Goldsboro weekly argus., 1909-02-11
THE RIGHTS OF THE STATES.

Senator-elect Roots timely defense
of the rights of the states has been
widely published. 1t has all the great |
er weight because Mr. Root belongs |
to the party that had done a great
deal to build up a centralized govern
ment at the expense of the states. Mr..
Root views this tendency with alarm,
first because the general government
would break down under the load that
it is proposed to cast upon it. "The
other danger of breaking down the
local self-government of the states.
After all, the thing that we have gov
ernment for is ultimately the preser-
vation of our homes and our individu
erty to regulate the affairs of our
homes in accordance with our own
ideas. The tendency to vest all pow
ers in the central government at
Washington is likely to produce the
decadence of the powers of the
states"
The powers of the states are not de-
fined simply because the states have
all the powers of government not
specifically entrusted to the general
government, and the speech of Mr..
Root before the New York legislature
at Albany will go long ways in pre-
serving to the states their powers. Mr..
Root appeals to the people, and par
| ticularly to the members of his own
party to preserve undiminished the
powers and authority of the states.
| Let us hope this speech will mark
a turn of the tide that has been run
ming in favor of a great national ma
chine and against the state as the
fountain of power. After witnessing
the workings of Capitalization at
Washington the senator-elect turns to
his state to ask it to stand for all it's
powers as the administrative unit. He
tells the citizens of his own state that
they should not barter their state
birthright for mess of national pot
tage.
In this crisis when the rights Of the
states are threatened as they never
AeAtO OVCA OO1O4O ~ UCCOAOS LAC 0u%y
of every state to stand firmly by it's
reserved rights. No appropriation
should swerve a state from its true
position. No temporary gain, no po-
litical advantage, should be consider
ed. There should be a movement
served rights Of the states. The ex-
pansion Of federal power should be
checked from this time on, and every
American in every party should stand
by his state. Mr.. Root calls halt
in the growth of federal power alike
in the courts that have been constru-
ing the Fourteenth federal power and
in Congress whose activities are thus
described by Mr.. Root:
THE intimate connection between
the people of every locality and of
every other, largely brought about
by the increase of communication,
the passing to and fro of the trains
upon our great railroads, the tele-
graph and the telephone, the extern
sion of business which knows no
state lines and the substitution Of
great national centers of business, the
development of commercial and man
ufacturing and social life along ma
tional lines, have forced upon the ma
tional government the performance
of a great variety of duties which
formerly were performed by the
states within the limits OF their COM
paratively isolated communities. By
the exercise OF the powers granted in
1.-The interstate commerce clause OF the
constitution the national government
is extending it's power over the oper-
alton of our railroads, our steamship
lines, our telegraph and our express
companies; by the exercise of the
taxing power it is regulating the &C
ton of the people all over the coun
try, as, for instance, in the oleomar
garine act; by the controlling the ad
liberation of food and deceptive prac
4 tices in the sale of food, as in the pur
t food law. The activities of the gen
i eral government are continually wild
ening step by step, covering groun
e formerly occupied by state action"
1t The states should assert themselve
IS and all parties should unite to brin
back the federal system to the plar
!! of the fathers. It can be done. 1t
< not too late to save the republic fro
l: Imperialism and ruin