The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-03-19

Attornay-general and then to the President, tina
precise purpose for which the papers were deg
sired, under penalty Of not receiving them at alG
How would 1t look, when either house of Con.
grssss asked tor papers on file in the department.
me the purpose for which you desire them, and,
after having disclosed that purpose, If / shall
think they are for purpose within your iurss
diction, and 1t l think the purpose to be sub
served Is legitimate purpose, / shall transmit
them; otherwise nota2 Would that be anything
but one-man government Would it not en-
able President, at his will, to shut out the sun.
light Of investigation from the public oficea
Suppose the papers to be- as the President said
voluntarily written and by ssprivars citizens
what of that? Were they private and conf,
Dental on that accounts Certainly not 1t often
happened that charges against public officers had
been made by private citizens. The characterof
the paper could not be determined by the will OF
the executive but by the eharacter,
of the document Mr.. Spooner read
from the Presidents message the
lause inviting the Senate to the fullest
this, Mr.. Spooner asked, mean that he was will
ing to give the Senate all the information in his
possession, did il mean that he should make
q particular presentation Mr.. Spooner them
took up the question from a legal point of view.
and quoted from the Constitution and the tenure
of-office act to show that the power of res
moval as we'll as Of appointment, was in the
President and Senate acting together, and tha1
what was in his sole discretion, absolute, was
the power of suspension during recess of the
Senate One source of much confusion in this
debate. he said, was the confounding By the
Democratic Senators, of suspensions with re-
movals. A suspension did not mean to remove;
it was very different thing. To suspend an
officer caused temporary eessations of his
functions; to remove him caused a permanent
cessation. To suspend the writ OF habeas corpus
was one thing to obiterate it was another and
quite different thing. A suspended officer was
not removed officer, for if the Senate refused
to confirm his successor. the suspended man re-
turned TO the office Mr. Spooner read from tina
decisions of the courts to show this. The Presi-
dent has declined to furnish the papers called
for because, forsooth, they would enable the
Senate to see the reasons for the suspensonss
they would enable as to see that he had exerA
cised the power Of suspension wantonly. No
power could be so dangerous to the Republic
as the power thus asserted by the President,
that papers relating to the public business, on
the files OF the government. were private papers,
to be buried in the cellar of the White House. or
carted off to Buffalo if he chose, merely because
he had used them In exercising his power of sus-
pension. 1T the mere fact that the President
acted on the papers made them his private prop
erty, then it rested with any chief executive to
lock the door upon the House and Senate and
defeat all investigation. Mr.. Spooner did not
mean TO imply that President Cleveland would
abuse that power. 1t was no part of his argu-
ment to impeach the good faith of the President;
but he warned the Democratic side of the
chamber that were not dealing with this
question for day. The issue was one that
would outlive Us. Suppose all the Republican
officers were removed and their places filled with
Democrats. Suppose that from Wisconsin John
Smith should write a letter to the Postmaster
general. telling him that John Jones, the Demo.
cratic postmaster, had, at given time robbed
the mail. 1t was private letter; it was vol
M vi had M haa I'M rod "
the Postmaster general; it related to the conduct
of public Office. Suppose it to be investiA
gated and the man suspended. Such things
would happen. The Republicans had not been
able to have all their Office holders honest. and
the Democrats would not, either Suppose the
Senate wanted to investigate the condition OF
that postoffice as TO the time it was occupied by
the suspended officer, and the President shoulG
refuse to furnish the information in his possess
sion9 Mr.. Spooner defied the Democratic Sena1
tors to show what, in their design, was to pref
vent any President from shutting Congress Quit
from all knowledge of dishonesty occurring un-
der his administration. The people could thus
be kept In utter ignorance of the defects of any
administration No. no; that could not be tha
law. It never was intended that the brsinesss
of public trust should be private trust. Mr.
Spooner criticised the Presidents expreEsion,I
ainnocuous desuetude." The term always prof.
voked smile. Mr.. Spooner said, but there was
nothing to smile at This was a government OF
laws, and he was sorry the chief executive
of the Republic should have used such words OF
any law that stood on the statute books. 1t was
a dangerous time when the President of the
United States, with an oath registered in heaven
to take care that the laws should be faithfully
executed" should send message to the Senate
saying that statute has fallen into harmless
disuse, though the statute remains on the books.
IF there ever was time when there was need OF
respect for law, it was now, when in many
States thoughtful men were turning blanched
faces to the future How could the people be-
expected to yield cheerful obedience to statutes
when the first citizen of the Republic-himssM
charged with their execution-was heard assert
ing that statute could harmlessly fall into dis
use9 But, Mr. Spooner said, the President did
not believe his own statement. His acts had
been better than his words, for he had sent in a.
large number of nominations of men to take the
places of officers suspended by him under the
authority of the very act to which reference had
been made.
At this point, Mr.. Spooner still having tho
floor, the Senate went into executive session, and