From Omelet to Eggshell

To hear them tell about it back home, nothing is more odious to the governors of the several states than the concentration of power in Washington. But last week, gathered at historic Williamsburg, Va. for the 49th annual Governors' Conference, they heard President Eisenhower propose that the Federal Government should relinquish some of its responsibilities in favor of the states. The governors reacted as though he were trying to hand them a sockful of scorpions.

"A distinguished American scholar* has only recently counseled us that in the measurable future, if present trends continue, the states are sure to degenerate into powerless satellites of the national Government in Washington," said the President. "I believe deeply in states' rights. I believe that the preservation of our states as vigorous, powerful governmental units is essential to permanent individual freedom and the growth of our national strength. But it is idle to champion states' rights without upholding states' responsibilities as well."

Carrying the Freight. The President cited school construction, slum clearance, disaster relief and traffic safety as areas where he had found it necessary to urge federal action because of "inaction or inadequate action" by the several states. His recommended remedy: a major federal-state "task force for action" to reallocate the functions and revenues of the two governmental levels. Said he: "The elimination of federal overhead--stopping, in other words, the 'freight charges' on money being hauled from the states to Washington and back (a bill, I remind you, that is always collected in full)--would save the American taxpayer a tidy sum."

For the record the governors perfunctorily voted to cooperate in setting up such a task force, but in cynical asides and "don't-quote-me" comments the majority made perfectly plain their belief --and in several cases their hope--that nothing much would ever come of the idea.

Ducking the Responsibility. The President's proposals, wrote the New York Herald Tribune's Columnist Roscoe Drummond, far from being acclaimed "with enthusiasm and a determination to pick them up and show that the states really want to reverse the tide of political power which flows to Washington, seemed to be about as popular as a stowaway at the captain's ball." Said Pennsylvania's Democratic Governor George Leader (who is prohibited by law from running for re-election): "I don't think the states are doing a very good job with the things they have--education, mental health and a multitude of other things." Connecticut's Democratic Governor Abraham Ribicoff was even more typical. Said Ribicoff: "It's like taking an omelet and trying to put it back in the eggshells. It's too late for that."

-Leonard Dupee White, professor emeritus of public administration of the University of Chicago and expert on Federal-state relationships.

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