Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1933-06-22
THE SPECIAL SESSION

journed has left in Mr.. RoOse-
velt's hands the most extraordi-
nary assortment of powers ever
granted any president"
What will be the result of this
temporary diversion from the
more common everyday democ-
racy and the placing Of more
power in the hands of one indi-
vidual remains to be seen. One
thing is quite certain and that is
that President Roosevelt with his
lieutenants cannot do worse than
Congress has done the last dozen
years. The President has the Co
operation and best wishes of the
country in his Herculean task.
The Tribune editorial goes on:
From today on, Mr.. Roosevelt is the
supreme arbiter of the nations des-
TIMES. Agriculture, industry and
finance are all pawns on his chess
board, and he can shift them almost
as he wills to checkmate the depres-
sion. Congress has passed definitely
out of the picture, presumably until
January; and meanwhile it has dele
bitrary authority that no one can
begin to measure it, let alone fore
tell the consequences of this amazing
abridgement of representative govern
ment.
The man on the street may only
NO tho 20 hr,f a
special session of congress which has
just closed did collide violently with
all our previous conceptions of a de-
mOcracy.
1t saw Congress, separate and
distinct branch of the federal govern
to the chief executive and give up,
with scarcely a murmur, authority it
had jealousy guarded since the ma
TONS founding days.
1t may not be strictly correct to say
that democracy has been shelved in
the emergency; but it is at least true
that the normal processes of democ-
racy have been sharply altered to
meet what Mr.. Roosevelt conceives to
be the needs of the emergency.
There can be no getting around the
fact that the federal government is
more sharply centered in one man
today than at any time in history.
Mr.. Roosevelt can flex his finger and
alter the gold content of the dollar,
or command the issuance of $1,000
100000 in greenback currency. He
can experiment with any or all of
several ambitious plans to increase
farm prices and control agricultural
production. Through the industrial
control bill he can crack the whip
over industry and dictate its pro-
grams and policies for the next two
years. To him falls the responsibility
of seeing to it that the $3,3OO,OOO, 900
appropriated by congress for public
works is efficiently and wisely spent.
1t is Mr.. Roosevelt who must admin
lister the S50O,0OO,O00 fund established
for direct relief. 1t is he who must
put into effect the sweeping reforms
of the Glass-Steagall banking bill,
who must help the carriers work out
their salvation under the new railroad
act, who must prove the workability
of the drastic legislation regulating
the sale of securities.
The President, in short, is within
certain broad limitations the govern
ment of the United States. The fact
that many of his new powers are dis
cretionary-to be used or not as he
sees fit-only emphasizes the respon-
sibility that is his. From first to last,
Congress has granted him whatever
he desired to make his new deal a
reality. 1t gave him dictatorial au-
thOrity in the banking crisis. 1t
legalized beer with a whoop. 1t
slashed federal salaries at his bid
ding and cut deeply into veterans
payments, albeit it afterwards re-
pented its latter action and forced
a compromise upon the President. 1t
consented meekly to abrogation of
the gold clause in existing and future
contracts; it made the Tennessee val
ley and Muscle Shoals a vast expert
mental laboratory for the federal gov
eminent to labor in; it gave Mr.
Roosevelt, without breath of pro-
test, his civilian conservation corps.
1t is too soon to pass judgment on
the fruits of this extraordinary ses-
sion. AS far as answering loyalty
to the President goes, the Seventy
third Congress thus far has an al
most perfect record, and there is no
doubt that it was better to err, if it
was to err at all, on the side of 10y
atty. Mr.. Roosevelt came into office
when the nation was deathly sick and
when vigorous action, made possible
by a cooperative Congress, was the
pre-eminent need of the hour. The
possibility exists that Congress has
co-operated too generously and too
blindly, that it was far too loath to
take responsibilities and far too eager
too unload them on the President.
Nevertheless, it is fairly significant
that the crisis of early March passed
quickly, and that since that time the
economic situation has steadily i'm
proved. Men are going back to work,
prices are rising, factory wheels are
beginning to turn again, and the ma
tion has progressed from the despair
and fear occasioned by the bank holt
dow cpirif Of oopHdonoo apd In,