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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 This law never has been repealed.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.