The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1908-06-05
The state legislatures

union The state legislatures arc
nearer to the people than congress Is.
a congressman represents some 2OO.'
900 people and Is personally known TO
but few of them 4 member OF the
state Legislature represents a smaller
constituency and is nearer to the
voters. The influence which the rail
roads can bring to bear upon con.
gresham or senator is much greater
than the influence which they can
bring TO bear upon members of the
legislature, while the influence Of the
people over their representative de-
creases in proportion to the population
Of his district.
Railroad development Is not com
plcte. 1t Is but In It's infancy, and the
surrender by the state Of all power
to regulate means an enormous exten
sion of the powers of the federal gov
crnmcnt. and Il paralysis Of the power
OF the state Jefferson presented an
unanswcrablo argument in favor of
the dual form Of government and the
argument is even stronger now than II
was in his time for the dangers OF
Capitalization are even greater than
they were then
Instead Of saying that efforts at
state control are sure to be null!iicd
In one way or another sooner or later
the president should join with the
Democrats in demanding the enact
mcnt of legislation which will protect
the states from the gradual extension
OF the power OF the federal courts. He
refers to the Minnesota and South
Carolina decisions as illustrating how
impossible d, a dual control of national
commerce. The Democrats propose
q remedy They say that the district
and circuit courts of the federal gov.
eminent should not have jurisdiction
TO suspend state laws Let the rail
roads deal with the state courts first
II the state courts deny justice they
can have their appeal from the highest
| court in the state To- the federal court
1t is not the attempt To separate the
| control that results in grotcsfuc ali
surdity" The ahsurdity is in permit.
| ting Il federal judge to suspend a state
law while he looks up the question Of
It's constiWtionaliry Il is absurd that
the railroads should be- given the pre-
sumption rs against the people OF a
state
The jurisdiction or the federal court
has been extended on IN" theory that
It was necessary 10 protect vested in.
torcsts. but that Is false issue The
property rights of the citizen are pro
| tcctcd by the state courts, and no one
can complain that the protection is not
complete. The corporations have
gone into the federal courts in order
| 10 secure an advantage over the indi.
yidual and the real question is
whether the man-madc giant, called a
| corporation. shall exercise rights de-
MED to the GOd.made man II is not
| hostility to corporations thai leads the
| Democratic party to oppose the de-
! mands now made by railroad corpora
| items The Democratic party believes
! In the corporation as a legitimate or.
ganilation The great majority Of the
corporations are advancing the public
interest and contributing to the public
welfare but few Of these corpora.
lions have assorted rights that are in
| imical To the public and these corpora.
tons must be restricted, restrained
and controlled II is enough that the
| CorpOratiun-a creature Of law
should be equal to the individual who
makes the law, It should not claim
superior rights The presidents posi-
tion is not only an untcnablo one but
It Is one that meuaccs the welfare n
the nation
In submitting this criticism The
| COmmunrr does not reflect upon the
good intention Of the president hut at
tributes che presidents error to his
leaning towards the llamiltOnian idea
of government Hamilton disirustol
the masses and favored centralized
government The president Is Hamil.
tonau rather than JcfforsDnian In his
ideas. lie has never advocated the
election uf senators by the people al.
| 'H'"'H wv" wv - i'"'''''' l''''' ~
congress has declared for il three
times. He must know to what extent
predatory wealth controls the United
States senate through the present
method of election. and yet he has
never raised his voice In favor Of the
popular election Of senators Unless
the rank and file Of the Republican
party is strangely blind to the iG1lS
cncri which are at work, there Will be
an overwhelming protest against the
presidents plan for the absorption OF
power by the federal government