Evening star., 1925-05-31
COOLIDGE BELIEVES
STATES ARE FAILING
Sees Federal EnCroachment
of Power Caused by Local
Lapses.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.


government in the United States has
fallen down and that the popular COM
plant of Federal encroachment on
State powers is due 10 the neglect
of the several States to discharge
their full duties"
This thought, expressed in the Me-
mortal day speech is the first counter
offensive delivered by the President
against the outcry of centralized
power as developed with respect to
the eighteenth amendment on pro-
hibition and other proposed amend
ments TO the Federal Constitution re-
lating to child labor and kindred ques-
tions usually regarded as a function
of the State.
Struck General Attitude.
Mr.. Coolidge gave much thought to
the preparation of his speech. seeking
an occasion to make clear his views
about the relationship of the Federal
Government to the States. He did not
refer specifically to the number of
instances in recent years in which
governors and mayors had been im-
peached or removed for irregularities
in Office, but to the general attitude
of the States in leaning on the Fed
eral Government in important prob
lens.
What we need" said Mr. Coolidge,
lis not more Federal Government, but
better local government. vet many
people who would agree with this
have large responsibility for the lapses
of local authority"
The President did not hesitate to re-
call that originally prohibition was
within the jurisdiction of the States
and that rigid Laws were adopted to
stop the traffic in intoxicants, but that
other States did not cooperate in ad-
vancing this policy and ultimately by
national action it was extended to all
the Union"
National DoIes" DepiOred.
Mr.. Coolidge deplored also the tend
ency to ask the Federal Government
to appropriate half for roadways and
other projects if the States supply the
other half. He called it national
doles." It's polciy he has deprecated
from the very beginning of his ad-
ministration. The President, however,
did not confine himself TO these re-
lationships alone, but to problems not
now within the Federal jurisdiction,
but upon which Federal aid is sought.
He argued for instance that this could
hardly be "a land of equal oppor-
tunity" so long as some can so to a
distant State for divorces which others
are denied at home" and when some
States grant valuable exemptions
from taxation which other States i'm
pose"
The President did not approach the
subject as a wholly academic matter
1t is true he was trying to show how
the responsibilities of the States an6
the Federal Government were dis
| tributed and how it was inconceivable
ri in in I n
Civil War a contest between the
sovereignty of the States and the
| Federal Union. But Mr.. Coolidge
| went deeper than the question OF
sovereignty, pointing to the need of &
better attitude by the communities
themselves toward law enforcement
Crime Needs Attention.
There is no use Disgusting the
| fact" said Mr.. Coolidge, that as g
Nation our attitude toward the pre-
| vention and punishment of crime
| needs serious attention. l read the
| other day a survey which showed thai
| in proportion to population we have
| eight times as many murders as Grea
| Britain, five times as many as France
Murder rarely goes unpunished il
Britain or France; here the reverse i:
| true"
The President was trying to show
| in this connection that the attitude
of some States and communities to
ward the enforcement of the prohibi
| ton laws was leading to a genera
! laxity. He said:
THE police force which is admins
tered on the assumption that the vic
| lation of some laws may be ignored
| has started toward decentralization.
| The speech of the President viii
| go down in history as one of th
frankest that have yet been made or
recent tendencies in State and Ma
tional Governments, and is Mr.. Cool
| idge's answer to the outcry of "bacl
| to State rights and less Federal en-
croachment.
! Copyright, 1925)