OUR CABINET
_GOVERNMENT
Should Our Cabinet Officers Be
Made Responsible to the
People
The defects of our government as
planned by our forefathers are very
few. The few there are are due en
tirely to certain inventions which
they undertook. So long as they
fashioned the constitution out of
their experience, just so long did
they plan perfectly.
On account of the present “tem
pest in a teapot” dome, we are
brought face to face with one seri
ous drawback of our constitution,
and that is the fact that the cabinet
officers are not responsible to the
people of the United States directly,
but to the President.
The fact that these cabinet of
ficers are responsible to the Presi
dent only precludes their appearing
on the floor of the House or Senate
to guide thru various administration
measures. Cabinet officers who
have lost the entire confidence of
the people are still retained in of
fice because of the feeling that Pres
idents naturally have of standing
by a person who is imder attack.
If the cabinet officer were to fall
whenever he should lose the confi
dence of the majority of the peo
ple’s representatives, the President
would not have to remain under such
embarrassments.
It seems in respect to their cabi
net government at least that France
has benefited by our experience for
there the President remains the head
of the government for the term for
which he was elected, but the cabi
net can only remain in power so
long as it can command the sup
port of the majority of their Assem
bly.
The time will come when our con
stitution will be amended to cure
this defect. It should not be possi
ble for a Taft and his cabinet to
remain in power after he had lost
the control of the House during the
latter half of his term; nor for Mr.
Wilson to remain the head of our
government with the right to negot
iate our treaties and represent our
country at a time when the people
of the country had taken away his
control of Congress.
There is too much fear of control
by majority rule in the United
States. Checks must be invented
continually to thwart the will of the
people. I don’t know but what the
checks are worse than the evil which
they are supposed to prevent. At
least during the Wilson administra
tion, our prestige was considerably
dimmed by Mr. Wilson’s curious po
sition, that of being at the head
of a government that had repudiated
him. Both the British and the
French governments could say at
the World Conference that their as
sent to treaties would be sustained,
whereas Mr. Wilson knew at the
very time that he pledged the sup
port of the United States that the
Senate, equally important with the
President in making treaties, would
not ratify its assent.
This defect in our Constitution
tends to destroy or at least unde] -
mine the confidence of our peopl 2
in the process of government. Mi.
Denby got out only because he fel
the pressure of disapproval; but Mr,
Daugherty stays in regardless of his
loss of the support of Congress
merely because he feels that if he
should resign under pressure, he
would thereby admit the charges,
whereas, the real reason for his res
ignation should be that he has lost
the support of Congress.
LA FOLLETTE WILL
BE CANDIDATE IF
COOUDGE ENTERS
WASHINGTON, D. C., March 18.
—Senator LaFollette, who was re
ported as having withdrawn his
name recently as a candidate for
the Republican nomination, has let
it be known that he will enter the
race as a candidate of a Third party
if President Coolidge is selected by
the Republicans to head the regular
ticket.
The action of the senator also will
depend upon the kind of platform
adopted by the Republicans. It is
understood he will have much to do
with the drafting of the Third party
platform.
CAN A MEMBER OF THE
LEGISLATURE RESIGN;
CAN GOVERNOR ACCEPT
A legislator is an officer elected
by the people. He has no right to
resign unless permitted by law. He
is responsible to the people who el
ect him, and he cannot divest him
self of his duties unless the peo
ple have provided a way for him to
do so. If all legislators should re
sign, we would have no legislature.
“The recognition of a right to re
sign office may result in an inter
regnum (vacancy). Therefore the
courts, when not governed in their
decisions by statutory provisions, re
cognize no such right to resign if
its exercise will result in a vacancy.
As a general rule the acceptance of
the resignation by the proper au
thority is necessary to its validity.”
29 Cyc. 1403.
“The authority competent to ac
cept the resignation is, in the ab
sence of statutory provision regula
ting the matter, the authority which
by law has the right to fill the va
cancy occasioned by the resigna
tion.” Fryer v. Norton 52 Atl. 476.
Taking the first quotation and
looking thru the laws of Alaska,
there is no law permitting a legisla
tor to resign.
Taking the second quotation, since
there is no law in Alaska giving
the Governor the right to accept a
resignation of a legislator, or giving
the governor the right to fill the
vacancy, the governor has no power
to accept such a resignation.
Taking the principles of law in
the first quotation, the only power
that may accept a resignation is the
People but in Alaska the People have
not provided a way.
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