Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1925-06-19
RITCHTE ON RADIO
SCORES TAMPERING
WITH CONSTITUTION
Maryland Governor Says Chief
InrOads Have Been In IL Years.
Sees Danger Ahead.

During a radio address under the
auspices of the American Citizen
ship Committee of the American Bar
Association, from the station of the
American Telephone and Telegraph
Company, WEAF, New York City,
recently, Governor Albert C. Ritchie
of Maryland said:
"Is it better to concentrate the
powers of government, or is it bet
ter to distribute them? Is it better
to centralize the governmental
structure in one place, so that all
it's activities reach out from there
to all parts and peoples of the coun-
try; or is it better to divided by the
country along natural and apprO-
pirate lines, into different units, and
leave the people of each unit free to
govern themselves, except as to mat
tiers which concern them all and to
which a uniform standard can be
applied?
For this country that question
was settled by the adoption of
government in which only two
classes of powers were centralized.
First, those powers which affect our
relations and contact with other ma
lions. These must be centralized so
that our foreign policy may be
united one Secondly, those powers
which the Federal government must
have in order to operate as a gov
eminent at home; powers which af-
feet everybody in the country, and
sol, k1,O-oFO,a1 AA Io
cised for everybody by a central au-
thority.
"'There must be those in this great !
radio audience tonight who believe |
that American institutions were
bRilded wisely and sOundly. What
must those of you who believe that |
think when you behold a Federal
government which, in a short II
years, has acquired the power to |
take as much of your earnings as it |
wants, while you live; and your
property, if it wants, when you die; |
and which does both these things;
and now reaches out to grasp the
force and energy which make the
wheels of all industry turn, and with
this added to the control of trans
pOrtation it already has, will hold
within it's hand not only the earn
ings and the property of the citi-
zens but the industrial life Of the
nation as well!
"And what of the individuals per-
sOnal rights and freedom? For the
destruction of state responsibility
does more than destroy or imperil
property rights. 1t destroys or i'm
perils liberty and freedom too. Both
Of these things-property rights and
personal rights-are dependent upon
he state. They can only be safe
when the state is free to fulfill its
of local self govern
nent guaranteed by the Constitu-
ion. Neither is safe when control ]
,ver them proceeds from a central
ource.
FOreseeS Further Onslaught
The advocates of Federal control |
,ver child labor are doing their part
o strike down state responsibility. :
The advocates of Federal control :
ver education are doing their part =
o strike down state responsibility. :
he advocates of Federal aid are do
ng their part to strike down state .
=
History taught the founders that II
he government which would secure il
Dr. them and their posterity the h
lessings of liberty was one which n
truck the balance between Federal
over, on the one hand, and state h
and individual free m
ON, on the other. h,
"On that rock they builded, and to IL
lem and to their posterity came in D,
nth the blessings of liberty. For W
entury and a quarter these bless W
Lgs were preserved inviolate and m
ley enveloped the land as it pro-
'essed to leadership among the ma
Ons of the earth.
"And then, in a short IL years,
ey are stricken and wounded one on
: one. May it not be too much to w, W.
,pe that they are only wounded, 10
ID not destroyed. May it not be too Flo
UGH to hope that in the nearness AS
time the pendulum may swing "a
ok again. May it not be too much Ye
hope for a rededication to the TIL
Institutional guarantee of state re- TIL
which for so long time TIL,
de the blessings of liberty Sc An,
re-" Sh,