The Washington herald., 1918-03-17

Congress No Mere Amanuensls.
Il believe that the time has come
to definitely impress upon the Execu-
tive and upon the country that we
propose to do some thinking for our
selves, that we propose to scrutinize
rigidly the legislative proposal sent
US from the other end OF the Avenue
and to enact them with such addi-
tions, subtractions or alterations as
seem best to US, acting in the capacity
imposed by the Constitution, in short,
that We propose to conduct ourselves
as the legislative representatives of
the American people, and not simply
as the amanuenses Of those holding
executive Office
Longworth, describing the revi-
sion. said, I'VE have built the leg
islative framework of the maehin-
cry ourselves We have hung a re-
specially sized monkey-wrench on
the safety valve and we have
changed engineers"
"AppsIIIngIy Significant" q.
AS Originally presented. Long
worth said. the bill gave to Mr..
McAdOo powers that were abso-
lutely revolutionary. He asked:
DO your minds grasp the ap-
palling significance of the sum of
$4,000. 100000 to be granted or with
held from American business. by
one Individual? 1t is four and one
half times as much as it has ever
cost this government to live in any
one year. 1t is about equivalent to,
the combined debt at the beginning
of the war of the United States
81 affy Nyi1loon
country and township in the United
States It would finance three
times over the Boer war m South
Africa.
TT would have come within 30
per cent of financing the Napo-
leonic wars. spreading over a period
of more than % years. 1t would
have come within 40 per cent of fl
nancing the entire cost of the civil
war. And it was proposed to grant
to one mainland at his own re-
quest-the power to dispense this
huge sum as he pleased.
These two powers. of controlling
credit and controlling the issue of Sc
curities, would have made OF Mr.. Nc
AdoO the arbiter of the business and
finance of America. No war lord in
history, no Kaiser or Car, ever had
such power. He would have been in n
position to make or break men or cor
porations at will. He could build up
or destroy communities. His smile
could bring prosperity to a State, his
frown make Of it an industrial wilder
ness.
Ever Growing Danger.
THE mere transmittaI to Congress OF
such a bill is illustrative of a danger
every day growing in menace to the
institutions bequeathed to US by our
fathers. mean the continuous reach
ling out of the executive branches OF
the government for more and more
power. 1t is a danger lightly passed
over.
"On about the same day that this bill
made its appearance in the House a
bill, known as the Overman bill, was
introduced in the Senate, also pre-
pared at the other end of the avenue,
designed to turn over to the President
the power to remodel our system OF
government in any way he saw fit. L
do not think it is an, exaggeration to
say that if these two bills had passed
in their original form, in the form in
which it was hoped and intended they
should pass. Congress might just as
well have abdicated.
we might have been asked, as
a matter of form. to meet for a few
days once year to vote forty or
{ fifty billion dollars to the executive,
but thereafter our functions would
have ceased. II it was contemplated
to found a dynasty in this country no
more effective steps could be taken
in that direction than by the pas
sage OF those two bills originally
written