Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1923-04-05

estate. l city only that part which
bears directly upon the question or
ownership, it being Section 2609 of the
Revised Code of Idaho, Vol 1, compil-
alton of 1908. Section 2609.
No person other than citizen of the
United States or one who has declared
his intention to become such, nor any
association or corporation, except rail-
way corporations, whose members are
not exclusively citizens of the United
States, or persons who have declared
their intention to become such, shall
hereafter acquire any land, or title
thereto, or interest therein, other than
mineral lands, or such as may be act
ually necessary for the actual work.
ing of mines and the reduction of the
products thereof: PROVIDED, that no
re'SOn not eligible to become citizen
of the United States, except as herein
after provided.
Section 2610 of the same Revised
Code prohibits the ownership Of
land in the state by Chinese or persons
of Mongolian descent in following pro-
visio:
provided, that Chinese or
persons of Mongolian descent not born
in the United States, are not permit
ted to acquire title to land or any
real property under the provisions of
this and the preceding sections"
The validity of the act of 1S90-97
being questioned because the journals
of the Legislative chambers did not
show compliance with the require
ments of Section 10, Article 3, of the
state constitution, 1t was reenacted at
the legislative session of 1899, Session
Laws, 1899, page 20.
l have no copies of the session laws
of the state later thar 1913, but it is
my impression that at the time the
alien, or to be more precise, her anti
Japanese land laws, at the following
session of the State legislature (of
Idaho) at the behest of the Utah
Idaho Sugar company, the legislature
repealed or amended the foregoing
sections of the code, thereby departing
from what had hitherto been the estab-
lished public policy of the state, and
opening to demogogic controversy,
questions vitality affecting the peace
and tranquility of the state
The question of the powers reserved
to the states or the people of the
states by the tenth amendment seems
to have scant consideration at the
hands of the supreme courts Of the
states as well as THE supreme court of
the United States. And among the
legal profession / have yet to hear
of a member standing squarely upon
that question. Tt has been fashionable
with the legal fraternity to loosely
Dramatically state that the Civil war
settled the question of state rights for
ever" The Civil war settled but one
question affecting states rights and
that is the question of the power of
the federal government to suppress a
revolt against its authority, as the SUI
preme power of the nation. So long
as the government of the United
States exists under it, present con
stitution, the question Of states rights,
like the poor, sis always with u.s."
The trouble with the Japanese prob
lem is, ''We must get the Irish vote
the Dutch vote; the Catholic vote, ad
libitum, ad nausum, in all our political
campaigns, and I have been listening
TO campaign speeches for over sixty
years, and taking part in political cam
paigns. AS matter of fact along
with the other kids, I have fought at
school over political arguments, and
you know fighting kids are not very
choice in their language when engaged
in heated argument. Abolitionist,
Black Republican, Bounty Jumper,
Copper Head, Rebel and Secesh, were
some of the complimentary terms pass
ed back and forth on the school
care being taken to see that
the teachers were out of sight and
hearing; but in all my life 1 have
never heard a political candidate ask
for the vote of the electors as Ameri-
cans, a pretty strong statement. but
il is true. Today we
must adopt no plank that is objection
able to this or that union" We have
not, seemingly, the moral courage to
say there is but one big union, and
that is the United States of America.
At the last meeting of the American
Bar association, the attention of the
members of the American Bar associ-
alton was called to the menace of the
lawyer whose Amer
lean citizenship is stored away in a
of his desk or is in the
strong box of a bank vault. One does
not need much perspecuity to realize
that our national life is dominated al
together too much by Americans whose
only claim TO the designation as such
is the possession Of a Certificate of
Naturalization. Americans, who can
not comprehend the elemental fact the
principle of American civ
lization, THAT a free people are gov
arned by laws" That their oath of
allegiance means just what it says.
That / twice took the ironclad oath, is
the most precious memory of my life
1t is engrossed upon the tablets of
memory in letters of gold. No other
event in my political life stands out
in relief like that, my first official
oath.
Armed rebellion is not the only form
of treason, nor is treason solely an
incident Of war. Armed
rebellion is out in the open, a foe to
be seen, but much more insidious is
treason in the guise of political reform.
And here let me say, treason is tres
on, and define treason to be any arm
ed assault upon the powers and dut-
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