separately and retains or leaves office as the President prefers. Since the Executive is constitutionally separate from Congress, the Cabinet does not resign when the legislative branch falls under the control of the opposition party; it need retire only when the President goes out of office. All these features of our national executive council give it a peculiar position in the government, prevent it from controlling the authority and influence which are exerted by European Cabinets, and make it chiefly a body of administrative, not political, advisers. The President as a Leader of Public Opinion.-Since the President is now the chieftain of his party and has taken the responsibility for all important party measures, he must have an opinion on every national question of the day and must place this opinion before the people. The annual message no longer fulfills this function, as we have seen, and the Executive accordingly needs some more direct and frequent means of molding the views of his fellowcitizens. The most important of these is the interview or statement given to the public journals. The Associated Press and all the larger daily newspapers of the country maintain special correspondents with offices in Washington. These press representatives are recognized and given special privileges in the Executive Office Building on the White House grounds. For many years it was customary to allow newspaper men to shift for themselves in securing information about important executive acts. If a correspondent wished to obtain news, he made inquiry of the heads of departments or secured a personal interview with the officials in question. Nowadays the old-fashioned interview with all its opportunities for misunderstanding and mistaken inferences is considered unsatisfactory and has become rare. The President frankly recognizing that the public has an interest in every important act of his administration, no longer shuns the news-gatherers, his secretary prepares full statements for the press which are sometimes read to the assembled newspaper men or are manifolded and handed to them for such use as their papers may wish to make. If public interest in the question is active, the official statements often reach a column in length and are placed on the front page of every morning paper in the country. The influence of these written statements is general and profound. Within twenty-four hours the President by this method is enabled to place before the entire nation a concise, popular summary of his attitude, framed in his own words. It is not strange that these frequent, published addresses to the people have become one of the strongest means of molding public opinion on current issues. A sudden emergency arises in our national policy in foreign affairs or corporate regulation, various opinions are expressed by different groups of politicians, diverse conjectures and speculations are rife as to the facts,-public opinion needs reliable, authentic information and leadership. Immediately the newspapers of the country present on their front pages a statement from the President or a Cabinet Secretary as to the facts, the policy of the administration, and the reasons. In this way every citizen has laid on his breakfast table in the morning a communication from the chief Executive of the nation. Opinions may differ as to the advisability of his acts but the advantage is all with the President. The people feel that they are taken into his confidence and he is able to build up a strong popular support for his ideas. One result is the marked strengthening of his influence on legislation. He soon finds his efforts to secure the passage of his bills through Congress are aided by the force of the public opinion which he has himself aroused. This opinion now makes itself felt in letters to Congressmen, in letters to the public press and in the editorial attitude of the newspapers, so that on important issues it becomes difficult for the party leaders to withstand the pressure; they often fall in with the President's program because it has become the people's program. An additional means of guiding public sentiment is the speaking tour through the country. These Presidential tours are frequently undertaken with a set purpose in view. Notable instances were President Johnson's unsuccessful "swing 'round the circle" at the time of his contest with Congress over the reconstruction policy in the Southern States. Another example is President McKinley's trip through the South in his second administration which resulted in the creation of a new feeling of sympathy and friendliness for the national Executive in that section. President Roosevelt's tour of the Central and Western States at the beginning of his second administration was aimed to secure support for his corporation policies; and his trip on the Mississippi strengthened public sentiment in favor of improving internal waterways. The speechmaking trips of the President succeed or fail accordingly as he bears a clear positive message to the people or takes a merely defensive, explanatory attitude. It is not difficult for a President who has a definite program to gain strong support for it by presenting it in a popular style, free from technicalities, and taking care to concentrate public attention upon its central features only. The Strong President.-A few decades ago the popular candidate for President was a man without enemies,-one who because of his diplomatic, tactful attitude towards all public questions, had avoided provoking hostility and who was therefore welcome in all factions of his party. James Bryce, in the first editions of his well-known work, The American Commonwealth, included a chapter with the title, "Why Strong Men Are Not Chosen Presidents." But in thirty years our conditions have greatly changed and the people no longer have an interest in the candidate who is a tactful nonentity. Rather do they favor one who proposes that something be done and who is himself a man of action. In response to this new popular feeling the political leaders in selecting their candidates now choose men of positive force and strong views. This is not peculiar to our present conditions; in the past the national crisis has called forth the strong man. When the slavery question suddenly transformed itself into the problem of secession James Buchanan occupied the Presidential chair. Amiable, wellmeaning and honest, he tried to compromise the difficulty, but in vain. The majority of the people, feeling the need of a pronounced and positive character then turned to Lincoln. Examples might be multiplied, but it is a familiar fact that the man of purpose and capacity is often forced up by the emergency. If now we add to this the fact that our present national questions are steadily growing in breadth and importance and that they can no longer be solved by the former innocuous type of statesman we may realize how completely the qualifications for the Presidency have changed and how difficult if not impossible it would be to return to the old standard. Our view of the stronger Executive is accordingly a matter of temperament. If we believe that a passive, quiescent government is required, we shall fear the one-man power because of the danger that it may be controlled by a misguided or an unscrupulous Executive. In such a case, we say, would not the very efficiency, rapidity and irresistible power of the office become a two-edged sword which might plunge the country into war, debauch the national civil service, prostrate the business interests of the nation and even destroy popular faith in republican government? A strong Executive from this standpoint is dangerous because he is efficient for evil as well as good. But if we feel that a new era has set in in American national life and that our government must imperatively be re-enforced to cope with the greater problems of this new era, we shall be more impressed by the need for action than by the danger of mistakes, and our ideal will be an active government guided by a strong man. REFERENCES BENJAMIN HARRISON: This Country of Ours. STANWOOD: History of the Presidency. United States Civil Service Commission Annual Reports. Annual Reports of Executive Departments. HASKINS: The American Government. FAIRLIE: The National Administration. BRYCE: The American Commonwealth, 1910 Edition. BEARD: American Government, revised edition. HART AND MCLAUGHLIN: Cyclopedia of American Government. QUESTIONS I. Prepare a summary of the provisions of the Constitution on the following points: (a) Date of Presidential election. 