the nation. As practical men they abhor the existence of such a
constitutional no man's land as nature abhors a vacuum.

During the presidency of Mr. Roosevelt a determined effort was made by
the representatives of the Administration[1] to secure the recognition
by the Supreme Court of the doctrine of sovereign and inherent power. It
was claimed in the brief filed by the Attorney General and Solicitor
General that the doctrine had already been applied by the Court in the
Legal Tender cases.[2] The effort failed, however, the Court declaring
that any such power, if necessary to the nation, must be conferred
through constitutional amendment by the people, to whom all powers not
granted had been expressly reserved by the Tenth Amendment.

[Footnote 1: In _Kansas v. Colorado_, 206 U.S., 46.]

[Footnote 2: Bryce makes a statement to the same effect. "The American
Commonwealth," Vol. I, p. 383.]

A method by which the federal power and jurisdiction have been much
extended has been the occupation by Congress, through legislation of an
exclusive character, of fields where the states had exercised a
concurrent jurisdiction. A familiar example is found in federal
bankruptcy laws. Another and striking example is the so-called "Carmack
Amendment" of the federal Interstate Commerce law. The question of
liability for loss or damage to goods in the hands of railways and other
carriers had been a fruitful field for state legislatures and state
courts. The Carmack Amendment brushed away at a single stroke whole
systems of state statutes and judicial decisions (in so far as they
affected traffic across state lines) and substituted a uniform system
under the control of the federal courts.