Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-05-01
THE VETO.
Comments of the Press.
PHILADELPHIA TIMES.

! HAYES veto OF the Army Dill must uls-
appoint very many who had been led to
believe that he was prepared to accept
/ all the laws of peace, and remove the
country from all the irritating and arbl-
trary laws of war. 1t is written in cred
| liable temper, and has none of the clap
trap of firery sentences of the Stalwarts;
but it deliberately takes issue with Con-
! gress on the use of Federal troops at
/ elections, and defends the prerogatiives
| of the Executive in maintaining peace
! at the polls by the bayOnet, regardless
| of the laws of the States or the ac-
tons OF the properly constituted
authorities. This is most vital
and a fearfully fatal mistake on the part
of President Hayes, and he can no
more maintain the Executive control OF
elections under the pretence OF keeping
peace at the polls than he can turn the
current of the Niagara backward. What
ne supports in his argument in favor OF
the use of Federal troops at elections Is
neither possible of execution in free
country in time of peace, nor can 1t
serve party purposes in the present atti-
tude of parties, except to furnish pre-
texts to Democratic Senate and House
for rejecting the Presidential vote OF
any State where the policy of military
intervention has been fOolishly attempt
ed. Until the President himself
taught the nation the pos
sible dangers of the section re-
pealed by the vetoed Army Bill, there
were few who deemed the issue grave
one; but with his official Interpretation
of his powers under the Fifteenth
Amendment of the Constitution, and
the law that authorizes the army to be
summoned "to keep the peace at the
polls, he has clearly defined an issue
that must do more to justify determined
resistance by Congress than all the rea-
sons hitherto presented. He has given
an Interpretation of the Constitution
that makes the repeal of the clause re-
pealed by the political rider to the Army
Bill an imperative necessity, for now
Congress must face the question as the
Executive declares it, and it must pro-
tect the nation, the laws, and the cleo
tiOns in the various States from the ar
bitrary and revolutionary military poll
cy avowed by the President in time OF
profound peace"
NEW YORK sun.
"The fraudulent President has vetoed
the army appropriation bill, because
Congress, in granting money for the sup
port of the army, has provided that the
troops shall not be used at elections.
The provision which is thus vetoed is
wise, necessary, indispensable. 1t can
not be abandoned. 1t must be insisted
upon. For Congress to retreat from the
great position which it has assumed
would be foolish, unpatriotic, ridiculous,
and probably fatal to those responsible
for it. 1t is vain in this country to at
temp to rule the majority. The many can
not be Coerced by the few. A man
holding the Presidential authority
through fraud may offer his veto, but
the proper reply to it is TO re-enaCt the
laws to which he objects and then ad-
jOurn, leaving him to face the re-
spOnsbility of disbanding the army and
disOrganizing the public service because
the majority of Congress grant appro-
priations on terms different from.those
he dictates. This emergency seems
likely to form a new crisis in the devel-
opment and application OF the Con.
stitution. No honest believer in popu-
lar government should be found doing
anything in the way OF terminating this
crisis otherwise than in favor of the
great republican doctrine that the ma.
jority must rule. And in the present
case we are told that the majority are
ready to back down and fall on their
knees before this man Hayes"
THE WORLD
"The Presidents veto opens the way
wide and clear to a popular Democratic
victory in 1880. Congress called upon
him to accept the principle of free and
honest elections, unclouded and un-
cOerced by the exhibition OF Federal |
bayonets at the polls. This principle he
refuses to accept, under the cover of
formal objections, for the most part |
captiOus, unsound aud irrelevant. Let |
Congress now strip away the cover by
its own conservative action, and leave !
the refusal naked in all its political de- !
formity, to be Judged by the people. The |
principal cOntended for by Congress |
should be presented to the President |
again at once in form which shall leave
him no choice between complete |
dCttDldllCt VI IL anu lldJ lNJNN-
ton of it. The repeals con-
tanned in the Legislative Appropriation
Bill also should now be presented at !
once to him separately. Under no |
temptation, under no provocation. let |
Congress now adjourn without making |
all the appropriations necessary to car !
rv on the Government. Representing |
the majority of the American people, !
Congress must see to it that the wheels !
OF the public administration are kept !
smoothly and steadily in motion; and II |
the President of factious and mis-
chievous minority, under the guidance |
OF evil counsellOrs, insists upon OBJ
structng with his veto legislative re-
pealS in harmony with all the great pre-
cedents Of the history of freedom, let !
the issues that he makes be taken by !
the Democratic party calmly and fear
lessly before the tribunal of the people !
in all the States Of the Union.