The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1909-08-10
BY Ernest G. Walker.
(Mail Special to the Advertiser.)


WASHINGTON, D. c., July ga
There has been a very decided change
in the methods of administration under
President Taft in all the departments.
1t began to become apparent before he
had been in office two weeks. The
trend and significance of this change
are growing as the months pass. In
the main the change pertains to the
Interpretation of the law which gov.
ems officials.
This can be succinctly stated in
sentence or two. Most of the depart.
ments had been proceeding on the idea
that they were warranted in doing any
thing not specifically prohibited in the
statutes. The idea governing the Taft
administration is that department Of
ficials can do only those things which
are expressly authorized by law. Be-
tween those two positions there is q
vast difference, which can be appreciat-
ed only as one applies these rules in
specific cases. The two rules are cham
pioned by very separate and distinct
schools of Republicans. The first is a
radical school. The other is conserva-
tive and, to degree, progressive. In
the long run the application of one
or the other rule makes difference both
in the cost of the Federal government
and in the extent of its operations.
Radical Republicans comprise the grum-
| blers of the Taft administration, the
Republicans who find fault because the
things that have been done are for.
hidden under the present regime.
Some weeks ago, when President Taft
ciet.
ant Attorney General of the Interior
Department during the last two years
of the Roosevelt administrations, as
! Federal Judge in Hawaii, the Senate
judiciary Committee, in hesitating
about his confirmation, raised as an
objection to him his alleged decisions
in the department that certain things
could be done because they were not
expressly prohibited by statute. For a
time that was urged as a very valid
ground for not confirming Mr.. Wood
ruff. But Mr.. Woodruff, now Judge
Woodruff, was of the Roosevelt school
and had been following it's precepts
He was only one of many departmental
officials, who had taken their cue from
President Roosevelt for such liberal
legal interpretations as would enable
the administration, in the terms of the
popular slogan to "do things
The idea at that time had not i'm
pressed itself very strongly upon peo
pie in Washington as emphasizing the
difference between the two administra
tions. 1t is otherwise now. For the
difference has become apparent in a
dozen government bureaus. 1t is no
where more apparent than in the In
terror Department where Secretary Bal.
linger is enforcing the more conserva
tive rule vigorously. He promptly i'm
pressed it upon his subordinates ant
he has emphasized it in the course o.
some very vigorous speeches, since hi
! departure for the West. He is apply
ing it to the Forest Service. the Genera
Land Office, the Reclamation Service
and to the Indian Office. Mr.. Ballinge
has been encouraged to this attitude BY
the President, who upheld him in con
tentions about the Withdrawals of public
lands, having minerals or water re
sources, and about Withdrawals for thu
benefit of the Forest Service. Direc
issue was promptly made on those mat
tiers between the two schools, as thu
school of more liberal Interpretation
: numbers among its devotees, numerou
bureau chiefs in the Interior and othe
departments.
Of course, they were quick, in mos
instances, to govern themselves accord
ing to the now dominant authority
Some, however, have changed front re
luctantly, because they believe tn
; change unwise. Secretary Ballinge
was the pioneer in bringing the ques
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