Democrat Coolidge

"Here about us, in this place of beauty and reverence, lies the mortal dust of a noble host, to whom we have come to pay our tribute, as thousands of other like gatherings will do throughout our land."

So saying, Calvin Coolidge plunged into his Memorial Day Address at Arlington National Cemetery. From the subject of the dead who lay about him, he turned to discussion of the basic principles of government for which they had fought. And going over those principles, he chose to emphasize the question of States' Rights--the ancient basic doctrine of the Democratic Party:

"The individual and the local, state and national political units ought to be permitted to assume their own responsibilities. Any other course in the end will be subversive both of character and liberty. But it is equally clear that they, in their turn, must meet their obligations. If there is to be a continuation of individual and local self-government and of State Sovereignty, the individual and locality must govern themselves and the state must assert its sovereignty."

The things which the states must do to maintain their sovereignty he enumerated as:

1) Enforce their own laws.

2) Cease to demand Federal subsidies for public improvements, subsidies which make states dependent on the Federal Government --"an insidious practice which sugarcoats the dose of Federal intrusion."