Part 19 (1/2)

The Ah quality of the work done by some of our diplomats--work, usually entirely unnoticed and unrewarded, which redounds to the interest and the honor of all of us Themy presidency, and forin h quality of work done by such admirable ambassadors and an, to na many When I left the presidency White was Ambassador to France; shortly afterwards he was reood of the service

The ht spirit in e, honesty, and a genuine democracy of desire to serve the plain people, was my insistence upon the theory that the executive poas li in the Constitution or iress under its Constitutional powers My vieas that every executive officer, and above all every executive officer in high position, was a steward of the people bound actively and affirmatively to do all he could for the people, and not to content hied in a napkin I declined to adopt the view that as imperatively necessary for the Nation could not be done by the President unless he could find some specific authorization to do it My belief was that it was not only his right but his duty to do anything that the needs of the Nation demanded unless such action was forbidden by the Constitution or by the laws Under this interpretation of executive power I did and caused to be done s not previously done by the President and the heads of the departreatly broaden the use of executive power In other words, I acted for the public welfare, I acted for the co of all our people, whenever and in whatever manner was necessary, unless prevented by direct constitutional or legislative prohibition I did not care a rap for the mere form and show of power; I cared immensely for the use that could be made of the substance The Senate at one ti, preferring the expensive, foolish, and laborious practice of writing out the es by hand It was not possible to return to the outworn archais made as pretty as possible Whether I co or by word ofwas by a machine, or a pen, were equally, and absolutely, unimportant matters

The importance lay in what I said and in the heed paid to what I said

So as to ressmen, politicians, financiers, and labor men I consulted all ished to see me; and if I wished to see any one, I sent for him; and where the consultation took place was a matter of supreme unimportance I consulted every man with the sincere hope that I could profit by and follow his advice; I consulted everyto be able to coreement of action with him; and I always finally acted as my conscience and coed by the Constitution to consult the Senate; and the long-established custom of the Senate meant that in practice this consultation ith individual Senators and even with big politicians who stood behind the Senators I was only one-half the appointing power; I nominated; but the Senate confirmed In practice, by as called ”the courtesy of the Senate,” the Senate normally refused to confirm any appointment if the Senator from the State objected to it In exceptional cases, where I could arouse public attention, I could force through the appointment in spite of the opposition of the Senators; in all ordinary cases this was impossible

On the other hand, the Senator could of course do nothing for any man unless I chose to nominate him In consequence the Constitution itself forced the President and the Senators froreement on the appointments in and from that State

My course was to insist on absolute fitness, including honesty, as a prerequisite to every appointood cause, and, where there was such cause, to refuse even to discuss with the Senator in interest the unfit servant's retention Subject to these considerations, I normally accepted each Senator's recommendations for offices of a routine kind, such as most post-offices and the like, but insisted ontheto take any good e or District Attorney or Canal Coiven iven class of qualifications If the Senator deceived me, I took care that he had no opportunity to repeat the deception

I can perhaps best illustrate my theory of action by two specific examples In New York Governor Odell and Senator Platt soreement and sometimes were at swords' points, and both wished to be consulted To a friendly Congressman, as also their friend, I wrote as follows on July 22, 1903:

”I want to ith Platt I want to ith Odell I want to support both and take the advice of both But of course ultiiven When, as in the case of the judgeshi+p, I a, I shall act as I did when I appointed Holt When I can find a friend of Odell's like Cooley, who is thoroughly fit for the position I desire to fill, it gives reatest pleasure to appoint him When Platt proposes to me a man like Hamilton Fish, it is equally a pleasure to appoint him”

This ritten in connection with events which led up to estions as to a Federal Judgeshi+p and a Federal District Attorneyshi+p, and insisting on the appointh and later of District Attorney Stimson; because in each case I felt that the work to be done was of so high an order that I could not take an ordinary on Through Francis Heney I was prosecuting ainst the law in connection with the theft of public land in Oregon I had been acting on Senator Fulton's recommendations for office, in the usual ue with the , and that he had recoainst ards appointing Judge Wolverton as United States Judge Finally Heney laid before me a report which convinced me of the truth of his statements I then wrote to Fulton as follows, on November 20, 1905: ”My dear Senator Fulton: I inclose you herewith a copy of the report inals of the letters from you and Senator Mitchell quoted therein I do not at this time desire to discuss the report itself, which of course I ed to reach the painful conclusion that your own letters as therein quoted tend to show that you recoood reason to believe that he had hiuilty of fraudulent conduct; that you recommended C for the same position simply because it was for B's interest that he should be so recoreed to divide the fees with B if he were appointed; and that you finally recoe that if H were appointed he would abstain fro why B advocated H's claims for reappointment If you care to lad to hear it As the District Judge of Oregon I shall appoint Judge Wolverton” In the letter I of course gave in full the naave no explanation I therefore ceased to consult him about appointments under the Department of Justice and the Interior, the two departments in which the crookedness had occurred--there was no question of crookedness in the other offices in the State, and they could be handled in the ordinary ue in the Senate, and one of his colleagues in the lower house, and the former was convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary

