Evening star., 1939-08-16

twice a week at David Lawrence.
test to the fact that he has never
looked better. There are no signs
of strain so far as external ap-
pearances are concerned, and some
of those persons on the White House
engagement list who have recently
had a chance to study the Presl-
dent in the intimacy of private
conversation say he has never seemed
more clear-cut in his aggressive
definition of objectives to be at
tanned.
Clearly the criticism of the one
man Executive system is not that
Presidents fail under the strain.
Mr.. Roosevelt is an excellent eX-
ample of rare poise and good health
notwithstanding the most eXasper-
ating defeats and reverses that have
attended his efforts these last few
years to build a new economy to
absorb 100000 unemployed.
Great Mass of Detail.
What does stand out as a criti-
cism of the present system is that
no one man can possibly do justice
to the many kinds of decisions on
the many kinds of subjects con-
fronting President of the United
States. No human mind can posi-
bly, encompass the vast amount of
detail now imbedded in the presi-
dental task. Statute after statute
directs the President to do this or
that specific job, and it is well known
by the Congress which issues these
legal instructions that no President
can execute them himself. 1t is
often contended that a President
who picks the right men and dele
gates responsibilities to them can
be an efficient Chief Executive. The
Congress. however, requires the
President himself to pass on so
many things and affix his signature
thereto that even the most consci-
entious President of the United
States in recent years would have
to confess that he signed his name
to many document without read
ing it, or, having read it, without
o1lAS1 lLlC OCSl4lllSo1 1ldIul
of the contents.
1t has been assumed rather gen.
orally that the 10 cabinet officers
and the heads of major Government
agencies are in a position to advise
the President and that if he has the
right kind of cabinet" this is all
that is necessary to assure the right
kind of decisions. But under the
present system, this is not true at
all For each cabinet officer be-
comes so immersed in the details of
his own departmental routine that
he has even less opportunity than
the disinterested observer to become
familiar with the general trends of
public policy and to offer construc-
tive advice to President
What Is Good Advice?
The judgments which are so vital
to the future of governmental policy
emanate from a presidential mind
harrassed by a multiplicity of memo
randa of advice from both inside and
outside the Government. 1t is not
lack of advice which breaks down
an administration, but inability of
President to tell good advice from
bad, especially in the complicated
matters of State nowadays in which
the political and the economic be-
come closely intertwined.
The final decision to resume
spending" for instance, made early
in 1888 after the recession in the last
half of 1887 had revealed precipitous
declines in business, was necessarily
Mr.. Roosevelt's own, just as it was
his determination to try lending" in
1889 as gradually applied substitute
for spending" The economic ad-
visers can give him data galore and
the leaders of Congress can tell him
the political implications of rise in
unemployment, but nobody shares
with the President the responsibility
of timing a public policy to fit a
particular situation. And it is often
in the timing" that the biggest er-
rors in Judgment are made
Mr.. Roosevelt has been criticized
frequently as making hair trigger"
decisions. Most of these are based
on a reliance on his own political
intuition. In accordance as some
of these turn out right, his ad-
visers become baffled about opposing
similar decisions in the future. But
the system in vogue in America
whereby a President is entrusted
with tremendous power and author
ity begets decisions based on in
tuition and hunch. Whenever the
evidence is contradictory and the
advice given is conflicting, Presi-
dent turns, like kings of old, to
his own kind of astrology.
How Cabinets Differ.
In Great Britain, and also in the
French republic, the Prime Minis
ter keeps his cabinet constantly in
formed and every decision made
is that of the cabinet itself At
any moment, the whole cabinet may
have to answer to the electorate.
In America, cabinet officers do not
have to answer to the voters, but