4 Presidential Addresses 



the Prime Minister is head in the English Parlia 

 ment. Under our government the Secretaries who 

 form the Cabinet are in the strictest sense the Presi 

 dent's own ministerial appointees; the men, chosen 

 out of all the nation, to whom he thinks he can best 

 depute the most important and laborious of his 

 executive duties. Of course they all advise him 

 on matters of general policy when he so desires it, 

 and in practice each Cabinet officer has a very free 

 hand in managing his own department, and must 

 have it if he is to do good work. But all this 

 advice and consultation is at the will of the Presi 

 dent. With the Senate, on the other hand, the 

 advice and consultation are obligatory under the 

 Constitution. 



The President and Congress are mutually neces 

 sary to one another in matters of legislation, and 

 the President and the Senate are mutually necessary 

 in matters of appointment. Every now and then 

 men who understand our Constitution but imper 

 fectly raise an outcry against the .President for 

 consulting the Senators in matters of appointment, 

 and even talk about the Senators "usurping" his 

 functions. These men labor under a misapprehen 

 sion. The Senate has no right to dictate to the 

 President who shall be appointed, but they have an 

 entire right to say who shall not be appointed, for 

 under the Constitution this has been made their 

 duty. 



In practice, under our party system, it has come 

 to be recognized that each Senator has a special 



