The National tribune., 1900-07-26
THE PRESIDENTS POWERS.

The same class Of perverse obstruc-
| tionists who in 1S61-'5 found Constitu-
tional prohibitions against doing every
thing necessary TO save the country, are
now finding legal obstacles against the
President sending any force TO China to
protect our people and interests. AS be-
fore. these objectors may be divided into
two classes-those who do not want the
thing done, and seek for pretexts to hinder
or stop it, and the honest quibblers, to
whom the letter is everything, but the
spirit nothing. While it is true that the
Constitution restricts the power to de-
clare war to Congress, yet the Constitu-
ton puts into the Presidents hands I'M
rcservedly all the powers that make for
erly equip any Chief Executive of a Ma
ton. No serious thinker on the science of
Government would for Il moment insist
that President should be bereft of power
TO act in an emergency until Congress
could be summoned. That would tie us
hand and foot in thousand ways, and
expose us to all sorts of humiliations by
foreign Governments. In these swift
moving days Kingdoms may be over
thrown and the whole course of history
changed inside the time it would take to
conceivably dangerous to US to have for
eign Nations imbued with the idea that
the President can do nothing until Con
gress meets and specifically empowers
him. And such an idea is contrary not
emily to the spirit of our Government, but
to the invariablc practice since the Gov
eTnment was formed. Our Presidents
have never hcsitatcd when an emergenc.
arose to take a liberal view of their pow
crs, and do the obviously necessary thing
trusting to public opinion and Congress to
purchased Louisiana. though. there was
threat at the time that this would prccip-
itate war with Great Britain. Many
times our Presidents have said to other
Nations that if they did certain things
war would result. and we have had peace
because the Nations feared that they
would make good their words. The power
of the President to use the whole force
of the Government at once in any emer-
gency is one of those inherent prerOgatives
of the Executive which is so obvious ana
necessary that it requires no direct
grant or specification. That is what an
Executive is for. We should not need I,
President if nothing was to be ever done
until Congress should specifically order it.
Then Marshal, or Commissioner, or
even Il clerk, would be all that was neces-
sary.
The President has always had unques-
toned power to order the navy to any
place he wished, for the protection of oul
to lombard cities, reduce forts
and land marines. Only few years ago
everybody approved when President
Cleveland sent a naval force to Panama.
and took possession of a considerable
tIdcL ol NOlOlilDldl ttITttpEN, III OTntF 10
preserve peace on the Isthmus. If he has
power to use the navy thus,
how absurd TO deny him the full use OF
the army in similar emergencies:
The best assurance we can have of the
speedy restoration of peace in China,
with such a settlement Of affairs as will
be approved by the civilized world, is to
have our Administration free to act ener-
setically and forcefully, and with its best
Judgment, in any emergency that may
arise. We must give the world to under
stand that whatever is done will be
backed up by the whole power of the
American people. In this way we shall
become mighty factor in having the
Chinese affairs settled in absolutely the
best way, and our prestige in the Orient
will be enormously enhanced.