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JUNE 13, 1913
The Commoner.
13
in the ordinary pursuits of mankind.
All of these questions arose in the
early years of our government fol
lowing the revolution, and also in
connection with the Chinese immi
gration on the Pacific slopo prior to
tho Chinese exclusion act, and in
every instance the treaty was held
to override the state law that wafc
in conflict with it. As early as 1817
the supreme court decided that by
virtue of our treaty with France,
Frenchmen could inherit land in
Maryland, although this was con
trary to tho state law (Chirac vs.
Chirac, 2 Wheat, 259). This and a
number of similar cases seem to show
conclusively that should California
pass tho legislation now pending and
which our secretary of state is at
tempting to thwart, the supreme
court would hold that the treaty
renders such legislation void, if
actually found to be in conflict with
it. But it does not follow that all
civil rights will be so protected in
defiance of the state's legislation on
the subject. The constitutional vali
dity of the regulation of education
by treaty is at least an open question.
The public schools are the property
of the local governments, and their
management is a typical function of
those governments. A state govern
ment could assume and place under
its own control the city schools, just
as it may assume and place under
its own control the city police, but
the federal government may do
neither of these things, directly or
indirectly. Why? Because by the
words of the constitution our govern
ment is a unit of units, and each
unit is guaranteed independence in
its internal affairs. Therefore the
argument of tho San Francisco
authorities a few years ago in favor
of segregation of the Japanese in
Rchools was by no means an empty
one. Suppose, again, the right of
racial intermarriage between whites
and Mongolians, or between whites
and blacks, be guaranteed by treaty
contrary to a state law, clearly such
a treaty would not be considered
paramount.
Turning now to tho second class
of rights namely, political rights
our government has never under
taken by treaty to deal with or to re
lieve foreigners of the disabilities of
alienage affecting their political
rights, or in other words, affecting
their participation in the manage
ment of the government. Of these
political rights the most typical ex
ample is the right of franchise. En
tirely apart from the utter inexpedi
ency of attempting, for example, to
enfranchise Japanese residents of
California by treaty contrary to the
laws of that state, it is emphatically
believed that such a treaty would be
unconstitutional.
It is imnortant not to confuse the
limitations upon the power to make
treaties with the limitations upon the
power to enforce treaties when valid.
The former limitations are limita
tions imposed by the constitution it
self they are inherent upon the
very exercise of the power, while the
latter limitations ariso simply out
of the failure to set forth in the
treaty itself or in act of congress the
provisions necessary to make the
treaty effective by resort to the
courts. Such was the difficulty grow
ing out of the Chinese riots in Den
ver in 1880 and in the Mafia riots in
New Orleans in 1891.
In dealing with this admittedly
difficult question of the extent of the
supremacy of treaties over state laws,
the interests of the people of any
given locality are, as Mr. Root has
said, three-fold:
First, their special interests as citi
zens of their own city, represented
by the government of that city;
second, their interests in. common
with all the people of the state, rep
resented by tho government and
legislature of their state; and lastly,
their interests in common with all
the people of the United States, rep
resented by the national government
at Washington. Is not this argument
of Mr. Root's a strong diplomatic
rather than a strong constitutional
one? Of course, the great advan
tage lies with Mr. Root and with all
other advocates of a broad federalist
doctrine, that the supreme court has
never passed upon the more difficult
questions of treaty interference with
the police powers of the states and
every argument that has to be met
by them is necessarily largely acade
mic in nature. But they are by no
meanB empty arguments, for how
ever ill advised and hasty the ac
tion of California may be in the
present movement from the point of
view of expediency, the state's rights
contention lying behind it all is cer
tainly not without some merit from
the point of view of constitutional
law. WILLIAM C. COLEMAN.
McADOO STANDS THE TEST
When President Wilson went to
Wall street for a secretary of the
treasury, doubters shook their heads.
But the president knew William G.
McAdoo knew him as the country
gradually is coming to know him.
The McAdoo order requiring
banks to pay 2 per cent interest on
government deposits afforded one
testimonial of McAdoo's loyalty to
the nation's interests. There is an
other and not so recent order which
has not attracted the attention it
merits, giving another line on him.
During the administrations of
several secretaries of tho treasury,
tho National City (Standard Oil)
bank of New York had enjoyed the
privilege of desk room in tho con
troller's office. As the regular
monthly reports of national banks
have come in, the clerk at the Na
tional City's desk has been given ac
cess to the banks' statements, thus
affording the National City informa
tion regarding the condition of every
national bank in the country.
Describing as irregular and im
proper the appearance of the Na
tional City bank's clerk in tho de
partment, Mr. McAdoo ordered an
end to the privilege, which, he said,
'tends to establish intimate rela
tionships with the employes of the
government and the acquirement of
information of a confidential nature
that ought not to be given to private
individuals or corporations, and
which, if given at all, should be pub
lished to the entire country."
Seeking to justify itself, the Na
tional City bank attempted to explain
that the information so obtained was
such as may be furnished to anybody
who desires it. "This," the Ameri
can Banker says, "may seem a
reasonable explanation for the gen
eral public, but every banker knows
that the reports submitted to the
controller of the currency contain
much information that is sacredly
Jconfldential, and. should under no
circumstances be submitted to the
gaze of any third party, especially a
competitive banking institution. If
tho prying into these reports Is not
illegal, it is not far removed there
from. "Wonder is that such a practice
has been permitted for 'eight or ten
years.' "
It was one of the favorite practices
of the Standard Oil company to sta
tion its agents as clerks in competi
tors! offices without the competitors'
knowledge of the clerks' skull-dug-gery,
and thus get possession of se
cret information. What the Stand
ard Oil company did, the Standard
Oil bank did, but, shame to tell, with
the consent and approval of the
treasury department. In William G.
McAdoo, however, the nation has a
secretary pi the treasury whom the
Standard 'Oil nor' any other interest
I can browbeat or cajole. Dubuque
' (la.) Telegraph-Herald.
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