Arizona republican., 1905-02-06
PHOENTX, ARIZONA, FEB. 6, 1905.
The Great Powers of the President

That the president of the United States has greater power than. any constitutional monarch is but vaguely appreciated by most Americans. In an address before the New York state bar association last week MT. Charles A. Gardiner. of the New York bar defined the prerogatives of the president inn putting far greater powers to the office than have generally been assigned it.. A single paragraph from the address will suffice to show the speakers view of presidential powers:
 By the very law of his being he is subject first to the constitution, and in executing statutes his discretion must be subordinate to the higher law of his being-the obligation faithfully to execute his office and the constitution He must first decide whether or not a law should be executed at all, and in deciding that he may subordinate laws of congress and decrees of courts to reasons of state. When in his judg- ment the highest good of the people forbids him to execute law, he may refuse to execute it, although congress may direct him to do so. When his judgment pronounces a law cOnstitu- tioanl. he may execute it. although the courts declare it unconstitutional and forbid him to execute it; and he may refuse to execute a law that the courts declare constitutional and command him to execute. Such exercise of his discretion can not be revised by any judicial or legislative proceeding; the only remedy is impeachment"
 The New York Times devOtes over two columns to an analysis of MT. Gardiners arguments. attacking his conclusions vigorously. Tt is but truism to say that the president may in his discretion enforce or ignore law of congress. Certainly he can re- fuse to execute a law, just as any man fin the street may refuse to obey law. If the president is advised and hon. estIy believes that a given law is un- constitutional he would not violate his oath of office did he decline to en- force it, for in that way he would most quickly bring the matter to adjudica- tion. But when the supreme court had affirmed the constitutionality of an act no president would continue to ignore it. save in a time of such public peril that his n-feasance would be over looked through popular approval of the larger ends he aimed at. The grave demerit of MT. Gardiner's argument is that it sets up the doctrine of presi- dentiaI Sovereignty not as of excep- tional application in great emergencies, but as an everyday working theory of the presidential office. If his req soning and conclusions were widely ac- cepted they would do infinite mischief. their influence would be in a high de- they would convey a totally false inn pression of the character of our organ ic law"
 Not even the fear of impeachment need deter the president, says the Bos- ton Herald. "The president of the United States appears to be exalted above the law in the conduct of his office. To him is attributed a warrant of authority that will enable him to alter or destroy the political structure. and even the organic structure of the state if it happen that he, can com mand a support in congress which prevent his impeachment. Why may he not defy impeachment, and, in the exercise of his discretion under his oath to execute his office and Ito the best of his ability preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the United States. declare that congress is acting fin violation of the constitution, and disperse it by the use of a military force?"
 "The Charleston News and Courier is facetious. For more than a cen tury the people of the United States have been under the delusion that they were living in a republic, as near to PIatonic perfection as it's founders, the best of them political idealists of the extreme class, could make it. until here comes this new prophet of a strong government. Mir. Gardiner, and SHOWS py the prlIliahI llSHl OI ms great intellect that our government. while nOminally a republic is virtually only an elective monarchy, with nominal president, who is really an absolute monarch. so long as he does not so far offend the representatives of his polit- ical party in congress as to cause them to impeach him; or offend the rank and file of that party so as to fail of nomination for reelection"
 The Brooklyn Eagle calls attention