The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1908-01-31

tine. the evidence upon which you
can base an indictment, and when
you begin to use power Of an IN
dictment and the power OF punish
ment, then you have succeeded IN
securing respect for the law; and
when the State begins 10 find that
this authority Is TO be exercised by
the State rather than 10y the FEEDER
al government, the sooner you will
have a remedy
I have come to the point Of ex-
posing the fallacy Of the new Roose-
welt doctrine, and what Is it, 1t Is
that whenever state won OF
dom do a thing, the Federal Gov
eminent ought to and must DO the
+ thing There Is not a word Of sound
philosophy in that, because the
power Of the Federal government
does not rest upon what State
/ does or does not DO, but upon the
i Federal constitution. Bot there is
this much To be learned from it, If
/ the States do not do their duty in
regard to matters Of this sort they
+ furnish an excuse and pretext for
Federal usurpation, and they put
/ the public mind in such q c0ndi-
ton that it condones Federal usur-
. patton.
Then the latest announcement
Of the Roosevelt doctrine Is To the
effect that whenever a thing is ma
tional in its scope and effect, the
entire people Of the United States
with the Federal government ought
to act | believe that the Federal
government ought To be used more
than It Is used as an auxiliary TO
the state courts.
II have had some friends say
/ 1 do not understand you. Mr. VII
/ liams; you seem to be prohibi-
tionists, you presented a bin to pre-
vent the shipping of whisky into
/ dry territory, and you voted for all
sorts Of prohibition in connection
with the army and District Of Col
umbia'
My reply is: no, but / am a
State 5 rights man, and ! believe
the Federal government ought TO so
/ Iegislate as to aid and not hamper
| or hinder the States i'm their poll
/ tics
Other measures relative to the
rights of States were discussed by
/ Mr.. Williams and were received
with close interest by the audience.
He discussed the national banking
Question and the financial problem,
pointing out that if the government
attempts to give am absolute guaran-
/ tee to national banks it may as well
attempt to guarantee all other forms
of business.
He said the recent panic was
brought about by the same cause
that brought about other pamcs.
Prosperity caused panics IN the
past, and viii cause those Of the flu
ture. The recent panic was a de-
posters panic, brought about by
the unparalleled increase in the pro-
duction of gold, followed by over
stimulated speculation. The gold
produced prosperity. prosperity pro-
! duced reckleSsucss, and reckiessuess
produced business. The immediate
cause Of the financial stringency
was rotten business conditions in
the country.
The panic has been laid to the
door Of Roosevelt, yet he was not
responsible except that he turned
on the light and revealed Il condi-
ton of affairs that had to be reveal
+ ed sooner or later lit was not i'm
any sense a bank note panic. There
were no people going to the banks
demanding the redemption of notes.
They wanted money, actual money,
and they wanted it because they
/ had learned that the banks had
been accepting their deposits and
/ loaning them out ON doubtful Sc
/ curity. The trouble was confined
I chiefly to New York, and would
have been confined entirely to that
city had it not been for the issuance
Of clearing house certificates.
Mr.. Williams advocated an
amendment to the present statutes
relative to bank note issues, not
merely because the law needs re-
vision. He said that the national
/ banks ought to be required to de-
post with the government one
/ eighth to one-fourth Of 1 per cent
of their annual deposits, to be kept
I in the Treasury until a fund Of at
/ least SO, 100000 is secured and
this money used to pay the deposi-
tors Of failed banks.