in solidarity.
 We Are Too Large For Tt.
 "Referendum presumes mass to whom to refer back an act of the Legislature which has spoken by It's authority. When we adopt initiative and referendum by an amendment to the Federal Constitution. or by as- sumed Congressional right to a sta tute the vision of the great republic will fade away and there will be ac- cumulated on us all the evils which political dreamers fancy it would avoid. A little country like Switzer- land may have initiative and referen- dun. but to apply 1t to an act of the Congress of this enormous and pros- porous country is to wipe out the flow or of the ages which is represented by our magnificent State and Federal system working together in unison for the benefit of all.
 Guaranteeing Wep0Dkt1s
 ''what do you think of the idea of the Government of the United States guaranteeing deposits?'
 T think the ghost of Andrew Jack son would rise up If this were serious Iy undertaken. have not vet met . single Senator or Representative who |1s in favor of 1t, and think 1t would shock the plain people of the United States to know that they wodtd be taxed to pay a man who of ais own choice put his money in a bank. the money they had not received and which they had nothing to do with, but to leave him to manage it to suit himself. The immediate effect of such legisia- ton would Oe to impair and cripple all our State financial institutions. such as savings banks and state banks. bee cause no State has undertaken to pay their depositors. 1t would make . discrimination in favor Of national banks as against our State institutions. which, all together conduct 6 greater financial business than do the national banks, and State institutions would be wfthcfsd away for their benefit.
 WomlA Ra Bad All Aruum@.
 Tt is very doubtful if 1t would do the national banks any permanent good for the United states to pay their deposItors, for no depositor would then
 
 was managed. The good and bad banks are to him alike. Whethar the presi- dent, directors or others committed malfeasances with respect to the de- positors' money the depesttor would know that Uncle sam held the bag and thatshe was safe no matter what hap peued. The fact is this species of pa-' renta1ism Is foreign to defnccraey which protects every man in his rights ana Tao,pA.. ktVx. 4f. vxaa T4a esA hta Nfafuaaa "a suit himself.
 swe hear Andrew Jackson often ap- plauded for taking deposits out of banks. He passes out of the Annerfcafi Democratic pantheon the moment the United States undertakes to pay de-, posits m banks. Voluntary associa- tions of banks. as in Oklahoma, may combine for mutual insurance of their deposits: and if we leave individual it in pointing ont the form of proce. dure, 1t win succeed far better than in calling on the United States to lay additional burdene upon the people and act the part of nurse to those instStu- tions."
 Let states Regulate ChiIa Labo<.
 "Are you in favor of regulating child labor by an amendment to the Inter- state Commerce law"
 T am positively opposed to 1t. The children of our States are dear to the people of the States. and they are mov- ing just as rapidly as circumstances permit, not only to educate the chill drsn, but also to protect them from the hardships of immature labor. My own State of Virginia has now the limit of twelve years upon child labor teen. The whole subject Is being ean- vaaeed and couafdered by those who