The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-06-28
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC }. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington. d. Q.
SENATE POWER IN PUBLIC
AFFAIRS.


1t is a matter of historical fact that
since the foundation of cur govern
ment, we have passed thru a continu-
Gus series OF cycles, the dominant
leadership shifting from the legislative
to the executive branch and back
again The development now dis
cerned is a variation of the usual, in
that it is the United States senate,
rather than the entire body of con-
gress, which has forged to the front.
Heretofore the succession has been
between the executive branch, headed
by the president, and the congress as
q whole.
To trace the development in recent
times. the close of the nineteenth CEN
fury was a period of legislative con-
troll. These cycles are determined by
a variety of factors, but the one which
brings about the leadership of the
congress is the existence of one or
more great national issues. In the
close of the nineteenth century the
issue was the tariff. Such questions
as tariff and taxation are in the hands
OF the congress 1t alone can enact
tariff and revenue. laws.
Following the Cleveland panic, the
country was in the mood for a high
protective tariff, and this turned the
public attention to congress, the
tariff-framing body. The Mckinley
tariff was enacted and the congress
was the focal point of the people
thoughts.
Roosevelt,s Domination.
Then came the rise of Theodore
Roosevelt. Here was a personality of
extraordinary force and magnetism
coupled with a transition to new is
sues. The issue of conservation of
national resources and various other
matters which were more compactly
handled by executive authority than
by legislative, forced attention to the
executive and away from the congress.
The White House held the center OF
the stage for years and congress was
an adjunct merely.
The administration of President
Taft was a sort of interregnum, the
great executive issues being somewhat
dormant. but the momentum of the
the election of Woodrow Wilson, an
other dominant personality OF a type
new to the presidency This was fol-
lowed by the war which, as matter
of course. focused public attention on
the president, the chief
of the army and navy
In no previous cycle of American
development was so much power con-
centrated in the executive as during
the war. 1t represented the widest
amplitude of the swing of power from
legislative TO executive 1t will be
remembered how the congress enacted
law after law placing in the hands of
the president practically unlimited au-
thority. Regulation of the most fun
damental character was, in some in
lamation rather than by legislative
enactment. Prices were fixed in his
name the railroads were taken over
and operated, and a multitude of
other governmental activities carried
With the close of the war the pendu-
lum started to swing back again,
bringing in this case an extraordinary
difference.
AS the taxing power lies in the con-
ratifying treaties lie in the hands of
the United States senate.
One of the elements which brings
about these swings of dominance is
the personality of the chief executive.
1t will be remembered that with the
treaty signed at Versailles, the presi-
dent fell i'll and was forced to retire
from public notice and from con-
spicuous place before the people. Co
incidentally, the treaty went to the
senate for ratification and for the
first time in its history the senate be-
came alone the central point Of inter
est.
The constitution provides that the
treaty making power shall rest in the
executive and the ratification power
in the hands of the senate. But in
this case, the senate went beyond a
mere consideration and the giving of
and enacted reservations. 1t as
sumed indirectly the treaty making
rather than the treaty-ratifying power.
Instead of merely taking the COM
pleted treaty and deciding whether or
not ii should be consented TO, the SEN
ate practically rewrote the treaty.
When it finally was ratified it was
treaty so different from that which
the president had signed that when it
was returned to the White House he
nj : inc 70 he
other signatory powers. Recently it
is reported that the treaty as rati-
fled has been entirely lost.
A Senator Becomes President.
Now the curious result of this, bios
soming into the imelight of the senate
was that for the first time in Ameri-
can history a member of that body
was elected to the presidency. The
prominence which the senate achieved
brought its members into prominence
and so when the time came for cleo
ton, it was to the senate that the
people turned for a president. The
senate's experience in holding the
whip hand caused it TO undertake
things which previously it had left
for the executive or for the congress
as whole. By resolution calling upon
executive departments for special re-
ports or for special action or informal
tfon, it arrogated to itself functions
which before that time had been
Otherwise taken care or II conducted
and generally proceeded
as a ruling body.
The development of the dominance
of the senate went even further. From
outward appearances. it seemed, after
the inauguration, that instead of send
ing one of its members to the White
House, the senate merely had an
nexed the White House as part of
itself.
President Harding laid down his
famous doctrine that he did not favor
one-nan government, but that he
would be guided by the best minds OF
the nation. He appointed Albert Fail,
one of his colleagues in the senate. to
his cabinet, and also John W. Weeks,
a former senator. He maintained
sort of unofficial or kitchen cabinet
composed almost wholly of senator's