Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1905-10-12

| the power OF the executive has steaa.
| lily increased. In England it has as
steadily diminished The crown can
act only through the ministers. AS
they must resign when not supported
! by the commons, the government has
been transformed into a government
! by the popular house of parliament.
In France, Italy and Belgium a like
condition prevails. In each the execu-
! tive Is dependent on the parliament
In the United States, as in the German
empire, there is a parliamentary
executive. The principles OF constitu-
| tionaI liberty can only be preserved by
strictly conforming to the limitations
OF power which the constitution pre-
scribes. There may be a man in the
white house sometime whose inten-
tons viii not be as good as those OF
Washington and Lincoln or Cleveland
and Roosevelt.
The executive department has at
times exercised powers with which
the constitution did not invest it. Mr..
Lincoln, good and great as he undoubt-
edly was, did much that was without
constitutional warrant. Both Grant
and Cleveland exceeded their constitu-
tional powers, and the president now
in Office, by a pension order or March
10, 1904, worked a radical change in
the existing law. The statute gave a
pension to men suffering from men
tai or physical disability of perma,
due proof Of the fact according to such
rules and regulations as the secretary
Of the Interior may prescribe" bill
to amend the act so as to give a pen
sion to all who served in the army dur
ing the civil war on their becoming 81
years of age had been introduced in
congress and could not be passed.
Then came the presidents order that
1T shall be taken and considered as
an eVidenttal fact IL the contrary does
not appear" that when a claimant has
passed the age of 50 years he is dis
abled. This order shifted the burden
OF proof which formerly rested on the
applicant and placed it on the govern.
mcnt 1t arbitrarily created a pre-
sumption of fact not established by the
law itself. TO the president his ac-
ton no doubt appeared authorized by
the terms Of the statute 10 many
good lawyers, however, it has seemed
otherwise.
When in 1900 the president, acting
on his own responsibility, sent a por-
ton of our land and naval forces TO
China TO protect our envoy and citl-
zens from threatened massacre by the
Chinese, and directed them to cooper.
ate with the military forces OF other
nations, his conduct was severely crit.
icized in some quarters. 1t is not
probable, however, that the supreme
court as now constituted, and with the
broad views it entertains on all con-
stitutional questions, would deny to
the president the right to do what was
done in China. The constitution gives
the president the power to receive
ambassadors and other public minis.
tiers, 1t was asserted by Mr.. Olney,
in a quasiofIlcia utterance, when he
was secretary OF state, that, as the
president had the right TO receive"
ministers, he had exclusive control or
the power to recognize or refuse TO
recognize a new or revolutionary gov.
eminent. In this opinion he was Slrs-
tanned by Judge Cooley and Senator
Edmunds. Mr.. Seward, when secre-
The recognition by the president OF
the state of Panama almost as soon az
an irresponsible junta had proclaimed
its independence, was not in accord.
ance with the law OF nations, ami
would have justified a declaration or
war on the part of Colombia. 1t al
fords an illustration Ofhow president
without power to declare war might
easily provoke a declaration of war
against the United States. The course
pursued was dUe to the presidents de-
sire 10 get canal without delay, and
to his irritation at the attitude of Co
lombia His strenuous method of deal.
ing with the situation apparently
pleased the majority of our people,
The San Domingo protocol of Janu-
airy %, 1905. provided among other
things that tine American government
guarantees the complete integrity OF
Dominican territory" The word pro
tectorate' was not used in the agree
ment: but there is no doubt that II
was involved in 1t. In effect it also
turned over to the United States the
financial administration OF the Coun.
try and made us not only an admins.
traitor in bankruptcy, but sole Judge Of
the rights of the creditors OF the san
Domingo government The original
intention seems to have been TO put
this agreemnt into effect without con.
sTlting the senate. Tho criticism this
provoked was SO general and so severe
that the president abandoned his orig
inal purpose, II he had ever entertainer
L, and submitted the agreement in the
form Of a treaty. The senate adj