Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1922-08-31
COMMUNICATED.

pOoC OifS-iuah pOWSh-
AS an American citizen ! feel inn
PEELED to denounce the Republican Sen:
ators who stand to empower the Pres
ident TO regulate the tariff, or rather
heavy taxes, upon the people. II is
the one way the Republicans are try
ing to escape campaign punishment as
we'll as fool the voters.
The power which il Is proposed to
vest in the President is a power that
can be abused by the very authority to
which the trainers Of our republic in
tended to deny it. Ii is greatly as il
the British parliament, at the end OF
a thousand years Of contention for the
right to raise revenues and thus con-
troll the actions of the King, were sud
denly to reverse the policy and place
in the King the very power which the
parliament has hitherto used for the
purpose of controlling the action OF
the King. II Charles | had had the
authority to increase the revenues Of
the crown by changing the rate of tax
alton Charles would have been able
to have carried on his wars and TO
have crushed the English people with
his armies and with his navies. All
that he contended for, if recall my
history Alright, was a privilege akin to
the very thing which the Republican
Senate stands for. Now, it may be
said that Mr.. Harding will not abuse
| his power. | entertain in common
with many other men in this country
a very high personal regard and re-
spect for Mr.. Harding. | do not be-
leve that he is man who would will
| fully do a wrong to the people of this
country. But two things must be re-
membered. First, that he is liable TO
err just as other men of ability in this
country. Second, we are establishing
a precedent which if il is sustained by
the courts will be followed by suhse
quent Congresses.
My fellow citizens of West Virginia.
we are breaking down the creates
safeguard there is in our government.
We are transferring the taxing powe
from Congress to the President ~
as certainly as grass grows and water
runs. We are traitorously assassina-
ting the great principle which has been
ingrained in Saxon governmental
Saxon liberty. | say "traitorously,
for the man or the body that by sub
terfuge and by technically will de-
feat or undermine a great principle o
government is guilty of a traitorous
and Infamous act. The most DANCE
Gus man in public life is not the man
who boldly purposes to defy the con-
stitution. Ii is not the man whQAon a
soapbox inveighs against hums{E9ov-
eminent. II is not the man WHO as
sails law and authority and who ha-
rangues the mob under the red flag.
St,ch fhair ho;,n Io;,
and their attitude apparent, it is easy
to see, will be justly estimated and
measured by the people Of the land.
But when men sit in a great legisla-
tive body protesting friendship for the
constitution, yet devise means by which
they can technically avoid it, if pos
sible, and accomplish the overthrow of
principle BY subterfuge, that kind
Of men are enemies to be feared. That
kind of statesman is a man who is a
real enemy of his country, care not
who he is.
Ii is the business of Congress I,
safeguard the constitution. The courts
of our land give to the decision of the
Congress every presumption of regu-
larity and every presumption that they
are the guardians of the constitution
and that it is not to be presumed tina,
they would willfully trample upon its
precepts or that they would seek to
avoid the spirit of the constitution.
That presumption has been followed in
case after case, and the burden is
thereby shifted to Congress to become
the guardian of the constitution itself.
Yet men sit down and carefully devise
scheme by which they transfer this
great right of raising revenue from
the legislative body to the executive,
the very power against which our
forefathers fought to defend us when
they proclaimed that the revenue
measure could be originated alone in
the House of Representatives
When the President of the United
States certifies as a fact that the cost
of production in England Of certain
article is greater than the cost of pro-
duction in America plus the tariff,
there is no board to review that action
there is no court that can go back of
his decree. The court. will urouestion-
ably say that the Congress vested in
him the sole power Of determination.
The courts will say that Congress
vested this power in the President, that
he has exercised it and that his de-
cision is a finality. Thus il is pro-
posed to transfer power which NAV be
abused, power which unhesitatnglv
say will be abused, and in saying that
do not impugn the integrity OF the
President, but ] rather impuen the
sources of information, his environ
ment and his Limitations.
Inevitably he will be surrounded in
the consideration of many false figures
Lawyers will be there: experts will be
there; emissaries will be there with
false figures, false data, false informa.
ton, false conclusions, to impose upon
him. Who will be there to REPRESENT
the Congress? Who will be there to
represent the American neooIec Tboso