Milford chronicle., 1952-05-23
JUST HOW GREAT ARE THE
PRESIDENTS POWERS?

PRESIDENTS POWERS!
The epic steel seizure case is now en- route
to the Supreme Court. 1t is hoped that our
highest tribunal will make it plain whether
or not the President has the extraordinary
powers Mr.. Truman has claimed and exer-
cised-and, if so, just how extensive those
powers are. Few acts of Mr.. Truman's tur-
bulent White House career have raised so
much bitter diSsenSion and brought into be-
ing so many tremendous issues, as the seizure.
The arguments of the assistant attorney
general who represented the government be-
fore Federal Judge Pine in the first test of
tn legality of the seizure were unprecedented.
He said that the Presidents powers are vir-
tually unlimited, are not confined to those
laid down in the Constitution and other writ
ten law, and that the courts have no right
or authority to tamper with them. This obvi-
Ously amazed the judge, who asked, ''Do you
mean that if the President empowered Mr..
Sawyer to take you into custody, and exc
cute you, you'd have no power in enioin him? ?"
The attorney had no answer for that one.
Judge Pine handed down strong deci-
sion, which totally demolished the govern
ment's case, and ordered the return of the
steel companies to their owners Many peO-
pie seem to believe that this decision was
Overruled by the Court of Appeals few days
later, That is not so. The higher court, by
a 5-tO-4 decision simply delayed action until
the Supreme Court could decide the vast Con-
Stitutional questions involved. 1t is cOnsid-
cred significant that when the Supreme Court
agreed to hear the case, it ordered that the
government make no change in the conditions
of employment of the steel workers. This was
a hard blow to the steel union, which had con-
fdently expected an immediate wage boost,
and to the Administration as well,
The seizure further illustrates the fact
that the Administration is in a state of vast
confusion, and continues to come apart at
the seams at a rapid rate Economic mObiliZ-
er Wilson Immediately resigned. Wage Board
chairman Feinsinger said that he had not re-
commended seizure hitherto, most people
thought he had. Economic Stabilizer Putnam
and Price Administrator Arnall said they
hadn't even been consulted And Secretary
Sawyer was reported as being unhappy in
his position as car of the steel industry.
In Congress, the President has been given
almost no support. His most loyal followers
have shown no disposition to get their own
feet wet, and have doged the issue. There
was more talk of impeachment. And, to
quote Newsweek, ''The House killed a bill
which would have created % new Federal
judgeships. The argument: That President
like Mr.. Truman could not be trusted with
such powers"
Much Congressional anger arose from the
fact that the President refused to use the
Taft-Hartley law in an effort to help settle
the steel controversy even though that law
as amended, provides definite and specific
machinery for taking care of just such situa-
tiOnS with full protection to the rights and
interests Of management and labor alike
This, in the view of many members of Con
gress, indicates that the law of the land means
very little to the President-unless he hap
pens to personally like the particular law
involved.
SOCIALISM IN THE EXTREME
A short time ago the Presidents Water
Resources Policy Commission recommended
that the nation be divided into Is regions
based on river basins. Fifteen basin commits.
slons would be formed to develop the respec
tive regions. Each commission would be staff
ed with nine members-Of whom sever
would be Federal representatives, and two
would be local representatives.
Here is a scheme which could break dowr
and destroy the last remaining segmentS Of
states rights-and, in time, bring about So
cialist revolution in the United States. These
basin commissions would be form of super
government completely beyond the control ot
the people. To- all practical purposes, theil
powers would be unlimited. They would dom
mate agriculture, industry, labor Through
their control Of water resources alone, they
would have a stranglehold on their regions.
In recent speech Judge George T. Coch
ran of Oregon, widely experienced water
law attorney, said: "a basin authority is
new state. A state is a sovereign power
sovereignty is the power to govern, to regu