New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-20
Plain Words to End an Impossible
Situation.

Secretary Bryans plain words to the state OF
California shoud 90 far to end what has been from
the start dangerous and preposterous conflict oil
authority.
The truth is that the present assertion OF "A state
,icht in Aot contravention of the nations treaty
creates an utterly untenable situation. Three tunes
now within a few years the practice has brought
the country 10 the verge of strained relations Win
friendly mower The time is certainly ripe 1or
LAYING this recurring ghost of state rights once ana
for all If we are not to have repeated situations
like the present one. the nations authority musf De
asserted with all the force of the nations power
and the supremacy of the treaty power as 'eS'ao-
lisbed in the federal Constitution. placed upon
basis that no state will have the hardihood I"
question.
1t is an old faiacy this idea now advanced by Inc
legislature of California. 1t obtained In the Arti-
ces of Confederation. the weakness of which nearly
DESTROYED the possibility of American repubhc.
II has received aid and comfort from most of the
advocates of a narrow construction of the federal
governments powers.
Vet aside from the dicta of certain supreme
Court justices the sweeping authority of the fed
eral government in the making of treaties ana theT
enforcement has been widely sustained. The danger
Of such an assertion of a states sovereignty was VOL
nointed ont in The Federalst" in discussing the
alternative to a national treaty making power: "Ihe
world would have seem for the first time, system
of government founded on an inversion of the fun
"damenta principles of all government;
would have seen monster, in which the head was
under the direction of the members
Again and again have state laws in conflict WIN
treaties been overruled 10y state courts. For per
1inent example. the right of Bavarian subject TO
inherit real estate in San Francisco came before
the Supreme Court of California in 1850 The state
law expressly denied the right; the treaty asserted
it, And the court without hesitation decided that
the treaty provision must prevail. % Cal 3S11
The decisions of the Supreme Court of the United
States are not as consistent or conclusive as they
might be. But their general tendency is TO assert
the supremacy of a treaty when in collision WIN
the reserved rights of the states. so long as the
treaty is fair exercise of the treaty making power
TO quote from an opinion of Justice Field 'Geofroy
vs. Riggs, 133 L. S. 25Sl:
That the treaty power of the United States eX-
tends to all proper subjects OF negotiation between
our government and the governments OF other
nations is clear IT is also clear that the protec-
ton which should be afforded to the citizens OF one
country owning property i'm another and the man
ner in which that property may be transferred
devised or inherited fitting subjects for such
negotiation and regulation by mutual supulatiohs
between the two countries.
As commercial intercourse increases between
different countries the residence Of citizens or one
country within the territory of the other naturally
follows. and the removal of Their dlsaplhty from
alenage TO hold. transfer and inherit property III
such cases tends TO promote amlcable relations
such removal has been within the present cen
fury the frequent subject of treaty arrangement
The case in question related TO the right OF
citizen of France TO take land by descent in the
District Of Columbia. But the broad language OF
Justice Field we'll expresses the prevailing view
that has obtained in other cases.
The precise limitations of The treaty making
power have never been passed upon and may never
be- No doubt under that power the national gov
ernment could not exercise power expressly
denied to it by the Constitution. alter the form of
our government itself or invade the reserved rights
of the states by sheer pretence of treaty making
But these limitations are of little practical i'm
portance to-day The vital fact is the broad power
of the United States as nation to develop its com
merce and take its place among the great powers
of the world without hndrance from its federal
members. For that end its ability TO deal with its
foreign affairs must be complete and certain.
The statute pending in the California Legislature
:, q plain violation of the treaty of 1911 with Japan
That treaty is clear and legitimate exercise Of a
national function. The treaty must control
resort to the courts is the constitutional method
of establishing that supremacy In the mean time
President Wilson can have no hesitation in asserting
I'm unmistakable terms both n the people Of Cali
fornia and TO the government of Japan, the clear
authority OF the nation TO soc that justice is done
and the faith of the nation Upheld
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