The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1921-07-22
Mr.. ABE YlGODSKI, ESQ,
FIRES TERRIBLE .BARRACE

Editor of The Herald and News:
Newberry, S. c.,
Dear Sir:
LOCKING through your paper Of the
9Th inst. my attention was drawn to
one of your editorials which had a
singular heading-"Tom Watson is
Right" Curious to know whether
that could be possible. l read it. /
was not at all surprised to find out
that Tom Watson was still the same
grotesque creature and unbalanced
ass that he had always. been, but |
was keenly disappointed to see your
paper sanctioning some of the sentl-
ments which it contained, and by way
of comment, applaudlng a perfectly
assinine speech.
The whole burden of your edito-
rial, and the portion reprinted from
the Anderson Daily Mail, seems to be-:
that the federal government is be-
coming TOO centralized and imperial; !;
that federal control of the roads. as
proposed by the Townsend bill, and
federal control of the schools, which
you look upon as natural sequence,
are infringements of state sovereignty;
and that you regret that ''the good old
doctrine of state sovreignty" is dead.
What is meant by the statement
that the government is becoming too
imperial, is very vague and indefinite.
The word sounds good and is appro-
priately used, because, somehow, it
fits nicely into a demagogical speech,
but as it is used it conveys no thought
and has no meaning. The federal
government cannot usurp any of the
functions of the sovereign states un-
less it has power to do so under the
constitution, and if it exercises those
powers it is no more, imperial than it
was when those powers were granted
to the federal government by the
trainers of the constitution. The
grant of legal power sanctions the
exercise of that power. If the feder-
al government has become imperial,
it must be considered that the franz
ers of the constitution intended it to
be so, because they gave it the power
to become So One wonders whether
Senator Watson insulted Thomas JEFF
ferson, by naming his vitriolic sheet
"The Jeffersonian,' after him, be-
cause Jefferson was one of the chief
trainers of the constitution.
Your main objection to the Town
send bill is states rights again, and the
fact that you would not have any
thing to say about how your money
should be spent. How much have you
had to say about the thousands that
the state sank into roads that remain
ed impossible in spite Of the enor-
NOUS expenditures? It was not until
we got federal appropriations fer
road building that permanent highway
building began to any extent. 1t IS
not question of state rights or how
little you will have to say about the
money that will be expended, but the
question is whether the proposed bill
will eliminate the mud bitches, which
are, by misnomer, called roads. The
only objection that you could pos
sibly' have against the proposed meas
ure is that you would be deprived of
a favorite subject for editorial COM
ment during the fall and winter
months. i. e., recommending the use
Of the split log drag.
What objection is there TO federal
control of schools? Are you afraid
that South Carolina will lose the en-
viable position of leading the states
in the percentage of illiterates?
You bemoan the fact that state SOW
ereignty is dead. Would that the
brand of state sovereignty that Sen
ator Watson breaches, and which you
so greatly admire, were buried so
deep as to be incapable Of resurrec-
ton. Mr.. Watson gets up in the SEN
ate and t'declares by the eternals"
that ''there is not enough gold in the
world to buy the soul of the South,
and you describe this as being "hke
the patriotism of the good old days.
If ycu delight in such demagogic gas
conade. then the braying of jackass
must indeed be music to your ears.
By crying out "state rights" and
estate sovereignty" and saying that
the soul of the South cannot be
bought, Mr.. Watson seeks to create
a pathos. He wants to cast the gla-
mour of eminent around his views
in order to make them privileged and
fxo,, RI1T