Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-02-16
EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE
COOPERATION.


but we are with him so far that we
believe he has opened very impor-
tant question, namely, the extent to
which and the mode in which the
executive ought to cooperate with
the legislative branches of the Gov
eminent. The purpose of the Her
AIDS article is soon stated I; it shall
be done in his own language:
We hold that President Hayes
and the members of his Cabinet are
chargeable with neglect Of duty in
allowing the silver lunacy to make
so much Roadway in Congress with
out any attempt to arrest it.
We are most decidedly of the
opinion that it is nc part of the Pres
idents duty to do so, and we say so
quite apart from the fact that the
silver bill is a measure we approve
of; we should hold exactly the same
opinion if the Presidents interven-
ton were invoked in favor of the
bill. The lobby is no place for the
President or his Cabinet either. To
see them there button-holing men,
bers and arguing with them, hold
ing out inducements or threats,
promising patronage or threatening
to withhold it, reminding men of
forgotten favOrs; in short, working
a the lobby mOles burrow in the
dark after their purposes, would be
sight pitiably inconsistent with
the dignity of that great office, and
most discordant with all rational
interpretations of the Constitution.
Nor do the precedents which he
quotes from our history in any way
countenance such Intervention as ne
proposes. We will give slight an
alysis of each of the cases he addu-
ces:
First, Mr.. Chase when Secretary
of the Treasury found that a bill
which had passed Congress would,
unless amended, have the effect of
defrauding the Government of a
considerable sum of money, an effect
tchich nobody had intended. He as
a Cabinet officer did his simple duty
in giving the information to Con-
gress which would enable it by a
supplementary bill to carry out its
original purpose; he did not go and
argue and expostulate with MEM
bers who differed with him as to the
policy expedient for the Govern
ment to follow.
The next instance is in the case of
Gen. Jackson, not the safest eXem-
plar to follow in such matters, for
Gen. Jackson was in the habit of
straining the executive prerogative
far beyond what our wisest states
men consider wise and prudent /;
but Jackson's action in this case by
no means furnishes the precedent
the Herald requires. 1t is a case of
JacksOn's comforting with Webster
rs to the executive powers demand
ed from Congress for dealing with
south Carolina notification. Now,
so far as notification was concerned
it is absurd to speak Of Webster as
IAN opposition Senator" as the
Herald does. jackson and Webster
were entirely together in that mat
ter; the conference was as to how
the measure before Congress could
be modified so as to carry out the
views of the two in opposition to
notification. General Jackson did
not go into the lobby to argue and
expOstulate with nullifiers. Nopre-
cedent yet, then.
Also Chase as Secretary of the
Treasury was in constant commune
cation with the Committees on Ways
and Means and on Finance and
Banking, as he ought to be, aiding
in framing the financial measures to
be brought before Congress, and in
doing so was only fulfilling the gen.
eral duty of the executive to furnish
the requisite information to Con-
gress to guide them in their legisla-
tive duties, that information being
officially accessible to the secretary
in virtue Of the opportunities of his
office. 1t is not stated that Mr..
Chase afterwards went into the lob
by to engineer the bill through; if
he did he had no business there and
deserved the best snubbing that
members of Congress could give
him.
The instance of Hamilton and
Jefferson is not worth wasting ink
upon; it records at best an after
dinner conversation over a bottle of
wine about some matters in which
he was not posted on account of his
absence in England. And if the
Herald's article were all we have to
deal with, this paper might end
here; but the discussion of it has
opened up a most important subject
which we have for some time pur-
posed to discuss. and we now take
the opportunity.
Our subject is then the necessity
of bringing the two Houses of
the National Legislature and the
executive into a more harmonious
course of concurrent action than
seems possible at present. If we look
back on the transactions Of Govern
ment since the war, we shall find
that il has been Il series of dedd-iOokS,
a succession of emergencies in which
he business of the nation has been
brought to a stand-still by the grim
determination of parties to destroy
one another and to make that the
main business of politicians to the
exclusion of the material interests of
/ he people. Not to mention the mi
nor occasions when this has hap
pened, let us take the three great
collisions since the war. The first
WAS between the executive and Con-