THE NELSON EVENING MAIL TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1931 A PRESIDENT’S DECLINING POPULARITY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 13 January 1931, Page 4

THE NELSON EVENING MAIL TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1931 A PRESIDENT’S DECLINING POPULARITY

IT is one of the weaknesses of the Constitution of the United States of America that it is possible for the Executive Government of the Federation, which is vested in the President, to bo at variance with Congress, and yet to be forced to carry on the government of the country in the teeth of the stultifying opposition of Senators and Representatives. Something like such an anomalous situation lias been created to-day; the recent election of Senators having resulted in a Senate which lias not much sympathy with President Hoover. The difference of opinion arises out of the \exed question of the utilisation of tlie country’s sources of water-power. One body of opinion, to which the President adheres, is desirous that the water-power of the country shall be managed and controlled by private corporations, and the other body of opinion, to which the majority of the Senators adhere, thinks that such power-plants should be managed by the Federal or State Governments, as the case may be. The great quarrel lias been over the important power and nitrate plants at Muscle Shoals, on the Tennessee River. During the war the Federal Government constructed an immense dam at the point indicated, hainessed vast water-power, and erected plants for the generation of electricity and for the extraction of nitrates from the air, but those plants are idle, and appear to have been idle ever since they were completed ten years ago, because Congress and the U.S. Government have been unable to make up their minds as to whether the Muscle Shoals plants shall be operated by a private corporation or by the Government. From the New York “World” we learn that: In 1928 both Houses of Congress adopted a’Bill for Government operation (of Muscle Shoals) known as the Norris plan (favouring Government control). This Bill, however was given a pocket veto by President Loolidge. In 1930 the Senate again approved the Norris plan, but the House adopted a Bill of its own for a lease to private industry. These two Lills are still alive. They will bo referred to a Conference Committee of the two Houses when Congress meets again.

Congress is meeting again, and apparently the Senate and the President have come to loggerheads over the vexed question of Muscle Shoals. The question will be asked, Why is public opinion, inside and outside of Congress, so much opposed to the utilisation, of the nation’s sources of water-power by pi'iiate corporations? In answer to this question the New York Times replies, referring to the latter: They are not blameless. They have allowed intricate corporate structures to bewilder the public and baffle the Commissions. Some of them have paid excessive prices for plants, and tried to charge the excess to the consumer. Others, under cover of rates still at pre-war levels, rising commodity prices, and complaisant Commissions or Courts, have paid to their stockholders profits that should have been shared with the public. More than one company has been caught exerting influence or inspiring propaganda beyond the proper bounds. Too many executives have thought of “public relations” as merely a matter of press agents and customer ownership. Very few of them have evolved an explicit public policy like the telephone company’s. Yet there are men of goodwill and’ foresight in the industry who could, in similar fashion, meet the public halfway. President Hoover’s popularity, which was high at the time of his election, a little more than two years ago, has waned considerably with the advent of bad times; and it would appear that it has waned still further through his adoption of his predecessor’s attitude towards the Muscle Shoals .controversy. The recent elections, held two or three months ago, turned largely on this question, and the result showed how wide-awake the public are to their interests in Muscle Shoals. The Government plainly is unpopular, yet there is no machinery whereby it could be ousted from power, until by effluxion of time President Hoover’s term of office ends, which will be in about two years. It will have been noticed that, in his reply to the Senate, President Hoover complained that that body had attempted to dictate to him, which, lie added, “I am bound to resist.” Tlie President is not responsible to Congress, hut directly to the people, from whom lie derives his office. Congress also derives its powers directly from tlie peoplo. And yet, when, as in tlie instance of tlie partial election recently held, the people declare their disapproval of the President’s policy, ho and the Government which he nominated continue to function just as if they retain the confidence of the country. It is one of the essentials of popular government that the executive and the electoral body or bodies shall work in harmony. But in the United Slates the Constitution is such that a Government which lias lost the confidence of Congress may continue in office, functioning as best it may, but hampered at every turn by tho elected Chambers. Such an impasse cannot, occur under the British Conslitutbn, or in the Dominions, since with us the Government is responsible to Parliament, and Parliament to tlie people, so that when tlie Executive loses the confidence of Parliament it ceases to function, and another Executive is appointed, in harmony with the premier Chamber. We leave our readers to decide which is the better plan, but we saw how disastrously the American system worked under President Wilson, in connection with the Treaty of Versailles and tlie League of Nations’ Covenant, and it looks as if President Hoover is reaching an equally anomalous position over infinitely less-important issues.