The Washington times., 1922-09-01
Kellogg Bill
.DangerSignal
n ECENTLY President Harding
( took advantage of the lawless


request Congress to grant the Ex-
ecutive Department power to deal
summarily, and as an Executive
function, with the rights Of aliens
within our territory.
Ostensibly the object was to be
able to extend the strong arm OF
the Federal authority over aliens to
protect them within the States
where the State authority or the
State will is inadequate to give
them that protection which interna-
tional law grants to them and
which their native lands demand
for them when they are in foreign
countries.
In response to the Presidents re-
quest, the so-called Kellogg bill ap-
pears. It is given the name of Sen
ator Kellogg, but probably was
drawn up in the State Department.
The bill is revolutionary. 1t is
revolutionary in two aspects. Its
terms are a typical illustration OF
the weakness of human nature.
The President was only seeking
ostensibly the power to protect
aliens from the lawless violence of
people within a State-against vio-
lance which was contrary to the law
of the State as well as to the law
of nations. But the bill as drawn
shows how hungry we are for pow
er. 1t gives the Executive author.
ity far more power than is needed
to deal with such affairs as the
fight between the miners in South
ern Ohio.
1t illustrates the modern tend
ency to increase the Executive and
the Judicial power at the expense
of the Legislative power. UNDER
IT'S TERMS THE PRESIDENT
AND HIS SUBORDINATES CAN
NULLIFY THE LAWS OF THE
STATE, AND PARTICULARLY
IN RESPECT TO THOSE LAWS
WHICH HAVE ALWAYS BEEN
CONSIDERED EXCLU SIV Ell Y
WITHIN THE STATE JURISDIC-
TION.
By the terms of this proposed
act the Pacific Coast States will
lose control of their Asiatic prob
lem and other sections will lose
control of some of their most deli
cate local questions.
1t is true, as Harding said in his
message to Congress, that other
Presidents have asked for the same
power as he requested, though not
for the same power granted in the
Kellogg bill. But it is also true
that human nature does not change
in a generation of Presidents, that
all men covet power, and that men
whose character permits them to
come within hailing distance Of
the Presidency of the United States
are men who love power more than
all the rest.
But quite aside from the revelu-
tionary attack upon State rights
and the nice balance of power be-
tween the States and the Federal
Government, this bill presents a
serious question of the balance Of
power between .the Executive and
the Legislative branches of the Ma
tional Government itself.
In the last generation we have
seen grave encroachments by the
Executive upon the Legislative
power.
The Emperors of Rome for many
generations were not known to the
Roman people as Emperors, but as
Chief Executives in gathering to
themselves more and more power
which they claimed to be exercis-
ing on behalf Of the people and in
their name.
The people of Rome never
thought of Augustus as a monarch.
They thought of him as the Chief
Executive of the Republic, to whom
their WEAKNESS of the Senate's in
competence and the Forums impo-
tence induced them to yield more
and more authority to be exercised
in their name and in their behalf.
But modern historians, looking
back over those years, have cor
rectly decided that these cncroach-
ments upon the Legislative branch
Of the Roman Republic spelled its
overthrow. So we date the death of
the Republic and the birth of the
E,op;ra with tba NopouI.b;,, 80 A.,