Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-05-18
STATE RIGHTS

ANO hlCtiioa VI PiOSSNoAS AioS WV
been devised by which liberty could
be divorced from local self-govern-
hent."
This fact was impressively pre-
sented by President Coolidge in his
address at the college of Williams
and Mary, Saturday. His plea for
State rights was in keeping with
the occasion, the commemoration
at Williamsburg of the 150th ami
versary of the adoption OF Virginia's
Bill Of Rights.
When this really remarkable docu-
ment was drawn it waA evident that
. the wise men who did /: hoped to
strengthen the power Of each colony
by acquiring added power through
federation and united defense of
their liberties against the agrees
sion Of England. They had no no.
ton, however, Of abrogating their
colonial rights. Indeed after the
colonies became States they were
jealous for State authority and were
apprehensive of encroachment by the
Federal Government. This appre-
! hension was intensified on the part
J Of the slaveholding States by the
wish to protect their property rights
in slaves from interference through
the central government. The spirit
was in the northern States as well,
as shown by State opposition through
personal liberty" laws to the Fugf-
tive Slave Law.
Following the Civil War some of
the authority of the States was
curtailed and there has been trend
toward more centralized government.
This has come about naturally with
better facilities for communication
and moro involved relations between
the States. This trend has finally
become so strong as to be cause for
alarm and SO we see a Republican
President addressing a Virginia
audience on behalf of State rights.
we should be glad there Is at
this time SO influential a spokesman
for State rights, for he speaks out
of dearly bought experience when he
says:
mo plan of Capitalization has
ever been adopted which did not re-
suit in bureaucracy. tyranny, inf1ex-
Utility. reaction, and decline. OF all
forms of government, those admin
istered by bureaus are about the
least satisfactory to an enlightened
and progressive people. Being ir-
responsible they become autocratic,
and being autocratic they resist all
development. Unless bureaucracy
is consistently resisted it breaks
down representative government and
overwhelms democracy. 1t is the
one element in our institutions that
sets up the pretense of having
authority over everybody and being
responsible to nobody.
while we ought to glory in the
Union and remember that it is the
source from which the States derive
their chief title to fame. we must
also recognize that the national ad-
ministration Is not and can not be
adjusted to the needs of local gov
eminent. 1t Is too far away to be
informed Of local needs, too inacces-
sible to be responsive to local con-
ditions. The States should not be
induced by coercion or by favor to
surrender the management of their
own affairs. The Federal Govern
ment ought to resist the tendency
to be loaded up with duties which
the States should perform. 1t does
not follow that because something
ought to be done the National Gov
eminent ought to do it.
But, on the other hand, when the
great body of public opinion of the
nation requires action the States
ought to understand that unless they
are responsive to such sentiment
the national authority will be COM
PEELED to intervene. The doctrine
of State rights is not a privilege to
continue in wrong doing but
privilege to be free from interference
in well-d doing. This nation is bent on
progress. 1t has determined on the
policy Of melting out justice between
man and man. 1t has decided to
extend the blessings of an enlighten-
ed humanity Unless the States
meet these requirements, the Nation
al Government reluctantly will be
crowded into the position of enlarg-
ing its own authority at their eX-
pense. / want to see the policy
adopted by the States of discharging
their public functions so faithfully
that instead of an extension on the
part of the Federal Government there
can be contraction"
Such. is the broad vision of State
Rights, one not clouded by prejudice
or protection Of property, but clearly
demanded by that which makes for
the general welfare, on behalf OF
which the central government osten-
sibly was established.