New Britain herald., 1916-03-10

been d member of congress that | wish l could have been more sure of the constitutionality of the constitu- tionality of than | was. Among them
 was the so-called White Mountain Appalachian Forest Reserve bill, the constitutionality of which was seri- ously questioned.
 I was willing to take the chance on
 that in view of the great public bene- fit to be achieved l voted for the so- called migratory bird bill, which I had some skepticiSm about as to it's con- StitutiOnality. The supreme court has | just divided evenly on the question of the constitutiOnality of that measure ana have asked for a reargument. My conscience and general 'uplift' ten dcnc1eS may compel me to vote for the so-called child-labor bill. which pro- poses that the central government, through commission or some such dlNlnely inspired institution as that shall invade every state and city in the country and put embargoes upon the commerce of the state provided they do not conform in the exercise of what have heretofore been considered as their state rights to the trcmcnd- ously altitudinous standard that we "uplifters" in congress may set up for their guidance and government. I do not know; 1 may vote for it; I am afraid l shall, because for one I am pretty nearly getting worn out in standing up for
 MT. NeWlands state riphts. MT. Brandegee Yes: for some local ! self government I think the time has l probably come, Mr. President. when it 1 is necessary to put up to the supreme l court of the United States some legs- l lation which will elicit from that | court an expression of opinion, at l least, as to whether this government 1 is a union of states or whether
 it is centralized, federalized government, in which all the local l concerns of the people at home are to 1 be regulated here in Washington by l the congress and largely by the eXer- ! else of it's strained powers under the commerce clause of the constitution 1 or under the power of amendment of l that document by three-fOurth of the states against the will of the other quarter.
 So I have no apology to make for having skated on thin ice on White Mountain Appalachian forest reserve bill. I do not know whether the con- stitutionality of that measure has yet been determined by the supreme court or whether 1t has ever been called in question.
 The senator from Nevada at that time was just as anxious to fastcn this octupus that he is now nursing onto the White Mountain forest reserve bill as he is now to faSten it onto this bill after his proposition has been re- jected. I told him at the time that !, ,t>J 1-;1
 tain forest reserve bill all he had to do was to fasten this millstone,
 this old man of the sea, that he has
 reared and turned loose upon the country, onto that bill. Inasmuch as he really was not SO bad a man as he pretended to be, he finally let loose his strangle hold on my bill and it went through; but the senator has
 learned a lesson, and he gave notice
 the other day that he had so raised
 his standard of determination that no legislation of any character, no matter how beneficial, concerning anything that had a drop of water in it. should be allowed to go through if he could successfully obstruct it.
 MT. NewlandS. l said ] seriously considered taking such a position.
 MT. Brandegee. I see that the Senator is carrying out his charitable purpose, and I decline further to CO., ordinate with him in that laudable object. Uaughter)
 The Appalachian Bill.
 Mir. Newlands. Well, MT. Presi- dent, l ask the Senator from Con-
 necticut whether he is willing to eX- tend the same liberality of view which
 has distinguished him in his consid-
 eration of the White Mountain and Appalachian bill, the child-labor bill,
 and so forth, to the measure which I
 have been urging?
 MT. Brandegee. Well. MT. presi- dent, my first name is Frank, and I will be very candid with the Senator
 l said to him at the time that I would give serious consideration to
 his measure whenever he brought it
 up before the Senate. I hate to in
 cur the Senator's displeasure by ad-
 hitting that l never have read his
 measure as yet, and so I would not
 want to make a hard and fast prom
 ise that I shall vote for it; but I agree
 with him in his general idea that this
 subject is of vast importance and
 should be treated in a comprehensive and broad spirit; that there should be
 some continuous policy inaugurated
 and carried out, just as I think there
 should be in the maintenance of our
 Army and Navy. I think we have pursued very nearly the same foolish
 program in relation to them as we
 have in relation to the matter which the Senator is now advocating and if
 may result in disaster some day if
 we continue to decline to look the
 facts in the face.
 All I can say to the Senator is that
 I believe in the bill which is now be-
 fore the Senate: l am going to vote
 for it; l think it ought to pass and
 I will give his measure the same con-
 sideratiOn that I have given the
 pending bill, when it comes up, and
 hi, ,lc ;l.o cl,.