Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 April 1916 — Local State Governments Belter Than Centralization of Federal Power [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Local State Governments Belter Than Centralization of Federal Power

By Justice CHARLES E. HUGHES, United States Supreme Court j

AX overt ontralized government would break down of its own weight. It is almost impossible even now for congress in well nigh eonuous session to keep up with its duties, and wc can readily imagine what the future inav have in store in legislative concerns. If th re were centered in Washington• a single source of authority frbiu -wdrl •: v ei-di d all the governmental forces of the country—created ; •••! to change at its will —-upon whose permission all legislative ami administrative action depended throughout the length and

breadth of the land I think we should swiftly , demand and set up a el if-., fdrent system. IF WE DID NOT HAVE STATES WE SHOULD SPEEDILY HAVE TO CREATE THEM. Wo now have them, with the advantages of historic background, and in meeting the serious questions of local administration we at least have the advantage of ineradicable sentiment and cherished traditions. And we may well congratulate ourselves that the circumstances of the formation of a more perfect Union has given us neither a confederation of states nor a single centralized government, but a nation, and yet a Union of states each autonomous in its local concerns. To prc'crve the essential elements of this system without permitting neces-arv local autonomy to be destroyed. by. the unwarranted assertion of fedora! power and without allowing state action to throw out of gear the re|u sie machinery for unitv of control in national concerns demands t!i • most intelligent APPRECIATION OF ALL THE FACTS OF Oil; INTERRELATED AFPAIRS, AND FAR MORE CAREFUL EFFORTS IX CO-OPERATION THAN WE HAVE HITHERTO PET FORTH.

Photo by American Press Association.