| Show THE GOVERNMENT AT WORK I THE I.-THE THE PRESIDENT NT By Frederic J. J Haskin r-HE r HE task of conducting the affairs n of or the United States government I I carrying with It an annu annual 1 expenditure expenditure expendi- expendi JL ture of nearly a billion dollars represents the greatest governmental tal undertaking In the world It requires moro more than half a million people to man manthe manthe manthe the great machine and their aggregate annual salaries amount to fully a quarter ter of or d. d l. l billion dol dol- dol- dol lars The great master mechanic of or this vast enterprise enterprise enter enter- 3 4 prise Is the president president A dent of the United S. S States When he begins his term of ol office there lies be beb before before be- be b fore him the super super- vision of ot the ex expenditure expenditure ex- ex four billion of ot dollar nearly js approximately one one- fourth of ot which goes toward ward th the theof payment of salarS salar'S salaries salar salar- ies S 'S In Engla England nd the acts of the king bing 5 are considered a as aJ FrederIc Haskin being beins those of or his advisers who are held responsible forth for th them m. m In the United States the acts Of Or the cabinet are considered as being those of the president and he is re responsible re- re for whatever official action any member of ot his cabinet may take This body has no real constitutional standing as a collective organization and its decisions are not binding upon the president This Is illustrated b by an anecdote anecdote dote of a meeting of the Lincoln cabinet Mr Lincoln brought before it a proposition proposition which he be favored and the cabinet cabinet cabi cabi- net nt voted solidly against it ft Lincoln q De Declared dared clare l the vote to be seven se noes and one aye Therefore said he the ayes have it In the beginning o of the pr presidency it was thought advisable that the the c cabinet binet I should be made up of ot members representing representing all political al beliefs Washington Washing Washing- ton appointed his first cabinet with that end in vie view but the experiment proved an unfortunate one and never has been tried since There have been instances where nen of the opposite party were selected to cabinet positions but In these thee cases the men selected have been In harmony harmony har har- mony with the attitude of the president they served There arc few busier places in the government government gov gay service th thin n the executive of of- of ices at the white house especially when hen congress Is in se session sion a vast number of or things claim the attention o of the president that It Jt Is little short of wonderful that he Is able to give Ive them the attention they demand and yet find time for necessary exercise The mail mall received at the white house is prodigious It is a dull da day when the private messenger messenger messen messen- ger gel doe not bring at lea least t a thousand letters addre addressed se l to the president and in inman inmany inmany man many cases double that number come in inthe inthe inthe the course cours of or twenty four four hours Any special story concerning the president or orthe orthe orthe the white house will attract the letter writing proclivities o of thousands of or peo peo- pie When Mr Roosevelt first enunciated enunciated enunciated his celebrated race anti suicide doctrine doc doe trine some newspaper man in with a well developed de bump of or humor wrote a a. story tor torto torto to the effect that the president had re received received re- re twenty eight bab baby carriages It wa way published broadcast and hundreds of poor families wrote Mr Roosevelt begging that he send senrI them one of his sur surplus ur plus supply In the old days dars it was dif tiff ferent It is said that during the Grant administration the executive A force would pla play croquet during the dull hours of th the day tJay and upon the arrival of a a. letter Jn one me of them would be summoned to the executive office It Is comparatively easy for the pres- pres dent Jent to Attend to his mail mall There is a system of assorting the letters o that out of the thousand or more re- re eved elved during the day less than a hun hun- Ired will be laid on the presidents president's desk There I Is a clerk whose sole MIa duty is to toIla Ila classify the tIle correspondence as it com conies comes s In Probably one hundred letters may be answered by a single form letter Several Several Several Sev Sev- eral hundred of th the remainder will be referred to th the proper department and less than half will reach reah the see sec r rotary tary to the president He Jo examines s Iest gives gl their substance to the prescient pres pres- dent and receives tm Instructions as to the the hara ter of reply to make Letters are I often addressed to th the president market marked personal and private These marks I Ire ire tre disregarded It Tt is 15 only letters that thatTO TO rc Initialed by intimate personal ant political friends which reach the pres- pres l nt unopened d. d The constant stream of callers caners and the amount of office routine business nake the heaviest lest demand upon the residents resident's nt's tIm Um Office seekers and ami their are to be met people who pimply Ish to pa pay f their re respects to the chief e and all imaginable classes of ken nen and women who ho come on every sort f If errand During the first three weeks f f an administration it is not uncommon or 01 the president to shake hands with I I from rom to people Unless he ho learns to grip the hand han of his visitor before the visitor grips his lits he Is apt to have a badly swollen r rm as a re result of the experience There Is much monotony about the presidential office and the grind usually tells on the incumbent Between een