New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-03-20
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

poii,io nv WooDRow WILSON, Fellow III n
tory. Johns Hopkins UniTersiy' A0"''' ~
s33 Houghton, Mi0n Il Co.
A. w,lsons object in publishing this essay Is 10
chow that our Constitution has proved failure,
.nt the ideal system of checks and balances aDouV
,xb;eh we|hear 80 much exists only on paper .n"S
tbe Enplish. or Parliamentary plan is great "e'i
hotter than ours and that, further changes III w
snr,t Of our institutions being inevitable VIC ousO
promptly to sapply with the unhesitatins 0oui" 'S
of conviction all thoroughly tested or "eli-oouo
cred expsdients necessary to make Seil-s
80, mo q straightforward thing OF simple
method. single unstntod power, and clear responof
biiityp He maintains that Congress mas s.o"uny
enoroached and rs still encroaching. upon oo'n quo
coordinate branches, the executive anu .no
Judiciary, while the federal authoIi'y
nracteally subiugated the States yet that ncreaSo
s ,o,,or has Leen ACCOMPANIED by diminishing
responsibility so that Congress Is az o"o0 in0"
.oo and ineicent an obstacle to the carry lug ou'
,r .,,,, no.itive policy either the Executives vi
;ta own The government cannot be saio 10 ioiio"
;ntolligible limos of action when th9 lcs'si"''o NN
administrative departments are lhua''no'" ."
an often is the case; nor is there oven any po''
or accountability in Congress itself, because o"'',
mass is Sd conducted there that legislation Is no0
controlled by the majority. hut proceeus son0i"nS
Inv n series of compromises. This brings us 10 VIC
most important and most interesting part OF tho
book a description of the system OF law-naklne ny
committees The business of the House OF REPRE-
scntotives is distributed among forty-seven stand
;nc Committees and the operation of the rules'ls
s,cb that the forty-seven charmen have pracucai
control of all bills Legislation Is thus shlited ironi
the floor of the House to the privacy OF tue coii-
mittee-rooms; party responsibility Is taken away
NV the representation of both parties on every
committee; and party vigor is made impossiolo oy
the lack of concert among the forty-seven cnair-
men, each of whom is in fact anxious 10 pro"o'o
his own bills at the cost OF all others Inc anoha-
lies and defects of this curious system nave oeen
nointed out before and Mr.. Wilson has somewhat
f;,;or theme He amplifes it. however, with
zeal and with an eye for all its weakest points.
p,rbans his description would be more effective IL
it were less rhetorical.
II Is not ouite clear what substitute Mr.. Wilson
would propose for method which mas great h'eli''
as we'll as great mperfectons, and which mas grown
gradually out of q general sense OF the pu"iio
needs His aim is not to suggest a remedy ouV "
demonstrate the disease. His preferences. never
theless are obviously for some such approach To-
ward the English system as wonld make I'LL"
majority party in Congress absolute in It's controi
of all legislation and also of the administration of
the laws The majority would then DO responsible
for tho entire conduct of the government. and the
President and his Cabinet would hold office only at
their will Mr.. Wilson apparently doee not see that
his plan would mean the complete opllteratlon Vi
the federal principle, which is the characteristic
note of the American system, and the principle
which has been most sgnally vindicated Oy our
century of successful experiment. 1t would mean
also of course the oblieraton of tho Senate as well
as of the States; and how the announcement
necessity of dividing and distributing the onerous
4f,o nf Representatives
removed by increasing the mass and variety OF that
business we fail to see 1t is hardly worth while,
however, to enter upon defence of a system oil
government which almost every competent polit-
ical student knows to be the only system when
could hold this country together. MIR. wilson
starts with the assumption that there has recently
been a change in the general feeling toward the
Constitution, aud that our generation" mas
aserious doubts abOut the superiority OF our own
institutions as compared with the systems OF
Europe This is quite wrong Our generation has
no such absurd feeling. And Mr.. Wilson Is also
grossly deceived in imagining that the Consttu,
tion with its balance of powers. has been changer
from the original pattern. 1t is wonder TO us that
any man can read the history of the last twenty-five
wears without perceiving that the constitutlOhai
ehecks and balances" as etectual to-day as
they ever were that the form of our government
has developed only in the line OF growth marKeu
out for IL from the beginning, anu thaV Vne oouh-
diaries of federal and State authority insteau Oh
becoming confused. steadily getting more and
more distinct-the Judiciary (which Mr. Wilson
thinks that Congress has suujugatedl having
especially indicated its independence and its
superority to party prejudice by overturning a
whole series of enactments passed during the recon-
strncton period in forgetfuness of those limits of
Jurisdiction. The fact is that Mr. Wilson is so
careless and contradictory in his statements and so
hasty and shortsighted III his conclusions that to
answer him in detail wOuld take more time and
room than We can afford for such an easy but I'M
necessary enterprise.