Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1908-07-16

from those states would never consent
to such an amendment, and would re-
sist its passage TO the bitter end. The
insertion Of such a provision in the bill
was a deliberate and cunning piece of
political triekery, nothing more nor less.
II was done TO prevent the passage OF
such a law. No measure could be more
abhorrent TO Republican managers, who
depend most upon golden sinews for po-
htical victories, than a law compelling
a detailed and accurate statement of the
amount and source Of campaign contri-
buttons and the methods of expenditure.
Over and over Democrats in both Houses
challenged the Republican majority to
take up and pass a publicity bill pure
and simple, pledging a unanimous Demo-
cratic support for the measure, but We
were only laughed at for our pains.
come out again, as it did before, that
among contributors to the Republican
campaign fund none will be found to
have been more generous than national
bankers. Mr.. Roosevelt was the re-
cipient of such favors from banks, in
surance companies, and other corpora
tons when he ran for Vice-President in
l$O, and again when he was a candi-
date for the Presidency in 1904. After
his election he walled like a veritable
jeremiah in warning protest against the
corruption OF the electorate by the il
legitimate use of money. But before the
election he personally sent for Hartman
and others to come to him at the White
House, and there he personally invoked
their aid in raising money, and on one
occasion, within ~twenty-four hours after
leaving the august executive presence,
Mr.. Hartman produced 100000 and
turned it over to Chairman Cortelyuu.
Roosevelt took the goods, and then, with
n pharisaicSl nretense of virtue, de-
nounced the method through which he
had obtained his office as a crime and
his participating pals as criminals. Of
course, when the President signed the
Aldrich-V reeland bill, the last act which
made it a law, not even a dream fitted
across the horizon of his yirtuous mind
that possibly the banks out OF gratitude
to him might remember Taft. This
whole performance would be comical, II
it did not border so closely upon tragedy.
FEDERAL AGGRESSION.
The question of the constitutional rela-
ton between the state and federal gov-
ernments, involving the powers and juris-
diction of each, although an old question,
coeval with the foundation Of the repub-
lie, has, by the circumstances of recent
years., been forced acutely to the front
again. In the beginning there were two
great divergent lines of thought, the one
most conspicuously represented by Hamil-
ton, and the other by Jefferson. These
men and their ideas clashed when the
fathers came to organize the republic.
Hamilton had little faith in the capacity
of men for self-government; Jefferson had
supreme faith in their capacity. Hamil-
ton fought to establish a government
fashioned largely after the British au-
tonomy; Jefferson fought for a represent
tative democracy. Hamilton desired a
great, over-mastering, dominating central
government; Jefferson desired a central
{ government of limited and delegated pow
erS, with all other powers reserved to the
= states and the people, Jefferson and his
/ followers triumphed, and the constitution
of the United States was framed for the
most part along the lines of their con-
I tpntiOO This nFoVjGiOD has haan moor
/ porated in the constitution
Powers not delegated to the United
: States by the constitution, nor pro-
! hibited by it to the states, are re-
l served 10 the states, respectively, or
5 to the people"
: That is the theory upon which our gov
= eminent was organized. And that means
+ that if one wishes to know what power
t or jurisdiction the federal government
t possesses, he must look to the constitu-
ton. All powers not expressly delegated
by that instrument to the federal gov
eminent, or necessarily implied by grants
expressly made. We're reserved to the
n states, separately, and to the people
thereof. The great men who organized
n the government feared the half-irrespon-
t slble and over-reaching dominance of a
distant, central government. and so they
wisely determined to grant to that gov
eminent only such powers as were es-
= sential to it, and to retain all other pow
ers in the hands of the people. In gen.
Is tAdl ltlIlS. Tie leueTdl government was
IF organized to regulate and conduct thost
public affairs which pertain jointly ant
If simultaneously to all the people of al
1T the states In matters affecting our re
w lations with foreign countries, affecting
IN the relations between the different state.
I'd and the people tahefepf aFRReeccfafg@ litter
state commerce, affecting the army and
z the navy of the United States, and, con-
cisely, in practically all matters of pure
: ly national concern, the constitution con-
L fers supreme power upon the federal gov
eminent; but in matters of local concern,
C affecting only the people of a single state,
being for the most part matters in
which the individual man is most often
directly and Immediately interested, the
g supremacy and sovereignty of the state
3 was preserved. But from the day of the
+ organization of the government to this
4 day there has been a constant struggle,
sometimes openly and sometimes covert
ly, by those who believe in a more in
tense federalism, to curtail the reserved
q powers of the State and to augment the
S powers of the general government, This
tendency toward a more asSertive feder-
i aliSm and the consequent diminution of
h State authority, has, within the last
half-doZen years, become holder, more
Z aggressive and acute than at any time
e since Jefferson surrendered his vigil and
4 passed from the stage of action. If the
NJ people are not Indifferent to the trend of
,e tevents, and if they are to maintain the
ty integrity of our Institutions as we in
n (herited them, it behooves them to be
alert and vigilant. If they permit power
10 slip from their hands to be exercised
an IN distant places, it will be hard to re-
y, coSer' The p~reachment Of Mr.. Roosevelt
No an6 ms followers is for Capitalization
ana m the direction of Imperialism. This
n - al uae more <perilOus because of the
lg fascinating albeit to me ineXplicable,
ed nold the man Roosevelt has upon the
t, imagination of the people. His ablest,
rs niost adfoit and dangerous coadiutor in
II MS of Capitalization is
In Elihu Root, the Secretary of State. In
IS this movement l think the President fol-
I'd lows the Secretary, rather than the re-
rd verse; nevertheless, the\ President exerts
e, the mighty influence of hS great office TIC
nit promote the doctrine bothN espouse. Or
December II, 1906, at a notable dinneI
IN given by the Pennsylvania Society at thu
n Waldorf-Astoria in New York, Mr.. Roo
lg gave u~tterance to the sentiment hauote
ne Among other things, he said:
ne by the side of this strong an
,u growing loyalty to the nation, sent
Nv ment for the separate states has be
10 come dim and faint in comparison
he $3.50. Our whole life has swung ava
from the old state centers and
crystallizing about national center.
re In the wide range of daily activit
f. and interest the old lines between tn
states and the old barriers whic
kept the states as separate communi
ties are completely lost from sigh
Such changes in the life of tn
al spending political changes. Some o
rs these changes can be plainly seen noN
he in progress The end is not yet. Th
he instinct for self-government anon
the people of the United States is to
strong to permit them to respect any