The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-08-13
UNPARALLELED POWERS.

'
any other ruler on earth. A free people have
freely invested their chief magistrate with
more authority than was ever before, by spe-
cifc enactments, put into one mans hands.
Against the absolute monarch OF antiquity
individual citizens had no rights; but his pow
er was not felt in every home and business IN
his domains as that of our chief executive is or
may be under our emergency laws. The late
czar was theoretically all potent, but as mat
ter of fact his bureaucracy had him bound with
invisible chains and habitually deceived him,
defeated his purposes and brought his plans
to naught So, too no one in France could
withstand Napoleon. His was the supreme
directive will. He could order the best minds
in the realm to put his ideas into effect and
could give his name to a civil code he took no
important part in making But as a matter OF
fact his power was never felt IN twenty MIL
lion homes as our presidents may be under the
authority the food control bill gives him over
the production, distribution, sale and use of
fuels, liquors and foods.
National exigencies like this demand en-
largement of the powers of rulers; but our
president owes the extraordinary authority
conferred on him in part to the fact that
wrangling factions in congress left to his dis
cretion matters on which they were unable to
agree. He has seemed to find this eminently
satisfactory. No concentration Of power IN
executive hands discourages him. He is will
ing to do everything that is to be done, and
Openly resented, as evidencing a lack OF conf
dence in his Judgment, the proposal to create
"a committee to share with him responsibility
for the conduct of the war. Yet notwithstand-
ing his ability and his temperamental readi-
ness to accept authority there is feeling that
- hove
unwisely overburdened, invested as he is with
some measure of control over practically every
industry and every inhabitant of our land.
The laws now in force give the president
power over the production, prices, profits of
fuels, foods and drinks, over common carriers
of passengers or freight, over every vessel
foreign or domestic in our territorial waters,
over all our shipyards and all our exports. He
can direct the expenditure of seven hundred
and fifty million dollars on our merchant fleet
and under the bill appropriating six hundred
and forty millions for aviation, may draft and
train the thousands of aviators we may need.
All this he may do in addition to the vast au-
thority the CONSUMPTION law gives him and his
constitutional powers as commander in chief of
the army and navy and of the militia of the
several states when called into the service of
the United States
Powers so great over so many people, over
such huge expenditures, over such vast and in,
tricate business interests were never entrusted
! to ruler until now. SO complete is his author,
| ity that he could carry on the war if his cabi
net and council of national defense should boti
resign No one doubts that he will use these
Extraordinary powers to the best of his abili
ties; and as long as his use of them is wise anc
successful the people may be content.