Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-01-17

~ rescue of the National Legis-
lature from this invasion of
Its prerogatives is the most impor-
tant concern of the American people
today.
This was, in substance, the answer
OF c. +. Mcclure to my question as
to what is the most serious political
problem in this country. A week
ago former Senator Stanley of Ken
lucky had uttered a warming in an
interview he granted me against the
flood of laws pouring from Congress.
Mr.. Mcclure reminded me that. while
Congress is damned for enactinE too
many laws, its performance is as
nothing compared with the deluge
of rules, regulations and admins
trative orders having the force of
laws promulgated by scores of eXecu-
tive departments and aimed at every
activity of business and life.
G. T.. Mcclure has been secretary
OF the InterAmerican High Commits
sion and was one of the co-authorS
of the book, "Germany's Capacity to
Pay" which widely read here and
IN England, and translated into many
foreign languages. was the first sci
entftic ANALYSIS Of the troublesome
problem OF reparations. He has been
a close student of government ma
chinery at close range both from
within and without the Federal ad-
ntniStration.
World Drive OH Legislators.
All over the world there Is dis
position to belittle the legislatures
and exalt the executives. Even nc
tators are spoken of with favor. The
Soviets have nullitied their lesisla-
lures and assembled all power in the
hands of seven men. In Greece the
nremier has announced that he Will
ruie without the legislature and by
the aid of the army and .'publlc con-
science: MuSsolini is the government
in italy; Spain and Bulgaria are I'M
der executive domination; Venezuela
Bolivia and Peru TO the south or US
have adopted the fashion of one-man
executive government. IN our own
country there is a decided movement
on foot to burlesque our Congress
ms tnCompetent and TO eulogize the
efficiency of the executive branch OF
the Government. ,
1.-THE American Government today,
said Mr. Mcclure, sis dangerously
OUT OF focus. The Federal ''5VeTit-
ment has steadily encroached upon
the constitutional rights of the states
until their real and sovereign power
has entirely wasted away. In the
Federal Government the executive
power today overshadows Congress
and promises to reduce the leSlslalure
to a. position of complete subordlna-
ton.
Calls Change Serious.
Few citizens realize the serious
alteration IN the theory and spirit OF
our Government which has taken
place in the last few decades. We
face today a condition rapidly making
inevitable administrative tyranny,
legislative subserviency and the sur
render of their sovereign rights by
the States.
Undoubtedly the executive ma
chiner-v OF the Federal Government
has grown so much more rapidly than
that of the National Legislature that
the average Individual tends to think
of the former today as the most I'M
nortant feature Of the Federal struc-
ture. Attention is often drawn to
the enormous grist of material being
ground out annually by legislatures.
1t is true that our State and Ma
ttonal legislative hoppers work at an
enormous clip. But considerably
more bulky and alarming than the
volume of annual statutes Is that OF
administrative embroidery In the
form Of rules, regulations and the
thousand and one official schedules
and forms which administrators de-
light in devising. 1t is this sec
ondary legislation that the individual
meets in most of his contacts with
Government. Consequently he comes
to view the delegation Of authority
by Congress to administrative ofhcefs
and their bureaucratic stairs as an
automa tic and natural process.
Blames Congress for Change.
"The public. not acquainted with
the exact situation and being often
remote from contact with the Fed
eral Government, has viewed COM
Dlacently the fact that Congress was
more and more readily endowing the
executive with blanket powers ana
that an administrative apparatus was
being erected capable Of being trans
formed into a bureaucratic tyranny
based upon the principle that the
State can do no wrong, and animated
by a feeling that the Nation lives In
order that the bureaucracy may
prosper.
I'm the last analysis Congress is to
blame for allowing the disease to go
on. for occasionally resorting to blind
and haphazard methods of reform.
Legislative bodies have always had
task in protecting the central idea
of representative government from
executive encroachment. The coun-
tries to which we owe the whole mod
ern idea of legislative control of gov
ernment-Spain of the later middle
ages, for example; north Italy and
other continental countrieS-Offer album
dant examples of the progressive des-
sication and decline of legislative in
stitutionS.' England alone was the
parliament to retain effective control
into our century, only to lose 1t defl-
nitely to bureaucracy in our day.
THE modern continental, Latin
American and Asiatic legislative bodies
have been offering no serious compe-
tition to bureaucracy Tor, in some pre-
war countries, autocracy). At best
their contribution has taken the form
of an enlightened criticism and fire.
quent investigating forays; at worst
It has served merely to harasS the
bureaucracies and bring about a fritz
tering of governmental power, so that
no policy at all could be pursued, and
the popular tension at length resulted
in the scrapping of Legislative ma
chiDery altogether and a resort to
Relationships"
Explains Placing of Blame.
@. You say Congress is to blame.
Why?
A. Because Congress has not built
I'D machinery of it's own adequate to
the tasks 1t has to perform. 1t has
antiquated methods of getting infor
nation and no method whatever of
handling the information when once
recorded somewhere or other. The