Speech #600001028

Of course my colleague and all the other lawyers of this body will recall that the reasoning of the court was this: That until Congress acted upon a given subject of interstate commerce it was competent for the State to act. That was the original doctrine as to all these concurrent powers. The court originally held that the States possessed concurrently with the Federal Government the power of naturalization. But gradually that doctrine was modified. and the court from time to time withdrew from the control and jurisdiction of the States certain questions. They finally were about to withdraw the whole question of interstate commerce and to hold that the States could not legislate at all to control interstate commerce.