The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-11-07
Power Of the President.

IL has been mainly in derision and with
the keen sense of the American for a
joke that throughout the newspapers Of
this country. there has appeared from
time to time since Mr.. Roosevelt's return
from Africa references TO his desire TO
make the Office of Chief Executive some
thing akin 10 the job of constitutional
monarch, or, as Job Z. Hedges calls IL,
the king business" If Mr.. Roosevelt
could be induced TO talk upon such a
subjeet-and recently he has not fought
shy Of many subjects that have promised
publciy-he would probably repudiate
any such sentiments and call the man
who charged him with holding them
some short and ugly" name And yet,
while the idea is preposterous in itself.
there is nothing preposterous in the idea
Of AR. Roosevelt holding it,
One OF the subscribers TO the Indian
apolis News has paid particular attention
to this phase of Mr. Roosevelt's political
faith and he marks that as contributing
editor who himself has declared that
he attends all the consultations of its
editors and knows and approves. all that
goes into the Outlook. he must be held
responsible for the utterances of that
journal in the matter Of the king bust
ness. In the issue Of the Outlook on
May 4, 1910 an editorial dealing with the
powers of the President OF the United
States declares:
He has the executive powers Of con-
stltutiOnal king. except as they are linn
tied by the express terms or necessary
Implications Of the Constitution itself.
We are TO look to history to lind what
his powers are, we are 10 look In the
Constitution TO find what powers are de-
MED him"
SO that. according TO this doctrine. the
President may do whatever he pleases
with the sovereign states or with the
people, unless what he proposes 10 do is
expressly denied him by the Constitution.
Even the King of England has no such
power as that.
IN the issue Of the outlook of June ..
1910. the editor strives hard to prove the
thesis that the President has the power
10 do whatever is needed-or what he
thinks is needed-for the public welfare,
without waiting for legislation by Con-
gress, and the Outlook holds that such
power is not perilous 10 the liberties
Of the people or the stability of the re-
public"
Again in August the Outlook declares
that by vesting the executive power in
the President
1T is clear that the convention meant.
and the Constitution means, that in the
President are vested those powers which
in England al that time were vested I'm
the English CHIEF executive, namely, King
George III
These articles may or may not be the
direct writing Of Mr. Roosevelt. but it is
plain that they meet his approval and
sanction and have his support II is
clear TO any one that such utterances as
these, such thoughts as these. are the
stepping stones along which the African
hunters mind has Travelled from pure
democracy along the road TO the doctrine
of New Nationalism. and, considered by
the light of this doctrine, the not-to-be-
forgotten Osawatomie speech takes on a
new significance, a deeper meaning.
Fortunately for the country. education
is pretty universal, Most OF our people
can read and think-and think right. Not
yet are the American people, as indi-
viduals, ready to trust their fate into
the hands Of any one man; not yet are
the States that so to make up this repub-
lie willing 10 abdcate their sovereignty
or TO look TO the Federal administration
for their laws or their right TO live.
New Natonalism. fairly Interpreted
even as interpreted in the Outlook by
Mr.. Roosevelt himself-suggests good
deal more than 'the application of old
m0ralities TO new conditions. A" It is the
antithesis Of progressive Republicanism
or real Democracy.