Roosevelt as Dictator The strictly constitutional procedure by which Con-
gress has conferred immense powers upon President Roosevelt does not conceal the fact that for a limited period he will be nothing more or less than a Dictator. The consent of Congress may have been given grudgingly, but at the back of it was the popular conviction that the extraordinary stress of circumstances demanded heroic measures and an unhampered executive. He cannot, it is true, collect unauthorized direct taxes, or settle the question of War Debts; but he is empowered to interfere with free-born Americans to the extent, if lie will, of fixing hours and *ages, shutting down refractory businesses, closing and opening banks, and reducing the acreage of cultivation on farms. He can inflate or deflate the cur- rency, raise tariffs, regulate imports, distribute bounties to farmers, and initiate costly public works. With hint rests the decision to pursue a short-sighted policy of economic nationalism, or to commit his country to a more enlightened course of trade co-operation with the world. If he does not choose the better course, it will not be for lack of opportunity. * * * *
Previous page