In a nuality of executive acts of ht before the courts They were unifor to the disposition of coal lands had been construed as fixing the flat price at 10 to 20 per acre The result was that valuable coal lands were sold for wholly inadequate prices, chiefly to big corporations By executive order the coal lands ithdrawn and not opened for entry until proper classification was placed thereon by Governislative power; but the acts were not assailed in court until we brought suits to set aside entries er areas than the statutes authorized This position was opposed on the ground that the restrictions ial The Supreme Court sustained the Government In the same way our attitude in the water power question was sustained, the Suprehts we clairess Again, when Oklahoed to use the executive power to protect Indian rights and property, for there had been an enor of Indian lands by whitepower over a State as well as usurping power that did not belong to the executive The Supreme Court sustained our action

In connection with the Indians, by the way, it was again and again necessary to assert the position of the President as steward of the whole people I had a capital Indian Commissioner, Francis E Leupp I found that I could rely on his judghts that were unnecessary, and therefore I always backed hiht was necessary On one occasion, for exaress passed a bill to sell to settlers about half a million acres of Indian land in Oklahon it, and turned the ly withdrawn, auard the welfare of the Indians, and the ned the bill We sold that land under sealed bids, and realized for the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Indians more than four million dollars--three millions and a quarter ned the bill in its original for the Sac and Fox Indians, part of the tribe reress, backed by tho werea sum of nearly a half million dollars to the Iowa seceders They had not consulted the Indian Bureau Leupp protested against the bill, and I vetoed it A subsequent bill was passed on the lines laid down by the Indian Bureau, referring the whole controversy to the courts, and the Supreainst the Iowa seceders and awarding the money to the Oklahoma stay-at-ho been two schools of political thought, upheld with equal sincerity The division has not nor political, but te the executive as subject only to the people, and, under the Constitution, bound to serve the people affirmatively in cases where the Constitution does not explicitly forbid him to render the service, was substantially the course followed by both Andrew Jackson and Abraha Presidents, such as James Buchanan, took the opposite and, as it seealistic view that the President is the servant of Congress rather than of the people, and can do nothing, no matter how necessary it be to act, unless the Constitution explicitly coe take this view, and so do large nu, respectable citizens My successor in office took this, the Buchanan, view of the President's powers and duties

For example, under my Administration we found that one of the favoritethe public domain was to carry the decision of the Secretary of the Interior into court By vigorously opposing such action, and only by so doing, ere able to carry out the policy of properly protecting the public domain My successor not only took the opposite view, but recoiven the courts direct appellate power over the Secretary of the Interior in these land matters This bill was reported favorably by Mr Mondell, Chairressman who took the lead in every measure to prevent the conservation of our natural resources and the preservation of the National doress declined to pass the bill Its passage would have been a veritable calamity

I acted on the theory that the President could at any time in his discretion withdraw from entry any of the public lands of the United States and reserve the saation, and other public purposes Without such action it would have been impossible to stop the activity of the land thieves No one ventured to test its legality by lawsuit My successor, however, hiain Congress showed its wisdoave the President the pohich he had long exercised, and of which my successor had shorn himself

Perhaps the sharp difference bethat may be called the Lincoln-Jackson and the Buchanan-Taft schools, in their views of the power and duties of the President,the attitude of my successor toward his Secretary of the Interior, Mr

Ballinger, when the latter was accused of gross misconduct in office, with my attitude towards my chiefs of department and other subordinate officers More than once while I was President enerally because these officials did their duty well and fearlessly In every such case I stood by the official and refused to recognize the right of Congress to interfere withby impeachment or in other Constitutional manner On the other hand, wherever I found the officer unfit for his position I proh the ht for his retention The Jackson-Lincoln view is that a President who is fit to do good work should be able to forment as to his own subordinates, and, above all, of the subordinates standing highest and in closest and most intimate touch with him My secretaries and their subordinates were responsible to me, and I accepted the responsibility for all their deeds As long as they were satisfactory to ainst every critic or assailant, within or without Congress; and as for getting Congress to ht would have been inconceivable to me My successor took the opposite, or Buchanan, viehen he peres er as an executive officer These charges were made to the President; the President had the facts before hiet at thees were true However, he perer The party ated hies ell founded and that Mr

