WILLIAM G. JORDAN

The conference of the Governors at Washington this month marks the
beginning of a new epoch in the political history of the nation. It is
the first meeting ever held of the State Executives as a body seeking,
by their united influence, to secure uniform laws on vital subjects for
the welfare of the entire country. It should not be confused with the
Roosevelt conferences of May and December, 1908. It is in no sense a
continuation of them. It is essentially different in aim, method, and
basis, and is larger, broader, and more far-reaching in its
possibilities.

The nation to-day is facing a grave crisis in its history. Vital
problems affecting the welfare of the whole country, remaining unsolved
through the years, have at last reached an acute stage where they
_demand_ solution. This solution must come now in some form--either in
harmony with the Constitution or in defiance of it. The Federal
Government has been and still is absolutely powerless to act because of
constitutional limitation; the State governments have the sole power,
but heretofore no way has been provided for them to exercise that
power.

Senator Elihu Root points out fairly, squarely, and relentlessly the
two great dangers confronting the Republic: the danger of the National
Government breaking down in its effective machinery through the burdens
that threaten to be cast upon it; and the danger that the local
self-government of the States may, through disuse, become inefficient.
The House of Governors plan seems to have in it possibilities of
mastering both of these evils at one stroke.