The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1926-05-22
WOOLLEN URGES:
LESS GOVERNING
Continued From Page u

commissions which impose regula'
tons and administrative orders. The
Federal Government alone main
tains, 1t is said, two hundred special
commissions, bureaus and semi
executive activities. Twenty years
ago there were fourteen. The cost
then was million dollars. The cost
now Is six hundred and fifty million
dollars.
Tyranny--A Danger
Cost is not the only danger or
the most important. Liberty is lost
none the more to the tyranny of an
unauthorized autocrat than to the
tyranny Of a legislatively- authorized
bureaucrat. We need renewed I'M
derstanding of government. We
need renewed freedom from the illu-
sion that government is something
apart, with virtue and wisdom and
substance of its own. This nation is
all.of-us, nothing more. Government
in the Democratic conception, Is an
fundamentally set up by all of us
to Go what each of us can not do
for himself. We have gone far from
that conception an instrumental
ity, Of a servant; far toward the en-
thronement of a master.
Accordingly, I repeat that l shall
cast no vote until, by question to
myself | have challenged the pro-
posed legislation as to whether it In
wolves enlargement Of governmental
activity
Bring Government Home
THE second question l shall put
to myself before every vote is
this: Is it proposed by this legis-
lation that the nation shall do
something which the States can
do?
IF so I shall be in opposition, for
! am convinced that our country
needs the unremitting application
to all legislative proposals of the
Democratic principle Of maximum
local government. The principle may
be thus stated: That government Is
best, other things being equal,
which resides nearest those gov
erned. That principle, too, is basic
in democracy for the power of the
people can more surely exert itself
on government near than on gov
eminent remote. The embodiment
Of that principle in the Bill of
Rights was the achievement Of those
who held the philosophy of govern
ment that has constituted for a cen
fury and a quarter the creed of the
Democratic party.
Far From Original
THE tenth of those amendments
which were designed to protect the
citizen Of the State against the
power of the Nation reserved to the
people and the States all undele.
gated authority. We have gone far
from that design toward the point
at which the State will have yielded
the substance of sovereignty and
have retained, as the shadow, sig
nificance only as geographical units.
Already local self-government has
been yielded in dangerous measure
to national Capitalization. The dan
ger is written large in history. 1t
has been thus stated by one who
knows history:
'CentraIiZe government and men
begin to lose interest in it. They
begin to CIV lax in defending
their Itk'L.- and administering
their atiGAU. They begin to lose
respect for law and for their law
making bodies. To biocs and or.
ganiz atiOns and militant minoritles
they surrender power they would
themselves exercise if their local
governments functiOned.'
Federal Aid Overworked
"One way in which local govern
ments are brought to the abandon
ment Of their functions and to ex-
travagance is by so-callled Federal
aid. To be sure, there may have
been justification at first in that the
construction Of interstate highways
may be said to be the business OF
the Nation as vel as of the States.
Likewise, there may have been JUS
LITIGATION at first in other directions.
But the practice is going far be-
yond the justification. Here again
we think of the Federal treasury as
somehow filled otherwise than from
our own pockets. The fact, OF course,
is that Federal aid is only the turn
ing over to the States. and in I'M
fair apportionment, Of money which
the Federal Government has taken
from the people of the States in
taxes. The consideration for such
turning over is the cession to the
Federal Government of the right to
interfere in affairs of the States
which are none Of its business.
Reserve Local Control
II repeat then, that I shall cast
no vote until, by question to myself
and answer, I have challenged the
proposed legislation as to whether it
involves magnifying central govern.
ment at the expense of local govern
ment.
"The third question I shall nut
30 myself before every vote is this:
Is it proposed by this legislation
to do something for some people
at the expense of other people?
"1f so 1 shall be in opposition, for
1 am convinced that our country
needs the unremitting application to
AL legislative proposals of the Demo
cratic principle Of equal rights. The
principle may be thus stated. That
government is best which most
fully assures equality Of opportunity
and excludes privilege. That prin-
ciple, too, is basic In a democratcy for
The government of all-of-us ceases