The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-08-21

senate judiciary committee gave at the
last session of congress. an adverse re-
port on all bills which attempted to
remove the hindrance to the state ex
ercise of police power over Interstate
shipments within their respective ter
ritories- The reasons assigned by the
committee for its report were that
such laws would be unconstitutional
because they sought to delegate the
powers of congress over interstate
shipments to the state governments.
Took Issue With Knox.
Senator Knox, who spoke chiefly
for the majority of the committee
said in brief that so long as the state
prohibits only the sale and not the
use or possession of liquor, congress
is without power to restrict the free
commerce in them between the states,
but If the states will prohibit the use
and possession of liquors as well as
the sale, then congress could do as 1t
has done in the case of lottery tick
cts"
Mr.. Jackson took issue with the po-
sition of Senator Knox, and in an ex-
tended argument. defended the atti-
tude of the minority members of the
judiciary committee. He held that
congress has ample power to aid the
states in enforcing the prohibitory
laws.
Mr.. Jackson continued:
THE minority of the committee
urged that the principles stated by the
majority had not been adhered to by
congress in the past in the control OF
commerce in other objects, or even In
liquor. and had not been enunciated or
sustained by the courts. and, most i'm
portant of all, that the legislation pro-
posed involved no delegation of the
powers Of congress; that it proposed
only the removal of check of the fed
eral government on the states exercise
sAI oil n1xvA fCfA md
the full and free exercise of which the
constitution guarantees to the state
and to the people"
An Anomaly in Government.
General Jackson then considered at
some length the legal phases of the
supreme courts decision in the case of
Leisy vs. Harden. which was the de-
cision upon which the senate judiciary
committee based it's refusal to inter-
fere.
IF congress is powerless to restore
the full power upon the states OF
which the decision deprives them"
continued Mr.. Jackson, then an
anomaly exists in the actual opera
ton of the powers OF our so-called dual
sovereignty of the state and nation.
The state, which is sovereign in its po-
lice power, may not prohibit interstate
shipments because such shipments are
protected by the interstate powers OF
congress. and the sovereign federal
government can not prohibit such
shipments because the use and pos
session of liquors are matters wholly
within the police powers of the state,
and certainly not, according to Sena-
tor Knox. as long as any of the 46
states or any subdivisions thereof rec
ognize liquor as a legitimate subject of
commerce. Sovereignty, then, of either
national or state government is mis-
nomer: the liquor traffic is enthroned
as king over both"
In conclusion Mr. Jackson said:
.'I feel safe in saying, relying on the
authorities cited and reasons given.
that there is legal reason why congress
could not release the states from the
restraining influence of the interstate
commerce cause, and thus allow the
articles imported to become subject to
state laws before delivery of the
liquors shipped. 1 believe that the
majority of the committee must have
been Influenced by considerations of
policy rather than legal considerations
in reporting the bills adversely. Sucn
a storm of protest should come from
all states where the control of police
power is eliminated on this and other
questions as will force the next session
of congress to act, and to restore to
the several states their full rights 20
local government under the constitu- |
tiOD