signing papers examining acts o of congress cong re receivIng receiving re- re visitors considering matters of state with his cabinet and appointing men to office the president finds that very ery often he must work far Into the night to get et through with his task President Benjamin Harrison Harrison Harri Harri- son once said One Oe signature Involves the peace of ot the nation another its financial financial financial finan finan- cial policy another the life of a man and th the next the payment of 10 10 from the national national national na na- na- na treasury treasur The president may transact the business of his office at any place he may elect It is this right which enables Mr Taft to stay at Beverley during durIn the summer Congress Congress Con Con- gress once requested President Grant to advise it as to what part of his duties he performed while outside of ot the District of Columbia He replied in a politely worded note that it was none of congress' congress busi bus ness Never since then has this right been questioned There is nothing In the constitution which prohibits the president from going beyond the borders of the United States but Mr Cleveland was as the I first chief executive to do so On a fishing fish fish- ing trig trip to Korth North Carolina he went ent be beyond ond the three-mile three limit in the Atlantic ocean Aside from the great power lower of the president president president dent through his right of ot appointment and the prestige of his office he exercises a legislative Influence equivalent to that of the fourteen senators and sixty-five sixty representatives representatives representatives whose votes are enough to sustain sustain sus sus- tam tain his veto as the senate and house are arenow arenow arenow now constituted The only method by which the president can be thwarted in his purposes by by congress so long tong as he hp keeps within his constitutional powers Isby is isby isby by congress' congress refusal to appropriate the money he needs for carrying out his plans As commander In chief of the tile army he has the right to handle it as he sees fit But congress has the power to limit appropriations appropriations appropriations for the arm army and in this way Isable Isable is isable able to circumvent the will 1 of or the dent An Instance of this kind outside of the army occurred when con congress ress declared declared de de- de- de dared that no money appropriated by it should be used for the payment of President President President dent Roosevelt's Roosevel ts t's conservation commission Mr 11 Roosevelt declared recently that If he had continued In presidential office he lie have hava found funds for the ance of th the commission in spite of the limitation of congress The person o of the president is inviolable inviola inviola- ble during his term of office Theor Theoretically Theoretically ti- ti cally he cannot be arrested or restrained by amb anybody dy even should he commit mur mur- der The only against him hini him while president is the cumbersome Impeachment Impeachment Impeachment Impeach Impeach- ment proceedings Even In th these se proceedings proceedings proceedings proceed proceed- ings he cannot be compelled to answer to attend or t tb tO do anything which in the slightest degree interferes with ith his personal personal personal per per- liberty This Is on th the tho theory that such restraint would restrict the ne negative at or positive powers of his office and talta take talt a part of the presidential po power er vested in him by the constitution out of his hands In practice however er the president may maybe maybe maybe be arrested an ant otherwise restrained restrain d. d President Grant was fond of fast driving and upon one occasion was arrested for violation of the speed laws The negro policeman who ho made the arrest began to apolo apologize for disturbing the trie president but th the latter commanded him tr to do his duty ut- ut Next day President Gr Grant nt forfeited 20 20 collateral in the police court As far as the courts are concerned d. d the president ma may do as he pleases There Ther have been instances where interested parties parties par par- ties tics sought sO to restrain him from doing certain certIn ert ln things by injunction proceedings and other instances where they have hale tried to compel him to do oth other r things by mandamus mandamus mandamus man man- damus proceedings Th The courts have uni un- refused to take an any action re restricting restricting re- re the dl discretionary power of the president Congress and the president often have ha had clashes but differences be- be tw fin the judiciary and the president have been few In one instance Chief Justice Marshall h handed down an opinion with reference to the Cherokee Indians in Georgia It did not suit President Jackson Jackson Jackson Jack Jack- son and he declared John Marshall has made his decision now let him enforce It With full control over oyer more than a billion billion billion bil bil- bil- bil lion dollars in salaries with the right to suspend or extend the civil service regulations regula regula- tion the power to influence legislation b by bythe bythe the use of patronage or resort resart to the veto the direction of tenths nine-tenths of the officeholders officeholders office office- holders of the country and nd the supervision s slim sion of the expenditure of nearly of-nearly the president of the United States stands t at t the head of the list lIft of influential leaders of the world Since the beginning of ot the government gO his a authority has grown and his Influence has been extended until now he Is a much more powerful executive e than the framers of the constitution ever Intended Intend d he should be Tomorrow The Tomorrow The Government at W Work rk THE 11 STATE DEPARTMENT |
