The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-03-28


The possibility of ne,o issue Of inconoertible
paper regard ,oih amazement and anaiety' and,
IN my judgment, such an issue ,coud be a detri-
me'a and a shame. CHARLES SUMNER
The Veto REORGANIZATION OF the Ex-
ccutive to Financial Legislation.
1t is a noteworthy fact that previous to the
time of Johnson's administration the power
OF the Executive to return to Congress for
further consideration any bills of which he
could not approve was well nigh restricted to
money bills, and dealt in the large majority OF
cases, with the constitutionality or expediency
OF acts whose important aspect was the finan-
cial one. jackson and Tyler opposed with
success the early attempts to fasten on the ma
ton an enormous financial monopoly, which
only finally secured throttling hold in the
emergencies Of great war, when the nation
could not choose what was wise but was
compelled to grasp at whatever it could hold
by. On the early financial struggle were the
most famous Of the older vetoes, and the
one other subject that led to the re-
peated exercise of this power was
also an opposition to extravagant financial
notions Of congressman from impecunious
sections of the country. This subject was the
so-called "internal improvement" fury; for
internal improvement projects covered for
merly as many latent jobs as banking bills
cover now. Madison, Monroe, Jackson and
Polk vetoed internal Improvement" bills for
digging out harbors, cutting rivers and making
roads; which bills, if they had passed and
were in our time to be summed up in the
aggregate, might leave little for our Credit
Mobilier imaginations to improve upon in the
way Of expenditure or fraud. Aside from
vetoes on these two great points there has
been comparatively little occasion for the
President to oppose his constitutional power
to the action Of Congress. Washington
vetoed an army bill, Madison vetoed a bill
proposing certain changes in the federal
courts, and Jackson vetoed bill that pro-
posed an unconstitutional limitation to the
sessions of Congress and one for the settle
ment of State claims for interest on advances
of money made to the general government
during the Revolutionary war.
Congressional views on financial topics
present, therefore, the point at which the COL
lective wisdom of the nation has oftenest and
most commonly been at fault; the point
where Congressman least recognize the
proper limits of the function, and most expose
themselves to become either the dupes or con-
federates of outside sharpers who need the
cover of law for their schemes, and the point
al -, L.
ally called upon by the obligations of his oath
to exercise that power given him by the con-
stitution, especially to ''increase the chances
in favor Of the community against the passing
of bad laws through haste, inadvertence or
design" Another such case is before us now.
If ever there can be thoroughly clear case
for returning measure to Congress
to try its power to pass o severer ordeal
than that of a simple majority vote, it
will arise when the imitation measure
now in Congress is presented to the President
for his signature. It is a case in which local
and sectional pressure has VIGOROUSLY carried
the day against the conviction of the whole
practical wisdom of the nation, to the i'm
minent injury Of the general welfare. Wisdom
was scorned because demagoguery was pitted
against it. No man acquainted with the
consequences of bad financial laws will for
a moment dispute that calamity must neces-
sarily come in the train of this law. Even
the very men who have voted the law know
that its inevitable tendency is toward national
bankruptcy and dishonor, and that it will
cover their names eventually with ignominy
but they suppose that eventually" is long
time from now, that it is in the uncertain flu
ture which they may never see, and so they
have given way to the more immediate calls
of clamorous jobbers and hope to be per-
sonally safe before the storm comes.
For the public interests, for the national
welfare, these men have no care and to have
q care for these is pre-eminently the function
of the Executive. He represents no section,
and holds balance of power between them
all, and casting vote where their strife in
clines to determination that seems momen-
tarily to the advantage Of part but is OBJ
viously and permanently to the detriment Of
the whole. And this casting vote he must use
especially ON financial differences. So thought
the President who wrote that 1--WE have seen
in our States that the interests of individuals
or neighborhoods combining against the gen.
eral interests have involved their governments
in debts and bankruptcy, and when the
system prevailed in the general government
and was checked by President Jackson it
had begun to be considered the highest
merit in member of Congress to
be able to procure appropriations Of
public money to be expended within his