The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1962-07-13
". B. Woskn.an

Rockefeller now is In print as an
apostle of federalism - and the
spectacle would be exhilarating.
if it we're not for the recollection
Of some of his former state
mentS.
Rockefeller the federalist is re-
vealed in a small compilation of
his 1862 Godkin Lectures at Har-
ward. just published by the Har-
ward University Press under the
title, "The Future of Federal
ISM" In it he espouses, and de-
fines, federalism in these terms:
1.-The federal idea D.. is above
all an idea of a shared sover-
eighty at all times responsive to
the needs and will Of the people
in whom sovereignty ultimately
resides"
Those words indicate de-
votion to the dual sovereignty
concept of the United States,
what Thomas Jefferson called
1.-THE beautiful equilibrium" be-
tween the state government and
the central government.
States Fighters, for example,
can nod approval Of such Rookie
teller statements as these in his
book:
"These problems fof current
society = whether they concern
civil rights or urban develop
ment, characterization or auto
nation, natural resources or
transportation never arise at
the same instant and in the
same way throughout a great
nation. A federal system, how
ever. allows these problems to be
met at the time and in the area
where they first arise"
Thus speaks Rockefeller the
federalist. But if we turn back
two years to the celebrated
Rockefeller memorandum to the
Republican platform committee,
we find Rockefeller the central
list:
1T american society means
active NATIONAL concern for
all sectors of our nation, none to
be neglected ~ from depressed
farm areas to disordered urban
areas.
ut means a FEDERAL gov
eminent that not only helps local
government to flourish but also
ORGANIZES ITSELF to meet.
with vigor and intelligence, the
host Of challenges. foreign and
domestic. that today confront
the processes of democracy"
NOW Rockefeller the federalist
calls upon the states to meet
their responsibilities as well to
assert their rights, saying that
they have great opportunities at
the moment:
For ~ SO great and urgent
are the demands of national de-
Tense and foreign policy upon all
the resources Of the national gov
eminent that, now as never
in our history. state govern
ments are challenged to face and
meet the pressing DOMESTIC
concerns of our society"
BUT let's look back at what
Gov. Rockefeller was recon-
mending as functions of the fed
eral government less than two
years ago:
|. A national progra m of
health insurance. based on the
social security system.
2. Federal aid to education, to
include construction. loans. fell
loWships, scholarships and "a
strengthening of the Office of
Education"
3. Authority for the Attorney
General to initiate school deseg-
regation suits.
4. Expanded presidential au-
thority in the field of fair en-
ployment practices regulations.
5. Prohibition against racial
discrimination in both public and
multiple dwelling house built
with FILA mortgages.
1t may be that Gov. Rockefel-
ler's experiences of the last two
years as chief executive of the
nations most pop ulous state
have swung him in the direction
Of states rights. Indeed, he cites
in The Future Of Federalism
many specific achievements of
the State of New York in coping
with mplex governmental
problems WITHOUT federal in
PREVENTION.
Nevertheless the ma g ging