Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1914-03-31

nishes a case in which Democracy Is
having trouble 70 avoid the charge
that it is for states rights In some
instance and not in others
When Woodrow Wilson was COVER
nor of New Jersey the antitrust bills
known as the seven sisters" were
made into state laws. AS has been
told in these dispatches the seven
sisters" bills form in part the basis OF
what are known as the five brother"
bills intended to regulate the trusts
and which are now before congress
for action. 1t is in the application of
the principles of the seven bills, drawn
to meet the condition largely existing
within one state, to the five bills in
tended to meet a national condition
that the Democrats are having their
worries.
Here is the way that Republican
has put this matter of the Democratic
difficulty:
1.-THE party has used the ancient and
by it revered doctrine of states rights
in the past to check what it has called
Republican capacities. but now it is
trying to find way to dispose Of the
bogy and yet keep it intact for the
uses of the future"
Where the Rub Comes.
In the matter of the measure drawn
to do away with interlocking director
ates, the Democrats are confronted by
a question as to whether state banks
can be brought within the provisions
of the statutes which it is proposed to
pass. The party of course wants the
state bank directorates separated as 1t
desires those of national banks shall
be, and the question is can the sepa-
ration be accomplished without violat-
ing the doctrine of states rights,
The house committee which is COLI
sidering the case has had Louis D.
Brandeis before 1t as a witness and
probably as an adviser. Mr. Brandeis
is now engaged as special counsel by
the interstate commerce commission
in the railroad advanced rate case.
He told the Democrats of the commit
tee that there are three ways by which
stacle by the flank and yet leave it
there intact for further use. Accord
ing to Mr.. Brandeis congress years
ago established precedent which
can be used this day to justify the
forbidding of interlocking directorates
of state banks. This precedent was
SET by the national lawmakers when
they taxed the currency of state
banks out of existence.
AS a second method of reaching
the states rights matter through the
federal power, Mr.. Brandeis says that
all banking business of necessity par
takes Of an interstate character, or
in other words, that it enters into in
terstate commerce and that this fact
ought to bring it well within the realm
OF the power of congress to act. AS
third method he says that the mat
ter can be reached through the right
of congress to declare what matter
shall be carried in the United States
mails. Presumably this means that
the postal privileges can be withheld
from any state bank which declines
to comply with the law forbidding
the interlocking OF directorates.
Make Much of Trivial Subjects.
Members of congress, especially
when they make speeches in the CAPT
toll on what may seem to be trivial
subjects, make every effort to show
that they are determined this country
shall continue to be a democracy, "a
place of continued rule by the plain
people with no frills on the ruled or
the rulers"
1t is curious fact that senators and
representatives frequently show mose
alarm lest the democracy Of the peo-
pie be undermined by some little
thing suggestive of luxury or of de-
cadence of taste than they do over
what appears to be the rapid growth
of class conditions in this country and
the rapid concentration of wealth IN
the hands of the few. The big things
which threaten democracy are over
looked, but the little things are taken
up on a high plane and pointed tc as
danger signals of a coming crash in
the affairs of the republic
They have just been having ire
mendous debate In the senate over
the use Of automobiles by government
officials. Congress, of course, sup
plies the working tools" of the men
in executive official life here in the
District of Columbia. 1t always has
been the custom to vote money to
pay for horses and vehicles for the
commissioners of the District of Co
lumbia who are compelled to ride
here and there on overseeing duty.
Other officials have been voted horses
and carriages, or rather, az Is usually
the case, buggies, without a question.
In these days of automobiles and the
quicker transportation facilities which
they offer, naturally enough congress
was asked to change horses and bug-
gies to automobiles and then came
the protest and the great debate
Like Nero of Rome.
One would think from what was
said by more or less eminent senators
! of the United States from the floor of
the senate that an official who rides in
an automobile is tainted with all the
vicious luxuriousness Of Nero, empnr-
or of the Romans. On hearing the
philippics one would think that every
official who uses an automobile has
under his seat a fiddle and a bow
which he is anxiously waiting oppor-
tunities to use for the making Of
music while Washington burns. These
things make one laugh, and yet they
are taken tremendously seriously by
the congress of the United States, and
what makes them absolutely absurd is
that all this talk is for home con-
sumption only, for the nature and aim
of every senator and representative is
to let the people of his district think
that he is a plain man who infinitely
prefers to ride in street car to trust
ing himself TO one Of those devils of