Evening Post. SATURDAY, MAY 20, 1905. A CONSTITUTION ON ITS TRIAL.

Evening Post, Volume LXIX, Issue 118, 20 May 1905, Page 4

Evening Post. SATURDAY, MAY 20, 1905. A CONSTITUTION ON ITS TRIAL.

The Constitution of tho United States is v ronuukablo instrument, drawn up nfler prutructcd disctiswions by men of forisight, jtulg^nont, uml cxperienca. It e.\hibit.s 110 particular origin.vlity or inventivo genius, being rutlier an elcctic cdiistnii-tion, bused on tho expmoncu of Kurujio (fspctiuliy of England), uml that of tho individual Status of America then existing. Thcso object-lessons atlorded examples both of vhitt to adopt und wlnit to avoid. As might havo been expected from men shaking off tin old syslom, it is pervaded by an atmosphereof cnution und apprehension. Itt> .systuin of checks und b.vlunces uvincts un anxiety to provide safeguards iigninst all posbiblo abuses of power by any component part of tho machine. Jt lms on paper nil tho appearance of an organised und hurnionioits jiioco of machinery; und, if we question its practical otllcacy, Americans may justly reply that a great nation has gruttlt up and expanded under it, ■with not luoro than gjiu crisis of serious magnitude. And yot the momentous question is already taking shape, whether there tiro not si^ns that America is outgrowing her Constitution. 2»ot even tho fur-.seoinjr genius of Hamilton and Madison could sweep tho ages to conic, and realise, nil tho possible trunsfornintioim, internal mid external, whiih America might undergo. In tho ciso of Ancient Koine, the (list great extouJtil crisis revealed tho niter inadequacy and uiisuiUljility of »» uilian Constitution for even a limited fuioigu policy. America is ul present passing through two main phases of tiiinttfnnnntion, each of which hccius likely to mv poso a severe stniin on tho "national machinery. Ono in, tho enormous dovoloi>mont of industrial organisation j tho other, the rapid extension during the lost decade of her foreign relations, and the ovidenco of a deliberate abandon* ment of the position of an isolated and solf-conluiiipd community. -Tho foreign relations M-hich her Couslitulion-niiiktMs of 1787 had beforo them weio of tho most simpK) and olomentiiry chnutuier, ainounting mainly to a Sfntiinontal friendship and gr.ititudo towards France, and a suspicion and distrust of Knginncl. It was probably their fear of foreign entanglements'which led them to check Iho executive power of tho President by imparting an executive control to one of (heir liOgiolativo Assemblies also. Treaties negotiated by tha President who only to bo valid after ratilication by a Iwo-thiids majority of tho Senate • Secrecy was secured by tho piovtaion that tho Si'tiivto in its oxoctttivo capacity should sit in camera, each member being bound by tin onlh not to divulge tho proceedings. Hut the germ of tho mischief lay, not so mupli in tho danger of publicity, us in tho splitling-up of tho foreign business of tho country botween two authorities which might be, and as a matter of fuel have often been, in strained relations with each other. Nor is the Ameiican Sonr.te, after a century of development, an ideal body for controlling foreign ntfaiis Jt is liable to corrupting, I'lcetioneerinpt influences, from which the Ph'.iidcnl as tho direct exponent of the mind of the people in entirely free. I'he short shrift given

by tho Senate to President Knnsevelt's r.'i'i-iit attempts at Ireaty-m.iking, Iho a rhilr.it ion tieatios and tho arrangement with S,in Domingo, indicates either more vexatious obhtiuction or a dulerminalion to assert constitutional rights. Possibly Iho country was not much concerned about tho arbitration treaties; but tho proposed San Domingo arrimgoment was tho first piiictic.il ovpression of a sense of the responsibilities entailed by tho Monroo Doctrine. With the expansion of America's foreign relations wo may expect abundant ilhiNtr.it ions of tho paralysing effect of this division of control. There can bo here nothing of the unity und effectiveness of a British Cabinet supported Iby ;i Mibseivient majority, or of a Russun autocrat supported by official adviseis. Wo cm only touch briefly on the strain ■which seems* likely lo lie imposed on the Constitution by a vigorous gi.ippling with Iho problem of trusts. PrehiuVnt Roosevelt lias announced his determination to establish a vigorous national control over tin; public services of the country. It doeß not yet seem clear by what moans he proposes to effect his object. An anti-trust law has existed since 1890 ; but its opoiation has been paralysed up to tho present by tho corrupt inlluence exercised by poweiful corporations. A spasmodic effort to enforce, its provisions miis made last year by tho Federal Supremo Court in tho famous Northern Securities caw. Fivo out of tho nine Judges declared this particular combination illegal; but the four dissentients raised a, point which opens up the constitutional difficulties involved in the position. They maintained that property held within States was under tho contiol of the States themselves; and, railway shares being a form of property, their disposition was beyond the jurisdiction of the central authority. It seems idle to expect any such tiling as decisive anti-trust legislation from Congross a.s nt present constituted. Ono of tho constitutional functions of the American President is to sco that tho laws are strictly enforced. It remains to be seen whether President Roosevelt lias strength enough to enforce tho existing law, as well as to adjust the constitutional difficulty with the States, in tho faco of tho most powerful vested in(orests that the world bus ever seen, lie ha.H tho people at his Iback, whereas the bold of Congress on the nation is steadily wenkening.