Monroe City Democrat. (Monroe City, Mo.) 1888-1919, 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 trickery, nothing more nor less.
IL 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-
Ilt1cal 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.
Mark my word, in due time it will all
come out again. as ii did before, that
among contributors to the Republican
campaign fund none will be found to
nave been more generous than national
bankers Mr. Roosevelt was the re-
clpient of such favOrS from banks in
surance companies, and other corpora
tons when he ran for Nice-P President in
1900, and again when he was a candi-
date for the Presidency in 1904 After
his election he walled like a yeritable
jeremiah in warning protest against the
corruption Of the electorate by the IL
Iegltlmate use of money. But before the
and others to come to him at the White
House, and there he personally invoked
their aid in raising money, and on ono
occasion, within twenty-four hours after
leaving the august executive presence,
Mr.. Hartman produced $4,000 and
turned IL over to Chairman CorteIyou
Roosevelt took the goods, and then, with
phariSaical pretenSe 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
bill, the last act which
made it a law, not even a dream fitted
across the horizon of his virtuOuS mind
that possibly the banks out of gratitude
to him might remember Taft. This
whole performance would be comical If
it did not border so closely upon tragedy.
FEDERAL AGGRESSION.
The question of the constitutional reIa-
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 conSplcuously 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 government
fashioned largely after the British au-
tonOmy; Jefferson fought for a represent
tatlve democracy. Hamilton desired q
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-
tention. This provision has been incor-
porated in the constitution:
Powers not delegated to the United
States by the constitution, nor pro-
hibited by it to the states, are re-
served to the states, respectively, or
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
or jurisdiction the federal government
possesses he must look to the constitu-
tlOn. All powers not expressly delegated
by that instrument to the federal gov
eminent, or necessarily implied by grants
expressly made, were reserved to the
states, separately, and to the people
thereof. The great men who organized
the government feared the haIf-irreSDon-
Sible 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-
Sentlal to IL, and to retain all other DOW
erS in the hands of the people. In gen.
eral terms, the federal government was
organized to regulate and conduct those
pubic affairs which pertain jointly and
simultaneously to all the people of all
the states In matters affecting our re-
latiOnS with foreign countries affecting
the relations between the different states
and the people thereof, affecting inter-
state commerce, affecting the army and
the navy of the United States and, con-
cisely, in practically all matters of pure
ly national concern, the constitution con-
ha orfNxT-
eminent; but in matters of local concern,
anectlng only the people of a single state,
being Tor the most part matters in
which the individual man is most often
directly and Immediately interested, the
supremacy and sovereignty of the state
was preserved. But from the day of the
organization of the government to this
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
powers of the State and to augment the
powers of the general government. This
tendency toward a more assertive feder-
alism and the consequent diminution Of
State authority, has, within the last
aggressive and acute than at any time
since Jefferson surrendered his vigil and
passed from the stage of action. If the
people are not Indifferent to the trend OF
events, and if they are to maintain the
integrity of our Institutions as we in
herited them, it behoOves them to be
alert and vigilant- If they permit power
to slip from their hands to be exercised
in distant places, it will be hard to re-
cover. The preachment of Mr.. Roosevelt
and his followers is for Capitalization,
and in the direction of Imperialism This
is all the more perilOus because of the
fascinating, albeit to me inexplicable,
hold the man Roosevelt has upon the
imagination of the people. His ablest.
this propaganda of Capitalization is
Elihu Root, the Secretary of State In
this movement | think the President fol-
lows the Secretary, rather than the re-
verse; nevertheless, the President exerts
the mighty influence of his great office to
promote the doctrine both espouse. On
December II, 1906, at a notable dinner
given by the Pennsylvania Society at the
Waldorf-AstOria in New York. Mr.. Root
gave utterance to the sentiment quote.
Among other things, he said:
by the side of this strong and
growing loyalty to the nation. senti-
ment for the separate states has be-
come dim and faint in comparison.
Our whole life has swung away
from the old state centers and is
crystallizing about national centers.
and interest the old lines between the
states and the old barriers which
kept the states as separate communi-
ties are completely lost from sight.
Such changes in the life of the
people can not fail to produce CORE
spending political changes. Some Of
these changes can be plainly seen now
in progress. The end is not yet. The
instinct for self-government among
the people of the United States is too
strong To permit them to respect any
ones right 10 exercise 4 power which
he fails to exercise. The government
tai control which they deem Just and
necessary they will have. The
people will have the control they need
either from the states or from the
national government, and if the
states fail to furnish it in due meas
ure, sooner or later constructions Of
h l.