The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-02-11
Roosevelt and the Presidential
Office.

Office.
The venerable Senator Hoar, whose voice
is so often raised in protest these days
has lately complained Of President Roose-
velts eagerness> and active participation
in promoting legislation 1t seems to
Massachusetts, grand old man that Pres
ident Roosevelt is straining his constitu-
tional powers and leaving the limits of the
presidential authority to intrude upon the
domains of congressional : prerogatlve.
Senator Hoar looks upon the president as
an executive, no more no less; congress
is to make the laws, he is to operate them,
and once year, politely tell congress
what from his experience he would mildly
suggest it would be worth while for con-
gress to consider From this point Of
view it is not proper for the president to
take an active part in initiating legisla-
ton or use his position to drive 1t
through In a word, the old senator in
exorably stands by the division of our
government into three coordinate depart
ments-the legislative, the executive and
the judiciary. But in respect to this hard
and-f division, as in other ways. the
iAmercan people are making the garment
of the constitution fit them, instead of
fitting themselves to the constitution. I'VE
are slowly working out an actual govern
ment that will have more driving force
and be more initiative and less the crea-
ture of circumstances than the consti-
tutional theory of exclusive division of
authority implies.
The president of the United States is
a British prime minister and king rolled
into one. He is not only the nominal but
the actual head Of the nation. For the
four years of his term he has more power
than a prime minister and twenty times
as much power as king. Yet he can
not dodge responsibility for government
as can a figure-head king, nor lead In
legislation in congress as the prime min
lister does in parliament. II he Is am
bilious TO leave behind him record OF
great achievement, or desires to succeed
himself he will realize that he must, in
an unofficial way, endeavor to influence
the legislation which will be more or less
charged up against him. If he Is moi
ambitious, and is not strong man, he
will be content to relapse into the consti-
tutiona, theoretical president. --ls
In the February Scribner's James Ford
Rhodes, the historian, reviews the presi
dents office in American history, ant
shows how it has varied in Importance
with the man, and how the acts of sue
cessive presidents have added to Or take,
away from the power Of the office. Presi
dent Lincoln, for example, by his cours
during the civil war, has established i
as a fact that in time of national peri
or emergency the president becomes I
dictator. In such emergencies the oil
Romans elected dictator to lead then
through the stress to quieter times; Blu
in America the president automatically
becomes a dictator.
Mr. Rhodes does not venture to predic
what the presidency will be when MI
Roosevelt leaves it, but it is not har
for the observer of daily history at Wash
ington to see that if the president sha
continue to be successful in driving a
unwilling congress on to enact legislatio
demanded by the people, it will be easie
for presidents who come after him to TAX
an active though officially unrecognize
part in legislation, and very difficult fo
them not to assert themselves on larg
national problems The change will b
one that will meet with the approval {
the people. 1t will tend to make the ma
tional government more responsive to tn
will of the people and in closer touch wit
1t. After Roosevelt we think president
will have an Increased consciousness {
their responsibility not only for purel
executive acts, but for what the FEEDER;
government as whole docs or on1its to d