32 PROBLEMS IN WILD LIFE CONSERVATION 



The central government established by means of the 

 United States Constitution was given certain powers essen- 

 tial to national development, such, for example, as control 

 of foreign and interstate commerce, foreign affairs, the coin- 

 ing of money, and, in order to obtain the wherewithal to 

 carry out these powers, the right to levy taxes within certain 

 broad limits. The local units, the states, upon their part 

 were forbidden by the constitution to invade these fields but 

 were guaranteed possession of all remaining powers not dele- 

 gated to the national government. This in broad outline is 

 the basis of our constitutional system. 



The Delegated Powers of the National Government: 

 Those powers given to the national government are some- 

 times spoken of as the delegated or enumerated powers. 

 Nowhere among the enumerated powers is found the power 

 to make laws for the conservation of wild life as such. 

 The President, however, is expressly given authority to 

 make treaties " by and with the advice and consent of the 

 Senate," 2 and Congress the power to " regulate commerce 

 with foreign nations, among the several states, and with 

 Indian tribes," 3 " to make all needful rules and regulations 

 respecting the territory or other property belonging to the 

 United States," 4 and " to lay and collect taxes ... to pay 

 the debts and provide ... for the general welfare of the 

 United States." 5 



The Broad Construction of the Constitution: With the 

 economic and social development of the nation and the rapid 

 settlement of the greater part of the continent, wild life began 



2 United States Constitution, art. ii, sec. 2. 

 8 Ibid., art. i, sec. 8. 



* Ibid., art. i, sec. 8; for the District of Columbia, art. i, sec. 8 but 

 clause 17. 



5 Ibid., art. i, sec. 8. 



