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THE JEFFERSONIAN
Vol. 111. No. 3.
SAYS ROOSEVELT IS IDEAL HOST”
(By Telegraph to the Editor of the World.)
Washington, Dec. 9. —The President is an
ideal host, easy and cordial in his manner. He
put at ease, immediately, even so shy and
awkward a man as myself. He talks well and
he listens well. He knows much and is wil
ling to learn more. He enjoys your own hu
mor, if you happen to have any, and it pleases
him to see you enjoy his —and he has a good
deal of it.
I should say that what impressed me most
is President Roosevelt’s sincerity, earnestness
and breadth of human sympathy. His in
terest in the common people is that of one
who knows what are the struggles and the
hardships of honest poverty, and who would
like to run the government in the interest of
all rather than of the few.
While the President was brought up in the
school of Hamilton, I shouldn’t wonder if, at
bottom, he is more of a Tom Benton Democrat
than he himself is aware of.
Mr. Watson Tells Just What He Said to the
President.
(Special to The World.)
Washington, Dec. 9. —Thomas E. Watson,
of Georgia, politician, student of public af
fairs, editor and historian, was a guest of
President Roosevelt at luncheon today. Mr.
Watson’s impressions of the President are
given in his own words above. What the
President said to him he asked to be excused
from saying, as it would be a violation of
ethics. But Mr. Watson talked freely of what
he said to the President.
“I told Mr. Roosevelt,” said Mr. Watson,
“that the spectacle of Federal judges enjoin
ing State courts breeds a condition not con
ducive to orderly government.
“I called his attention to the fact that
Oliver Ellsworth, of Massachusetts, in fram
ing the original Judiciary Act of 1789, intro
duced the clause that provides that the con
stitutionality of the statute of any state must
first be passed upon by a state court, and can
reach the Federal authorities only by a writ
of error from the State Supreme Court to the
United States Supreme Court. In other words,
no Federal judge has jurisdiction over the con
stitutionality of a state law except the judges
of the Supreme Court. This law never has
been repealed.
‘‘Judicial Accidents. ’’
“Therefore, such judicial accidents as Judge
Jones, of Alabama, and Judge Pritchard, of
North Carolina, have acted in plain violation
of the plain letter of the law, in assuming
jurisdiction over cases brought by private cor
porations to test the constitutionality of state
laws.
r “Corporation lawyers have pleaded that
A Weekly Paper Edited by THOS. E. WATSONJandJJ. D. WATSON.
Atlanta, Ga., Thursday, January 16, 1908.
such laws as deprive public service corpora
tions of net profits are confiscatory. No law
can be confiscatory which leaves the owner
of property in full possession with title unim
paired. That provision of the constitution
which declares that a citizen shall not be de
prived of life, liberty or property without due
process of law means what it says, and no
more. It comes down to us from Magna
Charta. The vassals wanted to be secured
from arbitrary seizure of person and property
by the lord. The lord wanted similar protec
tion against the king. The fourteenth amend
ment was simply meant to protect recently
emancipated slaves from arbitrary seizure of
person or property by their recent masters.
“There was no idea in the minds of either
the barons who wrung the charter from King
John or the framers of the fourteenth amend
ment of anything more than the safeguarding
of person and property. Profits on business
were not thought of. Those lawyers and
judges who have confused security of title with
the right to earn money have forgotten the
historic origh of the legal maxim.
“A system of laws which prevents me from
making a profit out of my farm is unjust and
ought to be changed. If the laws are so made
that a railroad can not make a reasonable net
profit on its actual invested capital, they are
unjust and should be changed. But in neither
instance is the law confiscatory, because pos
session is not disturbed nor its title impaired.
“I talked to Mr. Roosevelt on these sub
jects, and then I went over with him the fi
nancial situation, my ideas on which I out
lined in a signed statement in The World a
few days ago.
“But in addition to what I said,” Mr. Wat
son continued, “I told the President this:
“So far as paper currency is concerned it
is a question of whether the government will
use the national credit for the benefit of all
the people or whether six thousand national
bankers shall be allowed to use it for their own
exclusive profit.
“National bank currency is based upon gov
ernment bonds, and the bonds, of course, rest
upon the power and the wealth of the nation.
Whoever buys the bonds becomes a national
creditor, and when the bondholder is allowed
to issue one hundred dollars in notes against
every one hundred dollars of the bonds, he is
using the nation’s credit to support his own
notes. The bonds are untaxed and the notes
pay no tax, for, while the government collects
a nominal one-half of one per eept tax, it is
well understood that the proceeds of this tax
do not cover the actual expenses of maintain
ing the currency bureau, safeguarding the
bonds, engraving the notes and supervising
the operations of the banks.
Profits Both Ways.
“Consequently the national banker enjoys,
at the public expense, the following advan
tages :
“The SIOO invested in bonds bears him in
terest, and this interest is paid in advance.
Thus he has principal and interest working
for him at the same time. Besides, the SIOO
issued to him in notes brings him compound
interest at the highest legal rate, if no more.
Suppose he gets 8 per cent; then he earns
SBO on each SI,OOO of the notes, which have
cost him nothing. When the government an
ticipates the interest the national banker has
$3 to put out at compound interest to every
dollar actually invested.
“When it is remembered that he pays no
tax whatever, and that his investment in the
bonds is insured by the government against
all chance and change, it is easy to realize
what a vast advantage he enjoys over other
citizens.
“ The bond, of itself, is a good investment,
because a capitalist thereby puts accumula
tions where they are guaranteed by the gov
ernment, and where they contribute nothing
toward the expenses of town, county, state or
nation.
“A great nation, the wealthiest in the world,
with tremendous crop« of corn, cotton, hay,
wheat and every other commodity essential
to the needs, the comforts and the happiness
of the human race, was told by these national
bankers that the situation could not be re
lieved until we sent to Europe and got a few
sacks full of yellow 7 metal.
“Actually possessing more substantial
wealth than the cars and steamboats could
haul, we were told that these commodities
could not be marketed and business restored.
Greenbacks Were All Right.
“Since the foundation of the government
the issuance of treasury notes has been a law
ful prerogative which our Presidents have not
hesitated to exercise. Paper notes may be is
sued by the government at any time, and in
any quantity which the government thinks
expedient.
“Judge Joseph Story was a Federalist, just
as Chief Justice John Marshall was, yet Judge
Story delivered an opinion *of the United
States Supreme Court in 1819 in which he
held that a note issued by the government was
legal tender for any debt for which the act of
congress made it receivable. This principle
was affirmed in 1881 in the case of Juilliard
against Greenman. Therefore, the government
has constitutional authority to issue treasury
notes and to make them legal tender for all
debts whatsoever.
“At this time no act of Congress is needed
(Continued on Page Five.)
Price Five Cents.