Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-01-06


inauguration Of the frst President Of
THE Republic, John Randolph. Of Roam
oke, epitomized the hostility of his day
| to the Federal Judiciary. in saying:
Il saw Washington but could not
! hear him take the oath to support the
Federal Constitution. / saw what
! washington did not see, but two other
men IN Virginia saw it-George Ma
son and Patrick Henry-the
Poison Under Its Wing.
With the growth of the consolidation
as developed by its judiciary system,
/ a similar evolution of the executive
department of the national govern
ment has kept accelerated pace. Per-
laps no potentate in the civilized
world Of the century now ending, pos
sesses more plenary power in his
sphere than does the President OF the
United States. An able and impartial
jurist and writer upon political institu-
items has summarized this presiden-
/ tial power as follows:
! 1. The right OF the President to dis
miss his subordinates at will. 2. His
unqualified power of giving sole express
sion of the sovereign will Of the United
States to foreign nations. 3. His ex-
elusive power of Determining when the
necessity has arisen of calling out the
state militia. A. His absolute control
CT the standing military and naval es-
adjustments. S. His power CT rec
ognising any state government as the
true and lawful one. 6. His power
over labor combinations, where by any
possibility the principle of the Inter
State Commerce clause Of the Consti-
tuition may be regarded by him as in
VOWED. 7. His power to compromise
American relations with foreign pow
ers, and to authorize the invasion of
a foreign country and blockade of its
ports prior to declaration of war by
the'Congress. 8. His practically unlinl-
tied executive powers in state of
war.
To these powers enumerated by
Judge Baldwin may be added that Of
choosing his own successor in case Of
the death of President and Vice Presi-
cent, though the statute fixing the pres
idential succession in a body not rec
ognized by the Constitution.
Nor has the Federal Congress failed
to progress with its two coordinate
branches of government in the same d.
rection. Time would fail me to mar
rate the many leagues that have been
travelled by it upon that journey. It
is sufficient to recall the destruction by
Federal taxation of all the media of
commercial exchange ether than that CT
its own issue; the passage of the ten
ure Of Office act, in order to curtall ex-
ecutive power; the enactment OF the
Legal Tender statutes and of the law
creating the Sherman certificates; the
provisions in 1865, fixing the time and
method of election of United State Sem
ators by the State Legislatures; and
the very recent disregard Of the consti-
tutional provision in permitting officers
CT the Federal army appointed by the
President and confirmed by the Sen
ate to hold seats upon the floor of the
,ower House of Representatives
mo one can be blind" said Mr.. JUS
tice Brewer of the United States SUI
preme Court, in an address to the law
students of the University of Iowa, in
1898: ''to the fact that there is a grow
ing tendency to have the government
at Washington attend to the manage
ment OF local affairs Let me illus
trate: In the early part of the century,
New York dug the Erie Canal The
State did the work and paid the ex-
penses. Now that the enlargement of
the Canal is needed and the work has
been undertaken, the question is be-
ing agitated whether the canal itself
should not be disposed of to the Ma
tional Government, and it asked to as
sumo the burden of further enlarge
ment. Many years the Cumberland
Road, turnpike, running through the
central States, was constructed at ma
tional expense; and it was matter of
serious debate whether the government
ought to undertake such work Now,
national corporations exist, operating
great transcontinental systems of
roads; and to the construction the ma
ton has given beautifully OF lands and
bonds. These corporations, by virtue
of their national character take all the
litigation into the Federal Courts. The
banking system of the country is Ma
tional and not State. Have you motto
ed how the Congressional River and
Harbor Bill,
Like n Rolling Snow Ball,
grows every year in magnitude; and if
rumor be not wholly wrong, it is made
up by contributions of representatives
from different localities, each seeking
an appropriation for some local i'm