The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-01-24

of abuse and even threats, and of the outeres of those to whom a form or
 government is of TO consequence wheA
 1t stands in the way of their ideas, the
 supreme court of the United States re-
 placed and upheld the barriers of the con
 stitution against federal invasion of the rights reserved to the states
 T know you are too clear-eyed to be misled by any proposal, even though
 made tempting by the promise of pres
 ent convenience or advantage, to let fed
 eral authority again displace that of the
 state. The motives and objects may be
 different but the principle is just the
 same that which oppressed you Tn the
 years of reconstruction. Even if the ap-
 pearanee of present benefit should prove
 real 1t would come too high, like Esau
 pottage, for one usurpation would cer-
 tainy lead to others whose results would not be pleasing. No real good can ever
 come from a wrong act or a foolish one and it is always wrong for any public agency to overstep the limits of the au- thority conferred and always foolish for
 any free people to permit it.
 Beginning of City.
 But one of the sights 1 in Ala bama long ago wore a brighter hue. One day as I travelled on a train, which af-
 forded all varieties of motion, it stopped
 at place in the woods where somebody, d new town. l remember well how red the
 new dug soil was. l supposed the reply
 to my question would be some Indian or Confederate name, but it that the place was called Birmingham, because the iron industry was being established there
 Never since then have I been here
 except to pass through in the night. But l have followed with interest the
 amazing growth of the city whose be-
 ginings I saw. I have always regretted my smile when l heard tn name which seemed so pretentious to me then. Now that, through the kindness of your committee, I have seen what one can
 see of Birmingham in a day. I most humbly apologize for that smile. l
 shall never set up as a prophet "I am glad to meet this body of men which represents the forces which have developed this wonderland of indus try. May I not, in conclusion, remind you of the duty which power imposes?
 Excuses For Federal Intrusion. 1.-TWO excuses are advanced for fed
 eral intrusion into state affairs. One
 is that the states do too little and the other is that some of them do too much, in the way of railroad and cor
 porate regulation and other corrective
 measures These are not contradic-
 tory, as they might at first appear be-
 cause there may be both too little and
 too much public interference with the conduct of business, and both are harm
 full though my inherited and acquired
 ideas both lead me to fear the too much more than l fear the too little. It IS often hard to draw the line between useful regulation and harmful med ding, and harder still to have that line respected when politics unfortu-
 
 relating to business and public feeling is aroused.
 But the experience and influence Of the men who compose such bodies as yours give them especial fitness Tor usefulness in this respect. The duty thus raised runs to both the govern ments in whose conduct you take part. The obligation is broader toward the state because it's authority has lar wider range. and you are relatively larger factors in it, while your inf1u- ence is greater in the inverse ratio or the distances to Washington ana , Montgomery. So you are more respon- sible for the course of Alabama than for that of the United states, as you ought to be; and that Is one or the
 reasons for preferring state to Ieoeral control of home affairs
 "A great many things are none the iess home affairs because they may be or be- come remotely related to commerce among
 the states the regulation of which IS
 granted exclusively to Congress. II the federal authority should be extended over all of these, the states would soon become mere regions The pretext for such ex- tension of power is that railroads, tele- graphs etc, have brought about the com merciaI unity of the states But that is no reason at all because such commercial unity was the very object In view Tn framing the clause which gives to Con gress the exclusive power to regulate com merce among the states; and as the clause accomplished the purpose intended, why seek to twist 1t out or shape py forced construction?
 Tt is only when each government main tains it's own authority and respects the authority of the other. and the three de- partments of each attend to their own re- spective duties without meddling with the duties of the others, that the people may go their several ways in business and industry without risk to their political in- heritance which out-values all gain At the conclusion of Judge Harmons address Governor B. B. Conner of Alabama was introduced and he chose as his sub
 feet The Suppre ession of the Stegomyia-" The governor said:
 Governor Conner Speaks.
 Havana, the capital city of Cuba, the , Queen of the Antilles was long the
 breeding ground of that great destroyer of human life-yellow fever. New Or leans and other southern ports also fur nished conditions from which this dis ease germinated and spread, The original
 treatment consisted in following the ad- vice given Lots family: "Flee for your life" This remedy, heroic in nature, though destructive of the propagation of the disease. also destroyed the best in- | terests of all concerned. No wonder, then, 1 that every expedient known to science was exhausted in order to locate the o1- | igin and destroy the cause. Happily, hu- man persistence and human knowledge 1 were successful. The germ of the disease was found in stagnant water-the propa- 1 gation in the female mosquito. Thus water, which. next to air. Is perhaps, the | greatest gift of Deity. but when decayed 1 in civilization furnishes the germ for the destruction of man. The carrier of these germs was located in the mosquito, fe-
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