The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1913-01-16
THE KENYON BILL.

The Kenyon bill relating to ship
ment of liquors, int: oduced into con
gress at the last session ana now
made a special order" in the senate
started a warm debate this week that
promises TO be somewhat prolonged.
An effort will be made 10 Put il In
the position OF unfinished business
for daily consideration until disp
ed Of; although the efforts made by
the friends of the bill 10 force &C
ton at this session will probably not
be successful. The III proposes 10
prohibit the shipment Of any in oxica-
ting liquor across state lines into
dry" territory, and CT. course. 10 he
effective must make no exception for
manufacturing or like uses, conceded
even by most prohibitionists TO be
legitimate. The Wilson Edmunds
act, after the original package" de
cision some twenty years ago, dele
gated TO the states power 10 deal with
the matter, but it has disappeared as
law on the ground that it was unc u
stitutional. The main ques ion re-
garding the Kenyon bill is whether
an act Of congress thus regulating
shipments OF liquor would be c-nsi-
tutional. 1t is an established cen
stituional principle that congress
alone can regulate interstate COM
merce. BY this Kenyon bill it is pro-
posed to have congress regulate the
liquor traffic. State prohibition law
ing proved a failure, il is sought TO
invoke the aid of The fed raj govern
ment in enforcing state prohibitory
laws. The problem, however, is not
50 simple, as the Philadelphia Ledeer
points out as follows:
There are some things that even
congress cannot do offhand. One OF
the prime objects in the formation
of tie republic, to take the place
Of the ineffective and obstructive con-
federation was to insure freedom
of trade among the different states;
to guarantee to the citizens of all
states equal rights and the like. Con-
gress cannot grant the right to en-
gage in trade and commerce; that is
an inherent, or at any rate, an ina
ienable right. Chief Justice Marshal
declared that the right of intercourse
between state and state was not
granted by the federal constitution,
but rather derives its source from
those laws whose authority is ack-
nowledged by civilized man throue h.
out the world" Chief Justice Fuller,
folloing the same line Of thought,
declared that the object of forming
ia more perfect union was to do
50 "by freeing such commerce from
state discrimination, and not to trans
fer the power of restriction" From
these apparently well-settled princi-
pies it has been established that
transportation from ona state to an
other of legitimate art,c,es of COM
merce cannot be forbidden.
The advocates of the Kenyon bi"
object that liquor is not a legitimate
article of commerce. That is their
opinion. but it is an opinion not sup.
ported by the government of any civ
ilized country, including that of the
United States. The federal govern
ment taxes and grants licenses Of the
traffic in liquor; it maintains an in
ternal revenue department for the
yearly collection of hundreds OF mill
ions of dollars from these excise tax
es and licenses and it gives al tie
sanction to the manufacture an1 Sa!a
of liquor that it gives to the sale ci
tobacco or to banking. Furthermore |
an unbroken line of supreme court
decisions holds that liquors are a
legitimate article of interstate ct m
merce. Should the Kenyon bill be
enacted, which is improbable mt this
time, the question of its constitutions
allty would promptly tCme up before
the United States supreme court.
Portland (Me.) Argus.