ROSA: SCIENTIFIC WORK OF THE GOVERNMENT 345 



DEVELOPMENTAL FUNCTIONS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 



5. These three classes of functions are exercised to some 

 extent by municipal and state governments as well as the federal 

 government. The powers of the federal government were 

 delegated to it by the states, and were intended to be those 

 required for the exercise of sovereignty by the nation in its rela- 

 tion with other nations, the maintenance of a national army and 

 navy, the provision of a national currency, a common postal 

 system, a uniform system of weights and measures (although 

 this was not carried out as intended), the regulation of interstate 

 commerce, etc. 



In the early years of our history, society was relatively simple, 

 communication and travel were infrequent, and each community 

 was comparatively independent. Hence local governments 

 w^ere, in many respects, more important than national. With 

 the developments in transportation and communication which 

 have resulted from steam and electricity, the forty-eight states 

 have come very close together, commerce and industry have 

 much in common everywhere, uniformity of practice and uni- 

 formly good practice are generally desired, and it has been a 

 problem how to avoid confusion of administration and indus- 

 trial practice when there were so many legislatures and adminis- 

 trative bodies acting independently of each other. This has 

 been partly accomplished by the cooperation of federal agencies 

 with state bodies, leaving the legal authority with the states. 



Many protective and developmental functions have long been 

 exercised by the federal government because they were of com- 

 mon interest to all the people, and they could be performed 

 more effectively and more economically by the federal govern- 

 ment than by the several states, and there was no practicable 

 way of getting all the states to work in harmony on a common 

 program. The people w^ho support the federal government 

 are the same people who support the forty-eight state govern- 

 ments, and hence the plan of acting together through the federal 

 government in performing functions of interest to all is not only 

 economical and efficient but logical and just. 



