The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1962-08-28

WHEN tne constitution OF the United
" States finally was adopted the
trainers believed every safeguard had
been placed around the freedom and
liberties of the people, including the
minorities. A group of sovereign states
had entered combine for their mutual
protection by giving enumerated powers
to the central government to protect
the interests of the whole, and reserving
all other powers to the individual states
for the protection and perpetuation of
freedom and liberty for its people.
Realizing that conditions and circum-
stances might change, methods of ex-
banding, changing or adapting the
Constitution to the needs Of the people
were arranged through provision for
amendments requiring three-fourths
vote of the individual states. The docu-
ment as written was4as perfect as hu-
mans might be expected to write.
A delicate system of checks and bal
ances, between the states and the CEN
trail government, and between the three
main departmental functions : the
executive, the legislative and the Judi
cial branches, was detailed in plain.
lucid language
AS time went on, issues arose. One
of the prime issues came to head in
the 1905, when a bloody and disastrous
war was fought in defense of consti
tutlonal principle, the right of states
to govern themselves. An UNDERLYING
cause was an emotional appeal for the
abolition of slavery, famed bv aboli-
tionists of the North. The condition of
slavery in the South was being solved
and we are sure would have been solved
IN time. The war was lost, the slaves
were freed, the conquered states were
made military districts, and the Four
teenth Amendment was passed under
blight of legal uncertainty, to say the
least But the principle of state SOW
erelgnty was not determined and still
remains to haunt the people of this great
nation Is this government of so sover-
elgn states? Or, is this one government
controlled from Washington? Have
the people rights; have the states DOW
ers; or has system, Of political office
holders been set up to govern? Is the
governmental agency the Congress of
the United States, or the executive and
administrative branch, or the judicial
department? The answer to these uues
lions are fundamental to the future of
the nation. In recent years, within the
knowledge of the older generation, con-
troll has been concentrated in the CEN
trail government, and the freedoms and
liberties of the states and of the people
have been Clipped away. Where will
this end?
Government by reprisal may supplant
government by the people.
An airforce base, contributing to the
economic welfare of state or locality
may be moved to a location where
people are more friendly to the admins
tration; contract for supplies may be
withheld from company displeasing
the executive or executives; government
big spending has an unlimited power
on the economies of the people. Re-
prisals can exert untold pressures to
perpetuate big government. and or
partisan government. We have almost
reach that condition.
Not only the executive branch but
now the judicial branch has assumed
powers of reprisals. Businessmen have
felt the hand of the Department of
Justice; Independent farmers know
judicial power; manufacturers, recent
ly steel executives, have been threaten
ed by executive and judicial power and
investigation
Prince Edward County, which has
attempted to maintain control of it's
educational system has felt the power
of economic reprisal
Last August, federal court enjoined
the State and local governments from
paying to the parents of Prince Edward
scholarships due them under state law.