Lower coast gazette., 1910-02-05

ders with less question than is now made. The
editor goes so far as to say that logically the
states would apparently be compelled by force
to make the surrender at the behest OF the
other states. This, however, is modified in the
last paragraph of the editorial in the STATES,
which appeared in its issue Of Jenuary q, in
which the editor says that it is inconceivable
that force could be used between the states.
The fugative slave law was one Of the lllmo-
diate provoking causes of the war, at least this
was claimed in the North, the authorities there
generally refusing to surrender fugitive slaves
on the demands of The governors Of the other
states and when the federal courts endeavored
to enforce their orders, riots occurred. FoStu-
nately. such extreme issues as these rarely oc-
cur in the history Of a nation and it is to be
hoped that no more such will present them
selves in our history. At the same time. the
present disposition towards Capitalization is IN
Questionahly producing much friction and the
rights OF the states are s~oclearly set forth in
the Constitution that any suppression Of them
by the central government meets with a rebuff
whenever these cases get to the Supreme
Court.
THE STATES admits in it's final para
graph that the same doctrine Of States Rights
that permits one state to call upon another for
the surrender of a so-called fugitive from JUS
tice, gives the sovereign right to the state SO
called upon to dispute the p%ropriety Of such sur
render. On this account the governors of the
,,oric,,- c4,+cr orr fr, p,,ro orrcfr1 wow, +Io,
formerly IN getting q comD'ete history of tho
crimes aItn which any fugitive from so-caiieu
justice has committed. In many cases it has
been found that these charges are frivolous. If
a citizen of Louisiana should go to Rhode Island
and buy an invoice of cheap jewelry, or to Con-
bring them to New Orleans and honestly fail
there, these extradition laws make him at once
liable to be taken back as a prisoner to Rhode
Island, or to Connecticut, to be tried there, at
the so-calied scene of his crimes and to be pun
ished as the law there may direct.
The governors of many of the states of the
union have for many years been accused of al
loving extradition proceedings between the
states to be utilized in the collection of debts.
Many years ago this grew to be so much of an
abuse that the governors began to refuse to
grant eXtraditions where the so-called crime was
for money values, just because of such abuse.
Now comes our democratic journal, THE STATES,
indicating the desirability Of an easier availmeat
of these extradition laws and greater uniformity
in the proceedings and, may we not say, Of the
ooc;or ,co of thfc ~ rab1 y;c ~ of oi,c Ioo,oupo+,o
form of government for the enforcement CT the
collection of debts. The STATES cites the case
of the fugitive from justice who was indicted
for killing Gov. Goebel in Kentucky, Or Access
sorry thereto, and who sought refuge in Indiana,
securing it for several years, the governor OF
Indiana refusing to honor the requisit;on papers
of the governor Of Kentucky.
The Kentucky instance was a very c%onspicu-
GUS one and was on the admittedly criminal side
of the law. The only Justification in the world
for not honoring the'request Of the governor Of
Kentucky for this would be one that we some
times acknowledge in our own state as between
the various parishes, when an accused person
succeeds in securing a change of venue for his
trial because Of presumed local bias against him,
which he convinces the judge would make it
impossible for him to secure a fair trial. This
seems to have been the conclusion of the gov
ernor of Indiana in the fugitive from justice in
the Goebel case. All laws, however, are arti-
fetal things and have their difficulties and we
should hesitate very much in surrendering the
great principle Of state sovereignty because of
such difficulty. The remedy is unquestionably
far worse than the evil in the principle involved.
The retention Of the sovereignty of the individual
states is one of the cardinal principles of democ-
racy which perhaps the able editor of the
STATES newspaper does not fully appreciate.