The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-07-11
The Presidents Powers

We do not call the President die
tator, but for all useful purposes he
is one Except that he does not
have the power of life and death,
there is little difference between his
authority and that which the Roman
Senate used to confer on a distator,
or the authority that Napoleon AFRO
gated to himself Indeed, the Roman
Senate was never more submissive
to the wishes of the dictators than
the Congress of the United States IS
to the wishes of Mr.. Wilson
To begin with, he is commander IN
chief of the army and the navy and
as such may choose the generals and
admirals who are to lead the national
forces; he may determine when and
where those forces shall be sent and
may exercise full control over the
whole military policy of the nation.
Having also in charge the foreign
relations of the country, he may for
mulate and announce the foreign pur-
poses of the nation. When the time
comes for concluding peace he may
name the men who will represent the
United States at the international
council; and although he may not
tell them what they shall agree to,
they can make no effective settlement
that he does not approve.
All that of course has been true
at any time in the past, and of every
President in every war. What is new
is changes in the form of our govern
ment and changes that affect our
daily lives.
Congress has conferred on the
President the power to reorganize
the government. He may transfer du-
ties from one department. to another
and either wholly or in part deprive
bureau or a commission of its for
NOR functions and place them else
where. No doubt the government
needed to be reorganized in the inter
est of efficiency, but heretofore Con-
gress has retained the right to create
department and assign their functions
to them. If It were not that prompt
action is needed, the initiative might
far better be left to Congress.
The President, through his chosen
agents-and he has the authority and
is responsible for all that is done
exercises control over almost every
phase of our personal lives. Thou
shalt and thou shalt not meet US at
every turn. He dictates what we may
and what we may not eat. He so con-
trolls the supply of materials and the
manufacturing plants that produce
them that we depend upon him even
for the clothing we wear. There were
thousand and one articles in COM
mon and, as we thought, indispens-
able use before the war that are not
now to be had at all; for those who
made them are producing other
| things. Moreover, if by chance you
can get what you want, you must
pay a price for it that may seem to
| you excessive, but that the President
through his representative has fixed
You can have only as much coal as
an agent permits, only as much sugar
as another agent permits. IF you
produce copper, you may charge only
as much as the copper controller al
| lows The railways are all managed
| by the government, which makes
! timetables for its own convenience
rather than for the convenience of
the public, and which fixes rates for
passengers service and freight. The
| President decides what and how much
may be imported or exported. He
opens and closes seaports as he thinks
EProPer- By proclamation he distin,,
guishes between those who may and
those who may not move at viii
about the country.
If anyone had predicted, say IN
1910, that such a condition would
come to pass in this country, he
Ewould have been called a fool Yet
the condition exists, and no one com
plains. No one likes TO think that II
is permanent, but as things are al
present no one likes to say that it Is
unnecessary.
We are not losing our rights; we
are merely waving them for a while.
IN order to better accomplish task
in which failure would mean parting
forever with our personal, our poll
teal and our national freedmo--
Yodafs oO0A