The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-08-02
THE PRESIDENTS VETO,


THE PRESIDENTS VETO.
The issue made with the President and his
hackers in the matter of indiscrminate and
peremptory vetoes is not a new one, but was
prominently before the people forty years ago.
Questioned on this very point General Tay-
lor, then candidate for the presidency, to
which he was afterward elected, replied as
follows:
''The power given by the Constitution to
the executive to interpose his veto, is a high
conservative power; but, in my opinion,
should never be exercised except in cases of
clear violation Of the Constitution, or mani
fest haste and want of consideration by Con-
gress. Indeed, have thought that for many
years pasts the known opinions and wishes of
the executive have exercised undue and in
furious influence upon the legislative depart
ment of the government, and for this cause /
have thought our system was in danger of un-
dergoing great change from its true theory
The personal opinions Of the individual who
may happen to occupy the executive chair
ought not to control the action of Congress
| upon questions of domestic policy; nor ought
his objections to beinterposed where questions
of constitutional power have been settled by
the various departments OF government, anu
acquiesced in by the people"
1t must be conceded that this ia very rea-
sonable view of the power conferred on the
President in the right to veto such acts of
Congress as do not meet his approval. It will
not be claimed by any man that this power
was bestowed on the President for the purpose
~ oil 10
according tothe prejudice he may be subject
| to. There was President who acted on this
theory, but when he left the presidential
chair he was not invited to return to it,
though he used every persuasion in his power
to induce the people, going SO far as to go
over to the party that had opposed him in his
election the first time. 1t is too absurd to re-
qure argument to establish that it was never
intended that the President should exercise
this power to express his personal likes and
dislikes nor to further his own nor his party's
schemes. The same organic law that gave
him this power gave to the law-making branch
of the government the right to enact
such laws as in its wisdom,
it saw fit. If it was thought that
| the aw-making power should be put under
some restraint, it was not thought that the
| hundreds of men who make those laws should
be made subject to the whim Of one man,
even though that man be President. The veto
was conferred upon him only that he might
exercise it in defense of the Constitution. Tt
not to be thought Of that the people would
match the wisdom of the President, one man,
against the combined wisdom Of the peoples
representatives in Congress. The idea is hos
tile to the very idea Of popular government.
The rulings of courts have been against this
assumption from the earliest times. That
| President should presume to overstep the
| province of the veto power, and to make it
means of impressing his policy upon the
country, is SO repugnant to the idea of
popular government that the people have
never been slow to resent it. Andrew John
son learned the mistake he made in way
that would have taught him never to repeat it
had he ever been fortunate enough to again
| sit in the presidential chair. The Presidents
apology for the numerous yetoes he has pro-
nounced upon the legislation of Congress will
not save him from falling under condemna-
ton. 1t is not true that the action of Con-
gress is any more hasty or inconsiderate than
has been his own in coming to the conclusion
to veto bills after having considered them but
few days at the most, and without the posi-
bility of giving them tenth of the consid-
Grafton that Congress did in committee and on
the floor. That President Cleveland is hos
tile to the idea of voting pensions to the men
who served their country on the field Of battle
is not excuse sufficient to warrant him in
passing veto upon such measures, for the
people, in the organic law of the land, con-
ferred this right upon Congress, and it is
not to be taken away at the whim of the ex-
ecutive. To do this is to cripple one Of the
coordinate branches of government, which
was not contemplated by the Constitution
AS indicated in the letter Of General Taylor,
which was afterward approved by the people,
the function Of the veto power is simply to
keep Congress within the limit of tLe Con-