Evening star., 1943-05-28

>
that they will David Lawrence.
have veto against agreements
which affect them adversely.
This is the position which many
other Senators, irrespective of party,
have also taken. But the Wyoming
Senator has put his finger on a
weakness in the American system
whereby power is delegated to the
Executive and there is no Joint
responsibility by Congress and the
Executive for an agreement made
with another government.
Too often the same issue has been
raised for the mere purpose of de-
feating tariff revision. Too often it
has been plain that the effort to
bring about congressional ratifica-
ton OF reciprocal trade agreements
Is a device to kill the trade agree
ment process altogether or weaken
the hands of the negotiating body
In America.
Other Legislatures Rule.
But the truth is, as Senator
OMahoney states in his latest ut
terance on the subject, other coun-
tries do have in their legislative
bodies under the parliamentary
system a right Of ratification. The
State Department under Secretary
Hull, has Instituted the system of
reciprocal trade agreements through
delegation of legislative power
granted in advance of the making
OF the trade agreements themselves.
The process has been ruled to be
constitutional.
Senator OMahoney points out,
however, that the American people
are at a disadvantage through that
delegation-or abdication, as he
calls it.
The legislative system of free
government" he says, lis pre-
served in Great Britain and in
Canada. Here it is being trans
formed into an executive bureau-
cracy. Consider the situation in
Great Britain as compared with the
situation here
Not only is Winston Churchill
duly elected member of the House
of Commons from Epping Division
of Essex, but Sir Anthony Eden,
Secretary of State for Foreign At
fairs, is member of the House
from Warwick and bennington
Thus it is that the men who in
Great Britain discharge the func-
tons performed here by the Secre-
tary of State, the Tariff Commits
sion, the Department of Agriculture
and the other departments con-
cerned in the framing of trade
agreements are the elected repre-
sentatives of the people and at all
times they have complete supervi-
sion over the activities of the eX-
perts who carry out details of the
work. Here in the United States
the Congress exercises no such su-
pervisiOn.
Il want the people of America to
have the same legislative power
that is retained by the people of
Great Britain, by the people of
Mexico, by the people of Brazil, in
deed, by the people of % of the 26
countries with which these agree
ments have been made. :.
Time to StOp.
I'VE cannot preserve representa-
tive government in the United
States if Congress continues to
throw its power away to the EXecu-
tive. I care not how respectable
and good-intentioned the Executive
may be- he should not be permitted
to exercise the legislative power. If
we desire to retain representative
government in this country, Con-
gress must stop delegating its func-
tions. This is the time to begin.
"At this hour when we stand upon
the threshold of a new free world to
be erected after the United Nations
have won their victory, Congress
must retain its power to regulate
foreign commerce, its power to levy
taxes, and the Senate must retain
some supervision over international
arrangements or else the people
themselves will have been excluded
from the reorganization that is to
come"
What the Wyoming Senator ap-
parently does not advocate is the
establishment of a parliamentary
system for the United States. He
indicates that the American system
of separate branches of the Govern