Evening star., 1916-10-16
The President and Congress.

At Shadow Lawn Saturday Mr.. Will
son said to his Pennsylvania visitors:
And what l want to caH your atten-
tion to is that this is not merely presi-
Dental campaign. There is something
quite as important as the choice of a
chief magistrate. / want you to remem
Der that the real sources of action and
the real machinery of obstruction are
in Congress, not in the presidency. Do
you suppose that anything could have
been accomplished in the last three and
d half years if there had not been a
determined and willing majority in the
Congresss / have not led these gentle
men, have gone forward with them.
call your attention to the fact that there
is nowhere recorded single Wilson pol
icy. Everything that l have asked that
Congress to do was written IN the
pledges of the party itself. And the
only power / have exercised is the power
of cooperation, the power that all men
exercise when, insisting upon the OBJ
vious duties of great hour, men take
heart to do great thing"
\ very pretty compliment, and paid
at a good time for campaign purposes,
but is it more than that? How does it
square with the record?
One of the things that the President
asked Congress to do, and which Con
gress at his instance did, was to repeal
the law granting free passage to Ameri-
can coastwise ships through the Panama
canal. Had he stood upon his party's
platform and his announced position
when candidate that law would never
have been repealed. No democrat in
either house would have proposed such
a step; and had such proposition been
made its acceptance would have de-
pended entirely on the Presidents in
dorsement.
The democrats of the Senate had de-
cided not to pass the child labor bill
at the recent session, but reversed the
decision and did pass the measure on
the Presidents urgent recommendation.
The opposition came from the south,
where the democracy is unshaka BILE; the
advocacy from sections known to be de-
batable in the presidential campaign.
Had this condition been reversed. the
south supporting and the debatable ter
ritory opposing, the chances are a hun
dred to one that the measure would not
have become law when it did.
The so-called eight hour law was
wholly the Presidents. 1t was his ap-
peal that stampeded Congress. Had the
railway brotherhoods not won first at
the White House they could never have
won on Capitol Hill. But when the
President surrendered, and took per
sonal charge of the matter before Con
gress, his party there followed suit
promptly Had no republican votes
been east for the measure it still would
have passed, so completely did the Presi-
dents will dominate the situation.
The President Saturday was replying
TO some campaign attacks. which repre-
sent Congress as being putty in his
hands-as having abdieated its func-
tions in large measure, and become
mere servant of the executive will.
Gently and tastefully as may be seen,
the President put aside the imputation
of having become the whole thing; but
in doing so he overlooked certain things
which go strongly to support the popu-
lar accusation that his power over his
party in Congress and elsewhere is
greater than that of any democratic
leader since Jackson.