Show 70 national topics interpreted by william bruckart washington armed with more power than any president ot of the united states orthe one man head of any demo control crable government ever has had ident roosevelt lias has started what he hopes will bo be the final drive for economic recovery ile he has all ot of the weapons in his own hands there can be no mistake that he be Is prepared to use them when the second session of 0 the sev enty third congress adjourned the work it had done together with the enactments of the first session completed the transfer to the chief tire of more authority than any congress ever before had delegated to the head of the government in fact a survey of the acts seems to indicate that congress delegated to mr roosevelt at least BO 50 per cent of the power ordinarily reserved to the legislative branch alone some of the grants were of a temporary character of course but nevertheless the president has them and they cannot be taken away until after the first of january 1985 irrespective of their nature unless exigencies should arise under which mr noo roosevelt sevelt will call the congress back tor for an extraordinary session those exigencies do not now appear on the horizon the above paragraphs are a necessary prelude to the further statement that for the coming six months at least the country will have a distinctive one man control ordinarily we are prone to consider this government of ours in a little different manner because in a period when congress Is in session the restrictions which its enactments embody serve to circumscribe cum scribe the powers of the e executive branch of the government in the forthcoming six months however the executive branch may operate with all of the freedom discretionary authority carries in the new deal legislation because of the great speed which characterized passage of the new deal legislation for which tile the president ent asked its full meaning was overlooked temporarily in many cases now that congress has gone however appraisals are possible inthe in the light of the relationship existing between various items hems of the new deal and this has occasioned more than the usual amount of discussion in washington one line of discussion frequently heard beard Is that mr roosevelt has placed I 1 himself in a spot where he can claim full personal credit for the success of his program by the same token and since success is not yet assured he be Is on the spot where he be must accept full responsibility for failure of any part of the program to accomplish the job which he has outlined from what I 1 hear bear around washington there seems no disposition anywhere to take away any of the credit the politicians on the presidents side dare not seek any of the credit for their records show them to have been wholly subservient to his will antl administration politicians are continuing to play dead for their strategy Is apparently one of allowing the calf all of the ropo rope it if failure attends any units of the program they will make great capital of it it it if success Is complete they can do nothing about it anyway thus they a are re in a blind alley for the time being this position I 1 am told does docs not mean that the republicans and other administration anti ad ministration groups wit will I 1 not fight back I 1 hive have explained in earlier letters that they are going to foment trouble by attacks on various of the policies to show vulnerable points As I 1 said at the outset the story of the seventy third congress Is the story of the broad just a loan est loan of pon er of t power D ever given it must be described ascribed as a loan of power because congress can take it back at any time by mustering sufficient votes for repeal of the laws it enacted but it must be remembered that under the so called norris amendment to the federal constitution ution the recently adjourned session of congress was the last session in other words when ben adjournment was voted it was an adjournment sine die it was finished it cannot be reconvened without a call by the president and that as I 1 reported above Is hardly within the realm of possibilities all of which Is by way of 0 saying that mr Roos eielt will have the use of these loaned powers c completely and unequivocally certainly until next january it might be added that lie he will have bare most of them for much longer because although congress can exercise its right to take them back recovery ot of the grants of power Is not as easy as it may seem VOT for example normally repeal of a law Is accomplished by a majority vote in congress cut but one must stop to consider here that mr roosevelt Koo sevelt may not want to give up the authority vested in him lie ile has the power to veto an act of congress then to get those powers back congress must override the veto to override a teto it Is necessary under the terms of the consult constitution u tit 0 that two thirds of each house shall have voted to in the affirm athe I 1 am making no assertion that any such attitude will be taken by the president none can make it for none knows what the presidents attitude will be when the time comes for a decision on the point it Is worthy ot of thought in my opinion however that here Is a condition where the estem system ot of checks and balances between the legislative judicial and executive branches of the government have placed a powerful whip in the hands of the executive students of the constitution ution tell me that it Is a very unusual condition frankly as I 1 see gee the situation at this time it will take an overturning of public sentiment equal in magnitude to the landslide by which mr roosevelt was elected to force a return of that power to congress were the president desirous of retaining it when sir roosevelt Roosy velt came into office starch march 4 1033 1933 the congress according to the con legality held the questioned power pa to t levy avy and collect taxes to borrow money to regulate foreign and domestic commerce to coin money and regulate its value and to govern its relation to foreign coin to combat counter counterfeiting felting to sot set up inferior courts to declare war and grant letters of marque and reprisal to raise and support the army and the navy and control calls for the militia to define and punish piracy guard the copyright of creative work and to make all necessary laws for carrying out these various powers what has congress retained of these vast powers given it by the constitution because it represents the people there Is a divergence of opinion surely however there has been delegated to the president some of the most important of those powers and soma authorities like senator borah of 0 idaho and some of the democratic conservatives claimed the delegation has been illegal whether that contention Is true of coursed course Is a matter matte for the courts to examine just a few of the things done by congress will illustrate the extent to which it went in granting authority to the president take the laws creating the agricultural adjustment administration and it will bo be seen that the authority to levy and collect taxes was granted and at tho th same time a big handful of 0 control over interstate and foreign commercio com merci o was given to the executive production control under the so called bankhead cotton control law Is just that an important control over interstate and foreign commerce was given the president also under the n national recovery act general johnson administrator exercises that authority of course but he does so under executive direction while the power Is circumscribed to an extent congress gave the president authority to change the value of the dollar lie cannot vary it greater than between fifty and sixty cents as we used to measure cents but the power to coin money and regulate its value rests with sir mr roosevelt to that extent the implications go much further the treasury has an immense fund of gold which it can use in maintaining the relationship between our dollar and forel foreign n coins 0 0 r under the present setup set up congress gave awn away y temporarily the right to make laws or a part U S in in many of that authority in ne nearby arly all ot of the acts businesses of the new j deal pg congress much discretionary power to draft regulations and rules for administration of the new laws was accorded the executive antl leaders contend that in using this discretionary power the executive branch has put government into countless businesses through gli the reconstruction finance corporation for example the government owns or has influence in through the medium of loans well such businesses as banking dairying cotton and wheat and other grain stocks in the mortgage field railroading and in the various fields of commerce and industry sucu such as those touched by the tennessee valley experiment in the charity field the government has gone a long way it Is providing work in numerous ways various experiments peri ments are being worked out with these funds voted by congress tor for distribution trib ution under the presidents lents direction some of tile the money is being used for example for the building of whole towns in conjunction with a R govern ment owned manufacturing plant through it Is to be mentioned also the antitrust anti and trust laws were virtually it if not wholly suspended the recovery act made the antitrust anti trust laws inapplicable where corporations signed the codes and complied with the line eagle requirements under that same set of laws too the government vir dually became a partner in all bust busl neabes since it exercises authority over their manufacturing practices and policies as well as their methods of production and distribution finally it ought to be mentioned that no longer can an individual sign a contract by which he be will agree to make payment in gold all such con tracts entered into heretofore if they ire are still in effect mean nothing because they cannot be enforced as to payment in gold the treasury has become the owner of all monetary gold old within the confines of the united states by peper cal |