The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-03-08
Uhr Messenger.
THE CENTRALIZTNG TREND OF
THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT.

According TO the bill passed by the
United States senate President McKin-
ley has new and extreme powers con-
ferred upon him. He alone can ran
act business with the Philippines dur
ing the zee Of the congress. This
was the so-called amendment that Sen
ators Bacon and Pettigrew opposed
with so much of vigor and terceness-
1t really makes the president practlcA-
Iy a dictator in the achipelago. He Is
clothed with all military. civil and
judicial overs necessary to govern
the Philippine islands" Cor II states,
farther than the powers indicated shall
"be vested in such name as the presi-
dent of the United State ohall direct,
for the establishment of civil govern
ment and for maintaining and protect
ing the inhabitants of said island in the
free enjoyment of their liberty, proper
ty and religion"
Will any one, car n n with the
fear Of rod before him doubt as to
what this means and as to the manifest
trend? Is it o in the positive, direct
way OI grow HlS pOh Va In pNCoA-
dent Of the clothing of the president
with vast powers never anticipated
by the trainers Of the constitution? In
Mr.. H. L. Vests paper in the New
York Forum" which the Messenger
copied from and commented upon in
Sundays issue it was made manifest
that the original powers under the
constitution had been growing and
continue to grow" Mr.. West an able
newspaper man of northern birth, and
probably a republican,, says:
w have seen the president become,
under the all embracing phrase of war
power" the autocratic ruler of hun
dredS of thousands of people in Cuba
and of millions of people in the Phil
ippine Islands. He has appointed and
removed officials without asking the
cooperation Of the enate ne has
framed tariff schedules dependent
OF congressional action; he has estab-
ished governments at his own will and
pleasure. Congress seems to have alb
Dictated. After the purchase of Louisi-
ana by President Jefferson. congress
delegated to him authority to govern
the newly acquired territory. Similar
legislation was suggested in the pres
emit congress with regard to the Phil
ippine Islands; but ALL action was par
alyzed, because the administration has
extended its staying hand until at last
the president was compelled to ask con-
gresS to relieve him from the onerous
burden of executive government. Mean
time, the laws promulgated by the Iaft
commission in the Philippine Islands
declare hat they are enacted by the
authority of the president Of the United
States a phrase hitherto unknown In
our history"
The Messenger is seeking by the aid
of Mr.. West to enlighten its readers as
to passing events, and to give them if
possible a conviction that the original
government set up is no longer existing,
but a new thing, a counterfeit, stands
in It's place. The congress once gov
erned, as Professor Woodrow Wilson,
so clearly and convincingly establishes
in his able work entitled "Congression-
al Government" 1t is now an Auto
cracy. the president being more political
and aggressive than the congress
which originally was the strong power
in our American system. So great is
the growth of presidential power that it
was found necessary to introduce a new
word in the politics of u Countrywide
oIlIAIIOuS, az "OAN,
1t is the word that indicates that cor
o~nation" and not inauguration" is now
the proper descriptive word. and that
the newly crowned" is about to mount
his full-panoplied wal stead who ike
ob's famous war horse smellleth the
battle from affair as the fateful war
drum rumbles In the distance.
Mr.. West insists that already the
president is clothed with new n i'm
portant powers so as to make him
dominant in national affairs" We
make another edifying selection from
his paper in the New York Forum:
1.-The lines along which the legislative,
executive, and judicial divisions of the
government were laid down are no long
er equal as to themselves nor parallel
as to each other. The Legislative and
judicial are merging toward the execu-
tive. The appointment of the federal
judiciary is entirely in the hands OF the
executive, as, to be sure. 1t a always
been; but no intelligent man needs to
be informed that instances are unhap-
pily becoming too frequent where the
tenor OF q Forthcoming legal decision
can be accurately predicted through a
knowledge Of the political complexion
of the court. Even as l write, the SEN
ate has lust confirmed. after consider
alb opposition, the appointment of a son
of an associate justice of the United
States supreme court to be attorney
general of Porto Rico. when the court
has under consideration a decision Of
vital concern to the administration
The son of another Justice OF the SUI
preme court has justbeen promoted in
the army over the heads Of many Of his
fellow officers"
AL men who know anything of politi-
cal matters IN Washington know how
very influential Mckinley is with his
republican supporters in both houses Of
the congress-. With them. or a part of
the republicans he is so influential as to
practically control. That Is true, and
no man of information and character
1r;u 5op1- it Mr. Vast DOiOtS TO the