New Britain herald., 1920-02-20


 By a series of statutes unprecedented
 in scope and liberality, with single
 of purpose and patriotic deVo-
 ton worthy of all praise, the Anler1-
 can people confrrd upon the presi-
 dent powers broader and more auto
 cratic than were possessed by any
 sovereign in the civilized world. Our
 capacity for effort. ouE fortunes, our
 liberty Of conduct, our lives, were
 freely placed at the disposal Of
 an executive whose authority was
 vast that it's limits were in1per-
 ceptible. The authority was eN-
 ercised by the president, by his
 heads of departments. his bureau
 chiefs, his government agents. and his personal agents, to the full. with out question. because the people of America were ready for any sacri- flee to win the war.
 Peace has come, ill fact, if not technically; but the war powers of
 the executive still continue. They should be brought to an end. It is not a simple thing, for new condi- tions have been created, which should be dealt with at the same time by new statutes adapted to the condi- i tions of peace, and subject to the limitations of our constitutional system. There is 9 double immediate pur- i pose to be served. One, to restore i the habit of freedom. It is danger i ous for people to acquire the habit l of lowing to power without limits. 1 ! They soon become subservient. and ! then character essential 10 freedom 1 degenerates. The other is 10 stop 1 & multitude of interferences. ill., 1 ! judged although well meant with ] i the natural course Of business i ! through which alone natural laws 1 can operate to restore normal con- 1 ! ditions.'
 AssaiIS Wilson's Plea. The appeal Of President Wilson in l October 1o18 for the election of Q i Democratic congress. he declared. i was mot merely an injustice to the 1 republican senators and representa- lives who with splendid loyalty had supported every forward step of the administ ation' but it a de | mand for the continuance, of supreme power by the election of &, congress which would submit itself 10 the orders of an executive acting at once as a party leader in politics and a dictator in government It was the instinct of American dem ocracy that repelled the demand. Such long has been the government of Mexico. \ government with a Louis Napoleon at ono end and a plebiscito at the other and with naught but suoservience between is free republic It is autocracy by sent
 The presidents defiance of the authority of the senate to advise upon the covenant of the League of Nations and to give or withhold it's f5 Treaty containing it," he continued, 1 was an assertion of right to con- tjnue the same autocratic power. It was d challenge to the right of any officer of the United States govern- ment 10 exercise his powers in any way which had not the approval of the chief executive
 Challenges Congress Rights
 The president had the constitu- tional authority and duty to negotiate a treaty. The Senate had the con- stitutional authority and duty 10 ad- wise and to consent or refuse to con- sent in accordance with their judg- 1nent. The right to perform that duty was challenged.
 By all the tren1 endous power of a president commanding millions Of civil and military subordinates and controlling the expenditures of bil- llONS or money. Senators were threa1- cned if they did not submit their 3udsm ent to the presidential wiIl''
 The treaty they were called upon to consider. Mr. Root declared, twas fatally defective in several respects, not only from the standpoint of the vital interests of the United States but considered as an instrument de- signed to secure the future peace of tho world" It was the duty of the senators he said, to test the true meaning Of every para graph, to con- slder the conditions which the pro- visions were to meet, to estimate the human forces of self interest and prejudice and passion under the in- fluence of which the treaty was to be applied. and to form their own judgment upon the results which would be produced for America and for civilization.
 Agrees to Reservations
 The reservations adopted by the senate" he insisted, "rernedy, so far as the United States is concerned the chief objections to the treaty They 1 present our entrance into the league Of nations from being an abandon nent of the Monroe Doctrine, with irreparable injury to the United States and no benefit to the rest of the world.'
 Especially important, asserted Mr , Root. is that they prevent the :5n- agreement in that article 'to pre- serve as against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing >I;&