The Washington herald., 1907-01-09
POLITICS AND BUSINESS.
Da zxIinE, but Dangerous, Personal
Mastery, says Perry Belmont.

Perry Belmont was yesterday an inter
ested listener TO the debate on the power
Of the Executive, and made the following
comment:
THE testimony taken before the Inter
state Commerce Commission has disclosed
how far Mr. Hartman personihes the
'one-man power in our railroad manage
ment 1t is. however the system. rather
than its personal exponent, that should be
most condemned. Very great prosperity
has been accompanied by certain i'll
considered satisfaction in dazzling exhi-
billions of personal control Of great prop
critics and. until now, there has been a
general drift in this direction, from which
q healthy reaction has set in, with Sc
we're. and sometimes even cruel. criti-
cisms What has been done for life in
surance management IS now being under
taken for the railroads Of the country.
However deplorabIe and Injurious 10
the public interest and credit may be the
exercise Of the 'one-mau power in rail
road and life Insurance management, ii is
evidently more important that the much
greater danger or q similar drift toward
constant and repeated exercise OF absO-
2 y
the Executive without liberation Of
constitutional restraints, should be fully
realized. There Is now a well-sustained
demand that directors should direct in
the semi-public Institutions IN which
stockholders and the general public are
peCuniarily interested. More iusisteut
should be the demand that in the admin
Str3tion Of national affairs and for the
preservation Of our political institutions
the House Of Representatives. the Senate
and the Executive should govern. and not
the Executive alone.
Since Cleveland and Mckinley. evi-
dence has rapidly accumulated Of the
tendency toward the exercise Of absolute
personal control in Federal affairs. The
unfair and misleading letter 20 Repre-
sentative Wadsworth. the UncaIled-for
threat of the use Of the army and navy
90 sustain an untenahle position ia regard
20 the California school question. and the
extreme arrogance Of the Presidents at
titude toward the Senate upon the
Brownsville incident are in themselves
examples OF what the country may be
called upon % face The unnecessary and
personal appointment Of a Secretary Of
the Treasury who, whatever may be his
merits. held at the time of his nomination
"a position as chairman Of the Republican
debarred him for selection for that par
ticuIar office. This appointment raises
the inquiry why. IN the Presidents annual
message of this year. the recommendation
made i'm the two previous annual mes
saEes for the enactment Of a Federal pub
iiClty law. requiring the publication of
campaign and Congressional campaign
committees. was omitted. Such incidents
require. for their defense. all the legal
talent and ingenuity of men at the head
Of the Cabinet and of Senators, regarded
as the representatives Of the administra-
tion. who are thus confronted with
problems more and more difficult 10 salts
faCtorily explain.
What the policy holders and stock
holders of life insurance and railroad
companies are accomplishing for their
financial interests the voters will do for
the political interests Of the country"