2. (b) Presidential electors. (c) How are electors chosen? (d) How, where and when do electors choose the President and Vice-President? (e) How, where and by whom is the vote counted? (f) How many are necessary to a choice? (g) How shall the President be chosen if no one secures a majority of electors? Correct the following statement: The Constitution provides that the people shall elect electors who shall choose the President at Washington. 3. Who determines whether women may vote for President? 3a. Would an Act of Congress, granting to all women citizens of the U. S. over 21 years of age the right to vote be constitutional? 4. If three candidates divide the electoral vote between them so that no one has a majority, and if the House of Representatives fails to give any of these three a majority, who would be the President and why? 5. why? Which of the following men would be ineligible to the presidency and John Doe, born in New York of English parents, October, 1877. Richard Rosen, born in Sweden, 1876, of American parents, who later return to this country. Wah Lee, born in 1872 in America of Chinese parents. Charley Lee, born in Shanghai in 1879, whose father brings him to Jacob Higginheimer, born in Ireland in 1874, immigrated to the 6. Resolved that the President should have a six-year term. Defend either side of this question. 7. How was it intended that the President should be chosen? Did the fathers want the method to be democratic? Why? 8. How has this method been changed by the rise of political parties? How by the Twelfth Amendment? 9. Resolved that the President should be chosen by direct election. Defend either side of this question. IO. Show by figures how one candidate can secure a majority of the popular vote and another a majority of the electoral vote. II. 12. In such a case as the above, which candidate is the President and why? Why does not the State legislature provide by law that each candidate shall receive a number of presidential electors in the State proportionate to his share of the popular vote in the State? 13. Contrast the salary of the President with the amount of appropriations which he actually controls for executive purposes. 14. Can Congress increase the salary of a President whose policy it approves? Why? 15. Can Congress diminish the other allowances of a President whose policy it disapproves? Why? 16. What does the Constitution provide as to the President's power of appointment and how are appointments made in practice? 17. Explain the number and importance of the positions filled by the President with the consent of the Senate. 18. Why does the President lose so much time on appointments? 19. Resolved that the President should be allowed to make appointments without the concurrence of the Senate. Take either side. 20. What does the Constitution provide as to the legislative powers of the President? 21. Did the framers of the Constitution intend the President to be the active force in law-making? Why? 22. What influence has the annual message to Congress? 23. The veto? 24. How has the President secured the leadership in legislation? 25. Prove that this leadership is a temporary change due to the personality of certain Presidents, or that it is a permanent feature of our government. 26. Mention some important laws in recent administrations that were passed under presidential influence. 27. Explain the arguments used against executive influence in legislation. 28. What is the practical effect of the opposition to this influence? Why? 29. Explain how and why our foreign relations are growing in extent and importance. 30. Point out the change in our attitude toward foreign trade. 31. Cite all the clauses of the Constitution dealing with foreign relations. 32. Describe briefly the various grades of positions in the diplomatic and the consular services. 33. Explain the present method of choosing men for these services; are they permanently retained? Reasons. 34. How could the effectiveness of our foreign services be increased? 35. Why was a two-thirds majority of the Senate required for the approval of treaties? 36. How does this fit in with our present needs? 37. If a treaty negotiated by the President and passed by the Senate provides for the payment of a sum of money what further steps must be taken to render the treaty effective? 38. If a treaty and a State law conflict, which takes precedence according to the Constitution? 39. Mention some conflicts which have occurred in practice and their results. 40. Correct the following statement: The President shall have power to declare war. 41. What is the President's influence in bringing on or preventing a declaration? Examples. 42. Can the President, without consulting Congress, recognize a new nation as independent and sovereign? Reasons. 43. Can the President declare that the sovereignty of the United States extends to a given island and if he does so is his declaration binding? See Jones v. United States, 137 U. S. 202; 1890. 44. Mention some of the ordinary day-to-day negotiations with foreign powers. 45. Explain the need of a constructive foreign policy and some of the necessary principles of such a policy. 46. Cite the Constitution on the President's executive power and duty. 47. Why has the Executive so much freedom of discretion and judgment in enforcing the laws? 43. The tariff law of 1909 gave to the President the power of levying a maximum or minimum rate upon imports from foreign countries according to their treatment of our exports to their territory. How would you justify such a provision? 49. Why is elasticity especially needed in the executive department? 50. If the President encounters violence, in executing the tax-laws what can he do? Give examples. 51. Under the President's authority a deputy marshal is assigned to accompany and protect a United States Judge, against whose life threats have been made. In a restaurant where the two are seated an attack is about to be made upon the Judge when the deputy shoots and kills the assailant. Can the deputy be punished under State law? Why? See In re Neagle, 133 U. S. 1; 1890. 52. A mob obstructs the passage of a mail car. What can the Federal authorities do? 53. Cite the Constitution on the military powers of the President. 54. Why does not the President become a permanent dictator by means of these powers? 55. Why does not the annual message of the President command greater influence on legislation? 56. Explain the present usefulness of the message. |