The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-05-30


dressed the Commercial Club Of this
city at its annual banquet tonight.
Governor Wilson treated chiefly in
what he said Of the relations TIVE
the States and the Federal govern
ment, looking at the matter not as II
it were the old question Of States
rights, but as if it were only the new
question of attaining the best possible
legal development for the country. He
said in part:
Nothing is more noticeable than the
revival in very recent years Cone
might almost say in recent months)
Of the energy and activity OF our State
governments. 1t seems a very little
while ago hat men were discussing
everywhere the danger hat our State
governments might lose their initia-
tive, fall hopelessly into the back
ground, give their powers over to the
Federal government and find their re-
lations altered almost beyond recog-
milton as compared with the older
order of things in America. But we
no longer hear predictions and criti-
cisms of that sort. The leading States
of the country have now bestirred
themselvesard are showing an extra
ordinary activity in he field OF
thoughtful and systematic reform.
The variety of America is such, the
differences between one part Of the
country and another are SO clearly
marked in respect to the industry and
all other elements Of life that the
States are clearly an Indispensable in
of it's life. Varying cOndi-
ions must be met in different ways
in different parts of the and
our system of States gives to our
legal arrangements an elasticity, an
adaptability. an ease of change and
arnn,n ~, cd "hinb 10 i1v1l11ah1o
and indispensable in SO large a coun-
try, bestirring itself in so many diff
ferent a Y in SO many different latf-
tudeS and with so great a variety or
When we discuss the powers
Of the States, therefore. in our day,
we are not reviying the old academic
question of estate rights We are
beginning to ook upon the rights Of
the States as WE look upon the rights
OF Individuals. We are not so much
emphasizing the selfish and indepen-
dent powers involved as the duties
which are manifestlv correlative to
the rights. The legal right Of the
individual we are no longer fond Of
regarding as his opportunity to serve
his own selfish purposes. We are now
thinking rather of the obligation in
Yolyed to conform his purposes to the
general interest. We now think of
the right Of the individual as an obli-
cation to be just rather than as an
opportunity to be selfish. Similarity,
thinking of the rights OF the States
not as their prerOgative to serve their
own Interests without regard to the
interests of the country as a whole,
but rather as their opportunity to play
their part in the general development
and in the readjustment Of those rela-
tons which have threatened to become
radically unsatisfactory and danger
nI1C both IN tho ftot1 Of in1,OtrU on1
in the field of politics. both in the
matter Of the use of capital and in the
field of legislation, we assert them
again for the service of the people.
Almost Of a sudden, it would seem,
the States nave stepped forward and
reasserted themselves as full partners
with the Federal government in the
inspiring program Of progressive re-
form.
They are the ~trying-out grounds of
our political system. Each State is at
liberty to develop it's own opinion, to
suit its reforms to its own life, to try
this experiment and the other with it's
laws and institutions in order that 10
hopeful program nay be neglected or
fail of being neglected. 1t is very
noteworthy that some of the most
alert and progressive of our State
communities, like those of several of
our western States, have set thS~pace
for the country, have fortunately exer-
cised their rights of Independent
choice IN such a way as to blaze a
trail for the more conservative States.
In many instances they have made
mistakes, no doubt. but the mistakes
nav been instructive and profitable
to themselves and to the rest Of the
country hardly less than their sue
cesses have been. At any rate. what
ever betide, they do not hold back dull
and acquiescent and hopeless. They
are no longer beating about In a
naneless routine of legislation with
out large plan or program, n they
are diligently setting themselves to
a the circumstances Of a new age,
adjusting the conditions of their life
70 the new forces, checking those
thlnSs which are sinister and menac-
Ing and permitting those things which