The Washington herald., 1910-03-05

/ il was intended as an insult I feel highly
/ complimented and if IT was intended as
| a compliment. I feel deeply chagrined
Il would suggest to the Senator that
/ I have no talent along this line 1 can
neither sing nor carol. but If the time
| should Unexpectedly come when the peo-
| pie of Nebraska desire TO celebrate the
! Senator's political funeral, and such a
great calamity shculd befall them. I will
| take the liberty of sending as my sub
| stitute the junior Senator from Tennes-
see. who. with other gifts. possesses
great talent In this direction and he will
chant them a requiem that in lyric and
! pathetic tones viii fully console the con-
/ stituencies of Nebraska for the irrepara-
/ bic loss that they have sustained by the
/ premature departure OF the Senator al
the very meridian OF his brilliant power
My only purpose to-day. Mr. Presl-
dent. in submitting these few remarks.
was TO prevent the Senator's speech from
| being consigned to oblivion. | have
studied il word for word. and bestowed
| upon it all the concentrated attention OF
my mind.
What Congress Believes.
1T gives to the rising generation an en-
tirely new conception Of constitutional
guarantees, and places the Constitution
in light that il has never been placed
| before. With no hand TO guide him, no
beaten track to follow. and no example to
emulate, the Senator has struck out for
himself, and, TO use a borrowed phrase,
| he has floated serenely on the surface.
absolutely unconscious Of the unfathomed
depth beneath. With dauntless and in
| trepid voice. he has proclaimed the prin-
ciple that whenever Congress believes
that any of its enaCtments VIII accom-
plish some enumerated power OF the Con-
stitution. that the belief of Congress set
ties the constitutionality Of its legisla-
ton
ut is not as Marshall said, that Con
gress is the Judge of the degree OF neces-
sity, and If the means are proper to ac-
complish any enumerated power, then
the courts will not interfere with the
discretion Of Congress if adapted TO the
end This is no longer the formula. No
such pent-up Utica contracts the bound
less aspirations of the Senator. If it is
useful, If it is beneficial. says the Sen
ator, then Congress is alone the fudge
of its constitutionality. Transcendent
thought! Should discovery Ike this.
Mr. President. be permitted to die? 1t
may die unless some steps are taken 10
save it
Some necessary and proper means
should therefore be devised to rescue it
from oblivion. And the Senator alone
has it within his power to accomplish
this purpose Transcripts and copies and
duplicates Of his constitutional discovery
should be sent to every academy and
college and university and seat Of learn
ing in the land wherever constitutional
law is taught, SO that some day. when
this great edif1ce. with its broken columns
and arches, may erumble into ruin, these
imperishable utterances of the Senator
from Nebraska shall endure and survive,
wrapped in the solitude of their own
originality, immutable amid change, mag
nifcent amid ruin
Root Opens Debate.
It was a day of oratory in the Senate.
Senator Root, OF New York, opened the
debate on the bill with defense of his
amendment. which requires that postal
savings funds when withdrawn from the
banks shall be invested only in govern
ment securities. Senator Root expressed
himself, however, as willing to accent
the compromise amendment offered by
Senator Smoot. The Senator from New
York declared that without the enact
ment of one or the other of these
amendments. or an amendment of like |
purport, the bill would be unconstitu- |
tonal. He characterized the Cummins |
amendment, aimed at curtailing the |
power of the President over the with
drawal of these postal savings bank |
funds. as ''eiusory and worthless" He |
added that there was another consider
alton, however. that carried even greater |
weight with him. and that was the
thought of what might happen If the |
bill goes through without an amendment |
providing for the investment of the |
postal FINDS in government bonds
'1t Is proposed. said he. s'to impose