The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1935-02-13
SHALL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CON
TROL STATE LEGISLATION?

Saws the Goldsboro News-Argus:
ssOne way in which President Roosevelt quickly
pulled in his horns and tried to smooth down meil-
hers of Congress after their present kicking against
understanding got under way was simple
cat the last session of Congress and the sfait
of this one, bills came to Congress all written OUT
People in departments of the administration had
written them and Congress was told to pass them
Occasionally slight alterations were allowed, but
mostly the two Houses simply did what Papa SAID
''Now that objections to administration bills are
heard not only in private offices but in committee
rooms and on the floors of the Houses, the system
has quickly been changed. Now, the President sug-
gasts an activity on which he would like law
passed but says he'll leave it up to Congress 20
write the law.
"That lets the Congressman fuss with each other
first and gives the President the advantage of COM
ING in toward the finish where he thinks it will do
most good toward getting the bill nearly as
possible toward what he would like.
However the practice of producing bills intend
ed to become laws as handouts is not at an end.
Congress having become somewhat independent
minded, administration departments are going to
send readywritten bills to state legislatures in ses-
sion.
1T is assumed that state legislators will be in
awe of missives from Washington for at least a
couple of months, unless there is such raft of
the ready-written laws that they become common
place"
With reference to the foregoing it is said
that around score of proposed laws, pre-
pared by the national administration in
Washington, have been forwarded to Ra-
leigh for ratification by the North Carolina
Legislature Of course, it is contended by
the administration, when this effort to in
fluence State legislation is challenged and
condemned, that the bills prepared by the
Washington bureaucrats are designed TO
synchronize national and State laws for
purposes of cooperation. In some measure
that may be true, but this is bad prac-
tice, and it is to be hoped that the North
Carolina Legislature will politely but firm
" give Washington to understand that this
States duly elected representatives of the
people prepare and enact such laws as are
believed necessary.
Like all Entertainments of the federal
authority on the liberties and rights of tine
States and the citizens of the United States
this movement is camouflaged. It is of
fered in the form of a sugar-coated pill. II
behooves the people who believe in our
form of government to do much thinking
i before they take the medicine offered by
the quack doctors in Washington. If the
, dose is swallowed the results will not be
what is expected by the patient or prom
ised by the political doctors in the nations
capital. AS matter of fact, the political
quacks up there don't know themselves in
most cases the nature of the remedy they
are prescribing or what its economic or
other effects will be. 1t has been demon
strated that this statement applies specifi-
cally to national legislation and there is no
reason to believe that it will not be found
equally and as sadly true of State legisla-
ton proposed at the same source.
The Congress for the past two years has
been rubber stamp for the executive de
partment of the national government, hav-
ing enacted hundreds of laws that are un.
constitutional and will be so declared by
the Supreme Court. If the North Carolina
Legislature becomes rubber stamp for
this aggregation of experimenters and pc,
htical prestidigitators, our confident belief
is that the people of this State will stamp
out the political career of every legislator
who allows himself to be so controlled and
manipulated.