Evening star., 1928-12-06

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may never become one during the pres
ent generation, but the power of ruler
ship by its King passed, last Tuesday,
into the hands not of a single regent,
but of commissions council of
state"-made up of representatives of
every ESTATE" of the empire-eXcept
the so-called Fourth Estate" - the
newspapers.
The liberalization is marked by the
handing over of the royal power. pend
ing the serious illness of King George
v, to a council rather than an individ-
ual regent The theory of democracy Is
largely based upon the idea that there
Is safety In numbers. All instincts OF
democracy guide away from one-man
power. All strength of monarchy rests
upon one-man control.
A marked exception to this was made
by our Constitution, when all executive
power was placed exclusively in the
hands of one man-the President-ex-
cept as to our foreign relations, which
require advice and consent of the Sem
ate" not in negotiating, but in rati-
fication.
The cabinet, as it has developed
through practice and precedent orig
mating in the administration of Thom-
as Jefferson. our third President. is
without any status under the provisions
of the Constitution. The creation of a
council of state to advise with the
President and share his responsibility
was rejected wholly in the final consid-
Grafton of the Constitution. The Presl-
dent is authorized by the Constitution
to call upon any Secretary of depart
ment for his written opinion on any
policy connected with his department,
b,,t tI,a NAV iunOrp that nY1ir1- %
ion or the advice of the entire cabinet.
x x 4 x
A loyal Briton today would resent the
charge that that nation was not as
free as any republic and had not been
so for many years. The President of
the United States exercises far more
individual power than does the King
of England, Scotland, Wales and North
Ireland and Emperor of India.
Yet when our Presidents have be-
come physically incapacitated or have
been absent from the country. never
has there been transference OF presi-
Dental authority to the Vice President
nor to a commission, although the Con-
stitution so provides in case OF IN
capacity" of the President. Mckinney
and Garfield and Wilson were totally
unable to function as President for pro-
longed periods, yet none of their powers
passed to any others, before actual
death closed the chapter. In some
countries the instant the President steps
upon foreign soil he ceases to func-
tion as President, and his Office auto
matically passes to the Vice President
or to some other power constitutlonally
provided.
X \ X x
When President Wilson went to Eu-
rope to direct the settlement or the
| World War. he was still functlonlng
| in statecraft of the United States, as
we'll as looming large in affairs In which
| the United States was but minor unit
and the major issues were European
| Vice President Marshall was urged by
| some advisers to assume leadership In
the Government, but he refused to
make the slightest approach toward
such action. Not only did he recognize
| that it would be resented vigorously by
| the man who brooked no division of
his constitutional powers, but the Vice
President was too good constitutional
lawyer to pretend shadow OF legal
right to interfere.
In the face of that legalistic inter-
probation by the heir apparent the
| Vice President, all members of the
cabinet decided to recognize an emer-
gency requiring mutual conferences SIM
liar to cabinet meetings, and, at the
Joint request of all the department
Secretaries, Mr.. Lansing, Secretary OF
State, called the cabinet together while
President Wilson was in Europe. For
that act he was made the scapegoat
with demand from the President fol
his resignation. In justice to Secre-
| tary Lansing, it was suggested then
that the other equally guilty" members
of the cabinet should resign also, but
they did not do so.
| X X 4 4
Following the tragedies Of presidential
rssassinations, with the peril that, al
the same time. Vice President might
also be murdered, Congress, as author