The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1937-09-09
THE GREAT
GAME OF
POLITICS.
Copyright by the Baltimore Sun and
reprinted in The Republican by
special permission.
This Case Started It All
By FRANK R. KENT


stand out as the most revealing and
significant single incident of the whole
Roosevelt regime. From it dates not
only the Roosevelt fight against the
Supreme Court but it discloses as does
nothing else the Presidents feelings
and his theory of government.
Looking back now it is easy to I'M
derstand this. AS a matter of fact, it
is difficult to comprehend why it was
not grasped more completely at the
time, because a more Illuminating hap
pening could hardly be imagined. 1t is
old stuff, but worth repeating.
Here are the facts:
Mr.. William E. Humphreys was a
member of the Federal Trade Com
mission. 1t was recognized that Mr..
Roosevelt would replace him with a
man of his own choice when his term
expired But the President wanted
control more quickly and in the sum-
mer of 1888 he asked Mr.. Humphreys
to resign. In personal letter he said,
without any reflection upon you
personally or upon the service you
have rendered, l find it necessary to
ask your resignation. do this because
feel that the aims and purposes of
the Administration can be carried out
more effectively with personnel of my
own selection"
Viewed in the light of subsequent
events, that letter tells the story. 1t
revealed a conception of the Presi-
dency and particularly of these quasi
judicial boards which no other Presi-
dent had had. The clear purpose of the
acts creating them was to free them
from executive control and their in
dependence had not been questioned
prior to the Humphreys letter. Mr..
Roosevelt took the opposite view,
holding, as he wrote, that it was
essential that he have on these boards
men whose "minds march with mine"
and frankly, 1 think it best for the
people of this country that should
have full confidence
In the language of the street, the
Humphreys correspondence was the
'pay-off." That should have told
every discerning man that here is a
President who will not tolerate indie
pendence upon the part of any other
governmental agency and who is will
ing to set aside the law to acquire
power. Because that is exactly what
he did. When Mr.. Humphreys declined
to resign, pointing out that under the
law he could not be removed except
after charges had been preferred and
a hearing given, the President, in Oc-
tober, 1888, summarily removed him.
At once Mr.. Humphreys instituted
suit for reinstatement and eighteen
months later, during which time Mr..
Humphreys had died, the Supreme
Court unanimously declared that the
President had exceeded his preroga-
tives, that he had no right to remove
members of these boards, that the
clear purpose of Congress was to free
them from executive interference and
establish them as independent agen-
cies.
There was so much going on at the
time of Humphreys removal that it
was not much of sensation and the
Supreme Court decision was almost
completely overshadowed by the fact
that it was handed down simultan-
eously with the MIRA decision. For
these reasons its significance was
largely lost. Yet, as time passes, it be-
comes so clear that it seems astonish-
ing it could have been missed by any
one. Those who know Mr.. Roosevelt
personally can appreciate that he took
the Humphreys decision even more
personally to heart than the MIRA de-
cision. 1t is the testimony of men close
to him that in that 1885 period that
his resentment was intense. He took
the Humphreys decision as a personal
affront.
That ranked as nothing else the
court has done has ranked. The justi-
fcation for reciting the facts now is
that in the last session the President
Enthusiastically demonstrated that it
was this case which inspired the two
great companion bills of his 1897 pro-
gram-the Judicial Reform bill and
the Departmental Reorganization bill
The chief feature of the second was to
give the President control over the in
dependent boards and the chief fea-
ture of the first was to give him con-
troll over the court which had denied
him control over the boards.
HkF