bsequently criticise by taking
away the power of the judge.

CHAPTER III

THE EXECUTIVE POWER

I have been introduced at a great many places by the exuberant chairman
of a committee who referred to the fact that he was about to introduce a
gentleman who exercised the greatest power in the world. While the power
of the President may be very great as compared with the power of rulers
of other countries, I can testify that when you are exercising it, you
don't think of its extent so much as you do of its limitations. I think
a study of the relative power of the King of England, the President of
France, the Emperor of Germany, the King of Italy, the Emperor of
Austria and the Emperor of Russia might involve a very interesting
investigation. I am not sufficiently familiar with the power of those
executive heads to speak on the subject, though I do know something of
the power of the King of England. In England and all of her colonies
they have a so-called responsible government. The English King is said
to reign and not to rule, while the actual ruler is the Premier, who
combines executive and legislative power by virtue of his position as
head of the controlling party in Parliament. When the legislative
majority fails him, he goes out of office. It is a government
responsible both for legislation and for executive work.

With us, as you know, the President is a permanent officer for four
years. It is quite possible that he may be elected as President at the
same time that a Congress hostile to him is put into power. Such was the
case when Mr. Hayes was elected, and indeed when Mr. Cleveland was first
elected there was a majority against him in the Senate. It happens more
frequently, however, that at the end of two years a majority of the
opposing party is elected to a Congress at the mid-term election. Our
method has been criticised as rigid and unresponsive to change in
popular opinion, but I venture to think that it has some advantages over
the English one. It may be good for a country to have an occasional rest
from legislation, to let it digest what reformers have already gotten on
its statute book, and the period when the President differs from
Congress offers such an opportunity for test and rest. We have rests in
music, which are necessary to a proper composition, and I do not see why
we should not have rests in politics.

I think, however, that we might advantageously give greater power to the
President