Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-06-28

went to the senate for ratification and
for the first time in its history the
senate became alone the central point
of interest o
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
its advice and consent. 1t proposed
and enacted reservations. 1t assumed
indirectly the treaty making rather
than the treaty -ratifying power. In
treaty and deciding whether or not it
should be consented to. the senate prac-
tically rewrote the treaty. When it
finally was ratified it was a treaty so
different from that which the presi-
dent had signed that when it was re-
turned to the White House be. pigeon
holed it, never sending it Il the other
signatory powers. Recently it is re-
ported that the treaty as ratified has
been entirely lost.
A Senator Becomes President
Now the curious result of this BIOS
soming into the limelight of the senate
was that for the first time in Amer
lCdu ulSLOIy d LlcIlUtI " JudL pc0S
was elected to the presidency. The
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 a
whole. By resolution calling upon
executive departments for special re-
ports or for special action or informa-
ton. it arrogated to itself functions
which before that time had been other
wise taken care of. 1t conducted in
v%estigations 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 annexed
the White House as a part Of itself.
President, Harding laid down his
famous doctrine that he did not favor
one-man government. but that he would
be guided by the best minds of the
nation. He appointed Albert Fall, one
OF Ills COlltdRutS III tut Sfhhi w ulS
cabinet and also John w. Weeks. a
former senator. He maintained a sort
of unofficial or kitchen cabinet com
posed almost wholly Of senator's. The
whole atmosphere of the .administra-
ton was a senate atmosphere.
How far this development will pro-
coed is a matter for conjecture. 1t is
not improbable that the enate half of
congress will lose its dominance, but
political students are convinced that
the Legislative branch of the govern
ment as a whole is in the saddle. as
opposed to the executive branch, for
some years to come. The fact that
the two fundamental issues before the
country today, taxation and credit. are
congressional functions, lends color to
this theory.
I Congress is at work now upon the
tariff and before long will be revising
the tax laws again. Bank credit and
international credit are questions which
will occupy the congress for some
years. so il seems more than likely
that it will hold the whip hand again
until another turn of the wheel brings
to the fore some great issue which
can only be handled by the single figure
in the White House.
The judicial branch of the American
government never has gained the sort
of dominance which the legislative ano
executive branches have achieved. That
some such development may come, II
the course Of evolution. seems not i'm
probable. In various earlier civlliZa-
lions. the judges of the nations were
the dominant figures and such a sltua-
ton again may arise.