Evening star., 1950-12-24


ON the military one. It could ever
be argued that the former, par
TALLY concealed, weakness is II
some extent responsible for tn,
latter and more obvious one.
We have, in effect. made sweep
ing changes in or amendments tt
the Constitution without calling
them that and submitting then
either to State constitutional con
ventions or to State Legislatures
as provided in the Constitution
Instead these issues have beer
mixed in with, or concealed be-
hind. questions of foreign polio,
or of domestic crisis and have beer
approved by direct popular vott
in general elections. Thus. though
the changes have not been made
as provided for in the Constitu.
ton. 1t cannot be said that they
lack public support. Indeed, the
men who have in actual practice
openly altered our functional sys.
tenn have won overwhelmingly il
the elections.
These alterations or informa,
amendments have upset, the checks
and balances between the three
branches of Government. AS q
result the executive is stronger in
America than in any other dem
ocratic land.
This article is not concerned
with the desirability of this change
which is already an established
fact and follows a world trend
but with the question of overcom-
ing the possible functional stale
mate which our haphazard amend
ing system has produced.
To grasp the problem we must
60 to the founding fathers, who
had a deep fear of the executive
from which, under Britain, they
had suffered. Therefore when they
framed the Constitution they de-
voted Article I to the branch
which they regarded as basis, the
legislative. Article II dealt with
the presidency.
Lack of Balance
Our coordinate" branches,
theoretically balanced" are a
pleasant fiction, for the executive
is by definition and by nature the
doer. The door sooner or later
reSents checks. Washington did
not get along well with Congress,
which he regarded as "meddle-
some" John Adams set a fast
pace for the future by having
John Marshall serve for the last
two months of the Adams term
as Secretary Of State and Chief
Justice at the same time. It was
when he learned of his defeat for
reelection that Adams appointed
Marshall Chief Justice, to stabil-
lie the Government on Federalist
lines. Marshall thereafter paved
the way for Capitalization, i.e.,
the National Government trium-
phant over the States and the
President as the supreme head,
triumphant over both Congress
and the Supreme Court. There
never were three equally balanced
factors in our Government, save
by the consent of two of these fac
tors. That is, Congress at the
outset could conceivably have held
its own against the President, but
the Supreme Court always has
been at the mercy of the Presi-
dent, primarily, and the Senate,
secondarily, because of the power
given the former to appoint and
the latter to approve justices, so
that the court could be packed
at any time and its policy changed.
The delicate balance-if it was
ever really possible-could only be
between the Executive and Con-
gress. The key to legislative
strength was in four things-con-
troll of the purse, the right to de-
clare war, veto on foreign policy
and major appointments, and
finally the power to impeach. Our
party system-something unknown
to the Constitution and it's makers
has actually worked out so that
legislators allow the Executive to
frame money bills and virtually
steer them through Congress. For
eign policy and questions Of per-
sonnel have been handled direct
ly by the Executive in such fash
ion as to leave loyal party men,
bers in Congress slight chance to
resist the President. Hence dec
larations of war have been latter
the fact" resolutions rather than
foundations Of policy. In the
case of Korea there has been nc
declaration of war and, far more
significant, no criticism at all oi
the President for carrying on q
major war on his own initiative
though with tacit congressional.
approval. Finally the power o1
Congress to remove employees, in.
Guiding the President, has prac.
tically vanished. That is, i'm.
peachment, with its taint o1
treason, is so drastic that it has
atrophied by non-use.
Dry Rot Threatens Congress.
When our Constitution wa
framed Britain, by whom we wer'
much influenced on Legislative
theory. was finishing a revolution
In which the House of Common
was nearing the peak of its power
Likewise, impeachment was no
as seriously regarded as it is to-
day. Besides our constitutionalist
thought that Congress would fol
low Commons in retaining ant
exercising control over all official
Except judges by Withholding
their pay if necessary.
Even the secondary disciplininI
power, the withholding of pay, ha
been in effect lost to Congress
The Both Congress withheld pa.
m q TOP official. but failed II