Government Undergoes Thorough Reorganizing at Fifth Law Forum

With "How Should We Reorganize Our Government?" as the topic, four wellknown speakers last night launched into a comprehensive analysis of the problems of American government at the fifth meeting of the Harvard Law School Forum in New Lecture Hall. The modcrator was Jerome L. Rappaport 1L.

Thomas Finletter, New York attorney and author of the book "Can Representative Government Do the Job?," opened the forum with an attack on the existing relations between the Executive and Legislative branches of government, which he termed "government by conflict." We must "bring the President and Congress into closer collaboration with each other," he added.

Finletter concluded by suggesting that, in the event of an Executive-Legislative impasse, the President be given power to dissolve the entire Congress and the presidency as well, and turn the issue in dispute over to the people.

The second speaker, Arthur N. Holcombe '06, professor of Government, attacked Finletter's "remedy," objecting to the difficulties entailed in a new Presidential and Congressional election each time a deadlock occurred. "The real evil," he continued, "is not the conflict between the President and Congress, but the inability of Congress to function positively."

Roland Young, author of "This Is Congress," seconded Holcombe's denunciation of Congressional inactivity with the words "Congress doesn't form our general policy; it lets the President do that; Congressmen are interested in details."

The Hon. A. S. Mike Monroney, Representative from Oklahoma, also objected to Finletter's treatment of Executive-Legislative conflict. "Government," he said, "should be by conflict." With regard to positive Congressional action, Monroney insisted that "Congress has provided positive leadership." He concluded the forum with a resume of the "Report of the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress," outlining the basic changes considered in the report.