Imperial Valley press., 1944-03-17
by
Peter
Edison
Bv PETER EDISON

Bv PETER EDSON
The issue of the day seems to
be, who wears the pants in this
government. anyway-Congress or
the President?"
Z. The Barkley incident-in which
the senator from Kentucky threat
s ened to resign as majority ilcor
leader in protest over the Fresl-
5 dents snappy veto OF the tax bill
= with the resulting congressional
revolt in overriding the vetc-both
emphasize congressional dstermln-
alton to show who's boss.
Another incident Ct the same
kidney is the refusal Of Preslden-
tial Assistant Jonathan Daniels to
Z testify before the Senate Agricul-
: tural Committee en- whether he
5 had anything to do with trying &c
force the resignation of Harry
s Slattery as head ef Rural Electri-
ficaticn Administration. The ques-
ton is whether to cite Daniels for
: contempt CT Senate.
Z. Daniels loyalty 10 the President.
right or wrong is of course under
. standable. But if this case comes
to a showdown it might seem ap-
propriate for the President to take
his assistant off the spot, by as
Stunning the responsibility for what
ever il was he told his assistant
to 90. and explaining it to the
; Senate. If Daniels should have K
: take the rap in this case to pro-
tect the President, it would be an
!. other clear case of Congress show
4 ing that it was boss.
CONGRESSIONAL REFORM
If such matters seem petty, which
they all are, they can at least be
understood as conflicts over live
: personalities instead CT dead iSS-
ues, in deciding who is most pow
. erful-CongreSs or President.
s To cure the evils of too much
: bureaucracy, the congressional
idea is that more government aft
+, airs should be run by the Cen
, gress. Some of the deep thinkers
on congressional reform carry this
T SO far as to propose that Congress
J bHild up 8 permanent executive
staff CT its own tc oversee the act
+, ivities of these bureaus, to see that
they stay within the limits of the
J functions for which they were ere
ated by Act OF Congress. The the
/ ory is that Il Congress runs these
things, government will be taken
out of the hands CT bureaucrats
and dictators and will instead be
returned to the pee-pul through
their chosen representatives.
The wisdom OF such extreme
measures may at cree be open tc
doubt. What it amounts to is
taking the pclicy-making branch of
the government-the board of dir
ectors, as it were-ard sending it
into the factory and sales and
shipping departments 10 do every
thing, including the janitorial SER
vices.
Such a sweeping reform-lning-
ling of executive and legislative de
partments-might do both goc6
But does Congress have the tim
to get involved in all this detail?
Would not a super-super legisla-
tive-eXecutive staff Of snoopers get
things balled up even worse than
they are now? And is there any
dogma on the infallibility of Con-
gress?
SOME COMMITTEES GOOD
There is nothing healthier or
finer than a congressional invest
igation that knows itc way around
and goes to town. The RECORDS
of the Senate's Truman Committee
investigating the war effort and CT
the House Naval Affairs Committed
in exposing the Brewster Aircraft
mess are cases in point. But all
congressional committees aren't
that coed. On the current scene,
there is the bad record of the Cox,
later the Lea Committee in the
House, in making a farce CT trying
to investigate the Federal Com
murications Commission. And the
mere thought of having a flock OF
Dies Committees at large in Wash
ingtcn, checking up on anything,
is enough to atrophy the soul.
Maybe the Founding Fathers
knew what they were doing when
they created separate legislative,
executive and judicial departments
of government, with checks and
balances. It isn't necessary that
any one show which is boss. But
why they don't work together is
something to perplex the gods as
well as the voters-the voters who
in the end are the real bosses and
who in present instances may feel
justified in wanting TO throw out
the whole bunch and start with
q brand-new staff of public SER
wants. az,
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