Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-02-28
THE NATIONS EXECUTIVE.

|
Kissing of the winter wind.-Will Lisenbee
in Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper
THE NATIONS EXECUTIVE.
An Explanation of the Rights and Power
| of the President.
Perhaps no other feature of the gov
ernment has provoked such genera
criticism, or been so widely misrepre
sented and misunderstood, as has the
Office of President OF the United States
Its creation was the subject of singular
comments among those who framed
the Constitution; it was violently de.
nounced when that instrument was put
before the people for their Approval
it has been the target for savage and
persistent assault from that time to the
present. And in regard to no other
feature OF the government, it may be
added, have the dismal forebodings OF
| skeptics been so strangely disappointed
by the results of experience and prac-
tice.
In theory, it may be true that, as the
great function of government, the
power that executes the laws should
be in perfect harmony with the power
that makes them and be directly under
its control--the executive being thus
simply the arm of the legislature, act
ing promptly and implicitly in obedi-
ence to its supreme will. This idea,
though to-day observed in the work.
ings of other governments, was not ac-
cepted by our forefathers. In lodging
the executive power in the hands of
one person, the Constitution aimed to
secure energy and precision in the ex-
ecution of the laws; but in establishing
the Presidency as an Independent
branch of the government, removed as
far as possible from the meddlesome
influence of Congress, and endowing it
with important special powers. it sug-
gested to many timid folk vision of
royalty in It's most frightful shape.
Nor were these thoughts quieted by
events that followed in the history of
the government. Indeed, our third
President has given it as his opinion
that Washington himself believed the
Republic would end in something like
a monarchy. and that in adopting his
stately levees and other pompous cere-
monies he sought, in a measure, to
prepare the people gradually for the
change that seemed possible, in order
that it might come with less shock to
the public mind. This remarkable
statement we need not take without
proof. Whatever may have been
Washington's secret fears, certain it is
that his devotion to the Republic
shielded it from such a fate; and had
some of his successors in office, or their
advisers, been nearly as wise and as
true to the spirit of the Constitution,
they would have avoided acts which
served to strengthen, rather than sub
due, the popular distrust.
That the actual power of the Presi-
dent exceeds that of some of the
crowned dignitaries of earth is univer-
sally conceded. The Constitution did
not intend that he should be a mere
figurehead, or ornamental cupola," :"
TO the government. 1t not only con-
fided to him the execution of the laws,
but it armed him with a power over
the making of laws which he might
deem improper. By this, we mean the
provision that every measure passed
by Congress shall be presented to him
for his approval and signature, and
that, if disapproved by him, he may
return it with his objections, in which
case it shall not become law, unless
again passed by the vote of two-thirds
(instead of a majority, as in the first
instance) of each House OF Congress.
Whether this power was given to him
solely as a weapon to defend his own
Office or the integrity of the Constitu-
ton itself from attack by Congress, or
whether the Constitution designed that
he should in this way have a voice in
the making OF all laws. of whatever
nature, is one of the questions still un-
settled. The weight of opinion and the
practice at the beginning of the gov
ernment seem to sustain the former
view; the strict language of the Con-
stitution is in favor of the latter The
frequent exercise of the power in re-
cent years, in marked contrast with its
rare use by earlier Presidents, has
aroused harsh feeling on the part of
Congress and some very sober think
ing on the part of philosophers; it is
plain, however, that the present Ex-
ecutive has no doubt upon the subject.
The power is certainly monarchical in
its nature, and at first sight appears
out of place in a Republic where the
will of the people, as expressed by
their Representatives, should be the
law. But here comes in the deliberate
device of the Constitution. The execu-
tive branch of the government was
purposely so shaped as to act as a
check against rash behavior by the
legislative branch. The President is
not the arm of Congress; he does not
owe his Office to that body. nor is he
directly responsible to it for his ac-
tions. He is elected, as is Congress, by
the people; and, like Congress, he is
answerable to the people. Unlike a
member of Congress, he is chosen not
by the people of particular State or
district, but by the people OF all the
States. He is, therefore, as an indi-
vidual. the only representative of al
the people, and if, in their Constitu-
ton, they saw fit to give to him, as
their great national representative, this