and should
he try it a second time he might not have a throne under him. The
President, however, has the veto power under a provision of the
Constitution. When he decides to differ with both Houses, certain
members of demagogic tendency rise to say that the President is
exercising a royal prerogative power, or that he is going back to the
time of Imperial Rome. This might frighten an inexperienced man, but in
reality it is mere bluster. As a matter of fact, the President
represents the people in a much wider sense than any particular
Congressional orator, for he was elected by all the people, while the
Congressman was chosen by only one district. The Constitution says that
if he disapproves of an act, he shall send it back with his objections
and it enjoins upon him the duty of examining every act and every bill
that comes to him, to see whether it ought to pass. He vetoes,
therefore, in his representative capacity, with legislative and
suspensive, but not absolute, power. A vetoed act is returned to the
House, and if its supporters can succeed in getting a two-thirds
majority in each House, the bill can still pass over his veto. This
rarely happens, however, for the President can usually give reasons good
enough to command the vote of at least the one-third of one House that
is necessary to sustain his veto.

The second great control exercised by the President is that of
Commander-in-Chief. This includes, first of all, his command over the
army, which is complete. He can send the army where he chooses and he
can call out the state militia to repel invasion, to suppress
insurrection and to execute the laws, if the army or militia be
necessary. Of that he alone is the judge. Early in our history certain
state judges thought that the commander of the militia in each state
should pass on the question as to whether an emergency had arisen which
would justify the President in calling out the militia, but that was one
hundred years ago.

To illustrate our practice now in regard to the execution of laws with
the aid of the army, there is one very striking instance which occurred
within my memory. Debs organized the American Railway Union in order to
take the American people by the throat and say to them: "You shall not
have any milk for your babies, you shall not have any food, you shall
not have anything. I am going to stop every railroad in the country
until you come with me and make Pullman pay his men what I think they