The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-03-03

p6USlOU, Will, L uOpcs JuoIllI tHlo COuiIuull-
cation. This report is predicated upon the
resolution of the Senate directed to the At
torney General, and his reply to the same.
This resolution was adopted in an executive
session devoted entirely to business connect
ed with the consideration of nominations
for office. 1t required the Attorney General
to transmit to the Senate copies of all doc
uments and papers that have been filed in
the Department of Justice since the first of
January, 1885, in relation to the management
and conduct OF the office of District AttOr-
ney of the United States of the southern
district of Alabama
The incumbent of this office, on the first
of January, 1885, and until the 18th of July
ensuing, was George NJ. Dustin, who, on the
day last named, was suspended by an execu-
tive order, and John ID. Burnett designated
to perform the duties of said office. At the
time of the passage of the resolution above
referred to- the nomination of Burnett for
said office was pending before the Senate
and all papers relating to said nomination
were before that body for its inspection and
information. In reply to this resolution, the
Attorney General, after referring to the fact
that the papers relating to the nomination
of Burnett had already been sent to the Sen
ate, stated that he was directed by the Pres
ident to say that the papers and documents
mentioned in said resolution and still re-
naming in the custody OF TINS de-
partment, having exclusive reference
to the suspension by the President
of Geo. NJ. Dustin, the late incumbent OF
the Office of district attorney for the South
ern district of Alabama, it is not considered
that the public interests will be promoted by
a compliance with said resolution and trans
mission of the papers and documents therein
mentioned to the Senate in executive session.
Upon this resolution and answer thereto the
issue is thus stated by the committee on
judiciary at the outset of the report: ''The
important question then is whether 1t Is
within the constitutional competency OF
either house of Congress to have access to
official papers and documents in the various
public offices of the United States created by
laws enacted by themselves" | do not sup
pose that the public offices of the United
States are regulated or controlled in their re-
lations to either House of Congress by the fact
that they were created by laws enacted by
themselves. 1t must be that these instrri-
mentalities were created for the benefit of
the people and to answer the general pur-
poses of the government under the cOnStitu-
ton and the laws, and that they are unincunl-
bered by any lien in favor of either branch
of Congress growing out of their conStruc-
ton and unembarrassed by any obligations
to the Senate as the price of their creation.
The complaint of the committee that ac-
cess to official papers in public offices is de-
MED the Senate is met by the statement that
at no time has it been the disposition or in
tention of the President or any department
of the executive branch of the government to
withhold from the Senate official documents
or papers filed in any of the public offices.
While it is by no means conceded that the
Senate has the right in any case to review
the act of the executive in removing or sus-
pending public officer, upon official dOcu-
ments or otherwise, it is considered that doe
uments and papers of that nature should,
because they are official, be freely transmit
ted to the Senate on its demand, trusting the
purposes to the good faith of that body and,
though no such paper or document has been
specifically demanded in any of the numer-
Gus requests and demands made upon the
departments, yet as often as they were found
in the public offices they have. been fur
nished in answer to such application.
The letter of the attorney general in re-
sponse to the resolution of the Senate in the
particular case mentioned in the committees
report was written at my suggestion and by
my direction. There had been no official pa
pers or any documents filed in his depart
ment relating to the case within the period
specified in the resolution. The letter was
intended by its description of the papers and
documents remaining in the custody of the
department to convey the idea that they
were not official and it was assumed that the
resolution called for information, papers and
documents of the same character as were re-
quired by the requests and demands which
preceded it. Everything that has been
written or done on behalf of the Senate from
the beginning pointed to all the letters and
the objects of search, if they were to be
found in the departments, and provided that
they had been presented to the executive
with view to their consideration upon the
question of suspension from Office.
Against the transmission of such papers
and documents | have interposed my advice
and direction. This has not been, as l sug-
gested in the committees report, upon the
assumption on my part that the Attorney
General or any head of a department, sis the
4ofkI =, T. rrsxva
withhold copies of documents in his office ac-
cording to the will Of the executive and not
otherwise" but because regard the papers
and documents withheld and addressed to
me or intended for my use or action, purely
unofficial and private, not infrequently con-
tidential, and having reference to the per-
formance of duty exclusively mine. con-
slider them in no proper sense as upon the
files of the department, but as deposited
there for my convenience, remaining still
completely under my control. | suppose if l
desire to take them into my custody, might
do so with entire propriety, and if | saw fit
to destroy them no one could complain. Ev-
en- the committee in its report appears to con-
cede that there may be with the President or
in the departments papers and documents
which, on account of their unofficial charac-
ter, are not subject to the inspection of Con-
gress. A reference in the report to in
stances where the House of Representatives
ought not to succeed in call for the pro-
duction of papers, is Immediately followed
by this statement:
The committee feels authorized to:state after
somewhat careful research that within the fore
going limits there is scarcely in the history of this
government until now any instance of a refusal
by a head of a department., or even OF the PreSl-
dent himself to communicate official facts and in
formation, as distinguished from private and un-
official papers, motives, views, reasons and opn-
ions, to either house of Congress when uncon-
ditionally demanded.
To which of theclasses thus recognized do
the papers and documents belong that are
now the objects of the Senate's quest? They
consist of letters and representations ad-
dressed to the executive, or intended for his
inspection; they are voluntarily written and
presented by private citizens, who are not in
the least inStigated thereto by official invita-
ton, or at all subject to official control.
While some of them are entitled to executive
consideration, many of them are so irrele-
want, or, in the light of other facts, so worth
less, that they have not been given the least
weight in determining the question to which
they are supposed to relate. Are all these,
simply because they are preserved, to be
ject to the inspection of the Senate?
belong to this class? Are the motives
and purposes of the Senate as they are day by
day developed such as would be satisfied
with my selection? Am to submit to theirs
at the risk of being charged with making a
suspension from office on evidence which
was not even considered? Are these pa
pers to be regarded as official because they
have not only been presented, but preserved
in the public offices? Their nature and
character remain the same, whether they are
kept in the Executive Mansion or deposited
in the departments. There is no myS-
terious power of transmutatOn in depart
mental custom, nor is there magic in the un-
defined and sacred solemnity of department
files If the presence of these papers in the
pub lie offices is stumbling block in the
way of the performance of Senatorial duty
it can be easily removed. The papers and
documents which have been described de-
rive no official character from any constitu-
tional, statutory or other requirement making
them necessary to the performance of the Off
cial duty of the executive.
1t will not be denied, | suppose, that the
President may suspend public officer in the
entire absence of any papers or documents to
aid his official judgment and discretion.
am quite prepared to avOw that the cases are
not few in which the suspensions from Office
have depended more ON oral representation
made to me by citizens of known good re-
pute and by members of the House of Rep
resentatives and Senators of the United
States, than upon any letters and documents
presented for my examination. L have
not felt justified in suspecting the veraelty
integrity and patriotism of Senators, or ig-
noring their representations because they
were not in party affiliation with the aJorlty
of their associates and recall few suspen-
sions which bear the approval of individual
members identified politically with the ma
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