The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-05-08

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appropriation bills measures not peril
nent to such bills did not prevail until
more than forty years after the adoption
of the constitution. 1t has become
common practice all parties when in
power have adopted it. Many abuses
and great waste of public money have in
this way crept into appropriation bills.
The public opinion of the country is
against it. The States which have re-
Gently adopted constitutions have gener-
ally provided n remedy for the evil by
enaclng that no law shall contain more
than one subject, which shall be plainly
expressed in its title. The constitution
of more than half of the States contain
substantially this provision. The public
welfare will be promoted in many ways
by return to the early practice of the
government and to the true principle of
legislation, which requires that every
measure shall stand or fall according to
its own merits. If it were understood
that to attach to an appropriation
measure irrelevant to the general object
of the bill would imperil and probably
prevent its final passage and approval,
valuable reform in The parliamentary
practice of Congress would be accom-
plished. The best justification that has
been offered for attaching irrelevant ri
ders to appropriation billsis thatitis done
for convenience sake to facilitate the pas
sage of measures which are deemed ex-
pedient by all the branches of govern
ment which participate in legislation.
1t cannot be claimed that there is any
such reason for attaching this amend
ment of the election laws to the Army
Appropriation bill. The history Of the
measure contradicts this assumption. A
majority of the House of Representatives
in the last Congress was in favor of Sec
ton 6 of this bill. 1t was known that
majority of the Senate was opposed to it,
and that as separate measure it could
not be adopted. 1t was attached to the
Army Appropriation bill to compel the
Senate to assent to it. 1t was plainly
announced to the Senate that the Army
Appropriation bill would not be allowed
to pass unless the proposed amendments
of the election laws were adopted with
it. The Senate refused to assent to the
bill on account of this irrelevant section.
Congress thereupon adjourned without
passing an appropriation bill for the
army, and the present extra session of
the Forty-fifth Congress became necessa-
ry to furnish the means to carry on the
government.
THE ACTION IN EXTRA SESSION.
Upon the assembling of this Congress,
in pursuance of call for an extra ses-
sion, which was made necessary by the
failure of the Forty-ffth Congress to
make the needful appropriations for the
support of the government, the question
was presented whether the attempt made
in the last Congress to engraft by con-
struction new principle upon the con-
stitution should be persisted in or not.
This Congress has ample opportunity
and time to pass the appropriation bills
and also to enact any political measures
which may be determined upon in sepa-
rate bills by the usual and orderly meth
ods of proceeding. But the majority of
both houses have deemed it wise to
adhere to the principles asserted and
maintained in the last Congress by the
majority of the House of Representa-
tives. That principle is that the House
of Representatives has the sole right to
originate bills for raising revenue and;
therefore, has the right to withhold ap-
preparations upon which the existence Of
the government may depend, unless the
Senate and the President shall give their
assent to any legislation which the House
may see fit to attach to appropriation
bills. To establish this principle is to
make q radical, dangerous and uncon-
stitutional change in the character Of our
institutions. The various departments
of the government and the army and
navy are established by the constitution
or by laws passed in pursuance thereof.
Their duties are clearly defined and their
support is carefully provided for by law.
The money required for this purpose has
been collected from the people, and is
now in the Treasury ready to be paid out
as soon as the appropriation bills are
passed. Whether appropriations are
made or not the collection of taxes will
go on. The public money will accumu-
late in the Treasury. 1t was not the in
tention of the trainers of the constitu-
ton that any single branch of the gov
ernment should have the power to die
tate conditions upon which this treasure
should be applied to the purposes for
which it was collected. Any such inten-
ton, if it had been entertained, would
have been plainly expressed in the con-
stitution. That majority of the Senate
now concurs in the claim of the House
adds to the gravity of the situation, but
does not alter the question at issue.
EFFECT OF THE NEW DOCTRINE.
The new doctrine, if maintained, will
result in a consolidation of unchecked
and despotic power in the House of Rep
resentatives. A bare majority of the
House will become the government.
The executive will no longer be what the
trainers of the constitution intended-an
equal and Independent branch Of the
government. 1t is clearly the constitu-
tional duty of the President to exercise
his discretion and judgment upon all bills
presented to him without constraint or
duress from any other branch of the
government. To say that majority of
either, or both the houses of Congress,
may Insist on the approval of bill un-
der the penalty Of stopping all of the
operations of the government for want
Of the necessary supplies is to deny to
the Executive that share of the legisla-
tive power which is plainly conferred by
the second section of the seventh article
of the constitution. 1t strikes from the
constitution the qualified negative of the
President. 1t is said that this should be
done because it is the peculiar function
of tie House of Representatives to rep
resent the will of the people. But no
single branch or department of the gov
ernment has exclusive authority to speak
for the American people. The most au-
thentic and solemn expression of their
will is contained in the constitution of
the United States. By that constitution
they have ordained and established a