Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-02-20
ROOT OUTLINES NEW PLATFORM FOR THE
 REPUBLICAN PARTY
Decentralization of Powers of the President Pro-
 posed
HABIT OF FREEDOM
 MUST BE, RESTORED

PreSldent Wilson's Alleged Defiance
 of the Authority of the Senate
 Criticized by New York
 Lawyer
 New York, Feb. 19.-Elihu Root outlined at the republican state con vention here tonight party. policies and the platform upon which he be- lieved republicans should go to the polls in November
 Most striking of his proposals were:
 Decentralization of the executive powers which have made the presi dent more autocratic than any soverign in the civilized world"
 Ratification of the peace treaty with senate amendments "long be- fore the presidential elections"
 Reform of the league of nations covenant by congress of nations at the call of "a republican president immediately after March 4, 1921," to establish "the rule of public right rather than the rule of mere exped- iency."
 Rigid governmental economy and the adoption of an executive budget
 Limitation of the right to strike at point where it conflicts with self preservation of the community; establishment of a labor tribunal with power to enforce it's mandates.
 Revision of the system of taxation (which involves the tariff"
 Americanization and the elimina- tion of "a lot of bolsheviki or bol- shevik sympathizers" from public office.
 Universal military training.
 Restore Freedom.
 More important than all," MT. Root said, "is the necessity that we shall restore our republican form of government, with the liberty of the individual citizen preserved bg limitations upon official power, and put an end to the dictatorship which we created in order to carry on the war. By series of statutes unpre- cedented in scope and liberality with singleness of purpose and pat riotic devotion worthy of all praise. the American people conferred upon the president. powers broader and more autocratic than were possessed by any sovereign in the civilized world. Our capacity for effort, our fortunes, our liberty of conduct, our lives, were freely placed at the dis posal of an executive whose au- thority was so vast that it's limits were imperceptible. The authority was exercised to the full, without question, because the people of America were ready to make any sacrifice to win the war.
 Peace has come but the war pow CTS of the executive still continue. They should be brought to an end. It is not a simple thing. for new conditions have been creatd which should be dealt with at the same time by new statutes adapted to the con- ditions of peace and subject to the limitations upon power of our con- stitutional system.
 "There~ is double immediate pur- pose to be served. One is to restore the habit of freedom. It is danger ous for g. people to acquire the habit of lowing to power without limits. They soon become subser- vient and then character essential to freedom degenerates. The other is to stop a multitude of interferences, ill-judged although well meant, with the natural course of business through which alone natural laws can operate to restore normal con- ditions."
 Defying Senate.
 "The appeal of President Wilson in October, 1913, for the election of democratic congress, he declared, was "not merely an injustice to the republican senators and representa- tives who with spendid loyalty had supported every forward step of the administration, but it was de- mand for the continuance of su- preme power by the election of a congress which would submit itself to the orders of an executive acting at once as party leader in politics and a dictator in government. It was the instinct of American democracy that repelled the demand.
 "The presidents defiance of the authority of the senate to advise upon the covenant of the league o1 nations and to give or withhold it's consent to the ratification of the treaty containing it." he continued twas an assertion of right to con. tine the same autocratic power.
 "The president has the eonstitu- tional authority and duty to nego- tiate tho treaty. The senate has the constitutional duty to advise and tc consent or refuse to consent in ac. cordance with their judgment. The right to perform that duty was challenged. Senators were threat. ened if they did not submit theil judgment to the presidential will
 The treaty they were called upon to consider, MT. Root declared Twas fatally defective in several respects. It was the duty of the senators, he said, to "test the true meaning o1 every paragraph and to form theil own judgment upon the results whicl would be produced for American anf for civilization.
 "The reservations adopted by ths senate" he insisted, remedy so fal las the United States is concerned i the chief objections to the treaty They prevent our entrance into thu from being an abaydonmeq | of the Monroe doctrine"
 Need Of Reservations.
 "Especially important, assertes l MT. Root. ssis tho fact tint the! Ipreyent the incredible Miptake O srtiele 1O.H H The TIT 1lne1!f n tha ! !! z !els < to presesS2 E 9s 2 a sises sz9