Ballinger should be rees ill founded The President abode by the view of the majority Of course believers in the Jackson-Lincoln theory of the Presidency would not be content with this townby another branch of the Government what it seems the especial duty of the President hi with his own subordinate in his own department

There are many worthy people who reprobate the Buchanan method as a matter of history, but who in actual life reprobate still ly the Jackson-Lincoln method when it is put into practice These persons conscientiously believe that the President should solve every doubt in favor of inaction as against action, that he should construe strictly and narrowly the Constitutional grant of powers both to the National Government, and to the President within the National Government In addition, however, to the h, although as I hold uided, motives, there are many men who affect to believe in it merely because it enables them to attack and to try to hamper, for partisan or personal reasons, an executive whom they dislike There are other men in whom, especially when they are themselves in office, practical adherence to the Buchanan principle represents not well-thought-out devotion to an unwise course, but simple weakness of character and desire to avoid trouble and responsibility

Unfortunately, in practice it makes little difference which class of ideas actuates the President, who by his action sets a craheaded or merely infirm of purpose, whether he means well feebly or is bound by a mischievous misconception of the powers and duties of the National Government and of the President, the effect of his actions is the same The President's duty is to act so that he himself and his subordinates shall be able to do efficient work for the people, and this efficient work he and they cannot do if Congress is per up his mind for him as to how he shall perform what is clearly his sole duty

One of the ways in which by independent action of the executive ere able to accoh volunteer unpaid coet the work done by these volunteer commissions only because of the enthusiasher offices at Washi+ngton, hout the Government departments--as I have said, I never knew harder and more disinterested work done by any people than was done by the men and women of all ranks in the Government service The contrast was really extraordinary between their live interest in their work and the traditional clerical apathy which has so often been the distinguishi+ng note of governton Most of the public service performed by these volunteer commissions, carried on without a cent of pay to the men themselves, and wholly without cost to the Governreat majority of ere already in the Governed with responsibilities a each to a full man's job

The first of these Coanization of Government Scientific Work, whose Chairman was Charles D Walcott

Appointed March 13, 1903, its duty was to report directly to the President ”upon the organization, present condition, and needs of the Executive Government holly or partly scientific in character, and upon the steps which should be taken, if any, to prevent the duplication of such work, to co-ordinate its various branches, to increase its efficiency and econoe” This Commission spent four months in an exaer scientific and executive bureaus of the Government, and prepared a report which furnished the basis for numerous improvements in the Government service

Another Commission, appointed June 2, 1905, was that on Department Methods--Charles H Keep, Chaires are needed to place the conduct of the executive business of the Government in all its branches on the ht of the bestthis Commission laid down nine principles of effective Govern of which was: ”The existence of any method, standard, custom, or practice is no reason for its continuance when a better is offered” This Commission, coed with important work, performed its functions wholly without cost to the Government It was assisted by a body of about seventy experts in the Government departments chosen for their special qualifications to carry forward a study of the best anized into assistant committees under the leadershi+p of Overton W Price, Secretary of the Commission These assistant co on their regular work,the last half of 1906 The Co the business methods of practically every individual branch of the business of the Governeneral efficiency throughout the service The conduct of the routine business of the Governhly overhauled before, and this exaation of a set of working principles for the transaction of public business which are as sound to-day as they hen the Committee finished its work The soations of Government business s of the Committee on Depart the Govern in the conduct of the business of the Governh the better methods thus introduced amounted yearly to many hundreds of thousands of dollars; but a far ain was due to the re a new point of view in public servants toward their work

The need for i business e of an Indian agencyseven dollars, certifying at the sa the winter, because the old stove orn out Thereupon the custoh the customary routine, without unusual delay at any point The transaction nity to its appointed end, and the stove reached the infire its arrival in these words: ”The stove is here So is spring”

The Civil Service Commission, under men like John McIlhenny and Garfield, rendered service without which the Government could have been conducted with neither efficiency nor honesty The politicians were not the only persons at fault; almost as much improper pressure for appointments is due to mere misplaced sympathy, and to the spiritless inefficiency which seeks a Govern feature of office seeking is that eachan office is apt to look down on all others with the sa an objectionable class hich _he_ has nothing in co others the A an appointood man, of persistent nature, who felt I had been so after the catastrophe he wrote, saying that as the consul was dead he would like his place, and that I could surely give it to him, because ”even the office seekers could not have applied for it yet!”

The method of public service involved in the appointment and the work of the two commissions just described was applied also in the establishment of four other commissions, each of which performed its task without salary or expense for its members, and wholly without cost to the Government The other four commissions were: