Letters: Sep. 13, 1926

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Withdrawal Demanded

Sirs:

In TIME, Aug. 23, is the statement "At home, people . . . recalled that there is nothing in the Constitution to keep Mr. Borah from occupying both his own Senatorial chair and the Secretary of State's seat. If the President would select for his Cabinet the chairman of the leading Congressional Committees, 'responsible government,' in the sense in which it is understood in Britain ('Mother of Parliaments') would almost instantly be achieved."

For the proper information of your readers on this important subject you should withdraw both these statements.

Evidently you have overlooked the last part of Section 6 in Article I of the Constitution, which reads: "No person holding any office under the United States shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office."

Moreover, even if there were no such provision in the Constitution, the selection of the chairmen of the leading Congressional Committees as Cabinet officers would not achieve "responsible government" such as Great Britain has. . . .

S. A. TORRANCE Yonkers, N. Y.

The Cabinet is a body totally unknown to the Constitution, hence members do not hold office "under the United States." Says Edward S. Corwin, famed constitutional lawyer, and McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University: "Article I, paragraph 6 is no obstacle to the President's constituting his Cabinet of chairmen of Congressional Committees. Members of present Cabinet are officers only as heads of departments. A Cabinet of Committee heads would not be officers, only advisers. . . ."

Of course, the executive power of the U. S. would still belong to the President, and he could not be made "responsible" in the British prime minister sense without Constitutional Amendment.—ED.

Borah in Boise

Sirs: A word about William E. Borah at home. You say (TIME, Aug. 23), "Senator Borah strode down the dusty streets of Boise—people applauded, tipping their hats to him, occasionally he nodded."

As a matter of fact Borah comes and goes unobtrusively and takes his place among Boise people as if he had not been away most of the time for a decade and a half. When he came this time, a little group met him at the train. There was handshaking under the belltower of Boise's unique Spanish mission railroad station. The prohibition director for Idaho and Montana took charge of the Senator's luggage. In the car of friends he rode down into the sea of trees beneath the green waves of which are the paved streets and houses of Boise. Trees, you know, gave the city its name; the French voyageurs, at first sight of the wooded valley, cried, "Voyez le bois." It has remained "the wooded city." Home folks call it "Boy'se."

Borah wanders about, alone for the most part. He nods to all. He shakes hands with many, amiable, affable, forsaking his Washington manner of studied avoidance.