Great Falls daily tribune., 1920-06-07
THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS

ing that Governor Woodrow Wilson or new DER
sew had been nominated by the Democratic con-
vention for president of the United States.
discussion ensued regarding the man and his
qualifications for the office, and one of the num-
Der present hazarded the opinion that ne did not
possess stiff enough backbone for the Jop
Thereupon Mr. Hill responded most emphatlcaly
that he did not know the man. Il do not know
whether he will make good president or not
if he is elected" said MIR. Hill, "but do know
that if he fails it will not be on account OF back
bone. He is all backbone and a law unto NM
self. No one can lead him or bulldoze him, or
make him do anything that he thinks should not
be DONE" That judgment of the personal char
acter of Woodrow Wilson put forth by the great
railroad magnate of the northwest mas oeeh
abundantly sustained by his record, both at home
and abroad. Everybody knows its truth noW'
but it took some people long time to flnd IL OUT.
The latest demonstration of the fact comes
from his pocket veto of eleven important bllls
passed by congress with rush and mostly With
out record vote in the last hours OF the present
congress. These bills died because the president
failed to attach his signature to them while con-
gress was in session. He signed about fifty olns,
but these eleven he refused to sign because they
did not come to him in time to permit hlm TO
examine their contents thoroughly, and he re-
fused to put his name to legislation OF great I'M
portance in haste and without knowing the full
import of the legislation presented to him by
congress and passed in a hurry in the closing
hours of the session. In effect, he says to con-
gress. YOU may consider that you are perform
ing your constitutional functions properly when
in debate
do nothing, and then jam through raft of I'M
portant bills in the last few hours of the ses-
sion without debate or even record vote, and
without much notion on the part of many OF the
members of what they are voting for, but that
is not my idea of proper legislation, and SO far
as the chief executive of the nation is concerned,
YOU cannot make him party to that sort OF law
making.
The experience of the president with the law
making of the present congress is not such as
to give him any confidence in its wisdom Again
and again he has sent them veto messages be-
cause of the apparent unwisdom of some OF their
laws, or because they sought to usurp the pre-
negatives of the executive power as set forth IN
the constitution. When these objections were
pointed out to congress they generally tried to
pass the measure over his veto, and when they
failed they changed the law to meet the obJec-
ton of the president. 1t is not surprising to us
that the president declined to sign any laws sent
to him in haste before he had a chance to exam
inc their provisions thoroughly. Besides, the re-
buke to congress for this method of law making
is timely. 1t has come to be a general practice
with congress to waste time in fruitless discus
sion all through the session and then jam
through great mass of bills in the closing hours
of the session, often without knowledge on the
mart of the legislators of the exact provisions in
the bill they are voting for, which may have
been materially altered in conference at the last
moment State legislatures often do the same
trick The president does not trust congress to
such extent as would justify him in putting his
SIGNATURE on Endorsement of legislative enact
ments which he has had no time to examine. We
don't blame him.
The presidents opinion of congress does not
rest on the plain deduction to be drawn from his
refusal to sign bills he was not given time to
properly examine. He has expressed it very
fully and frankly to the railroad men of the
country in letter in answer to request from
them that he prevent the adjournment Of con-
oress. or pull them together again in special
session in order to compel them to pay some at
tention to legislation designed to curb the high
cost of living and other legislation in which they
were specially interested The president in re-
fusing to grant their request, plainly said, what
is the USE He declared in substance that the
present congress had ignored his recommended
tions on these subjects for many months, and
that they cared for nothing but partisan advan-
do inf after