The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-03-12
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.

1
The President Gives His Views on
the Right OF Removals.
WASHINGTON, March 2.-The following
70 the message sent to tie Senate yesterday
by the President relating to his right to
withhold information relating to suspen-
sions from Office:
To the Senate OF the United States:
Ever since the beginning OF the present
session of the Senate the different heads of
departments have been piled With various
| questions and requests for papers from COM
mittees Of the Senate, from the members of
| such committees. and at last from the Sen.
ate itself. requiring the transmission of the
! reason for the suspension of certain officials
during the recess OF that body, or for papers
touching the conduct OF such officials, or for
partments in relation to the management
| and conduct OF the 0fites held by such sus-
pended officials, Different terms were from
quests and demands. The order in which
they succeeded each other. and the fact that,
| when made by the Senate. . resolution for
i suppose. be candidly admitted that from
| FIRST 10 last the information thus sought aud
/ 0em0n060
the Senate and it's committees in considering
the prOpriety of the suspensions referred to.
DEFENDING Mr.. GARLAND.
Though these suspensions are the execu-
| tive acts based upon considerations ad-
dressed to me alone, and for which I am
wholly responsible, have had no invitation
from the Senate to state the position which I
have felt constrained to assume in relation
| to the same. or to interpret for myself my
acts and motives In the premises. In this
condti OF affairs i have fOrbOrne ad-
1 Una inn h. Ar,t.f
might be accused OF thrusting myself unbid-
den on the attention of that body. But the
Committee on Judiciary lately presented q
ney General Of the On ted States for his re-
fusal to transmit certain papers relating to
suspensions from Office. and which also IL
of the post ON Of the executive upon the
| question of such suspensions. aud will,
hope. justify this COMMUNICATION"
the President refers to the resolution of
the Senate calling for the Dustin papers
and the reply OF the Attorney General
thereto, and says:
| Upon this resolution and the answer there
to. the issue il thus stated BY the Committee
important question then Is whether 1t is
| within the constitutional competence of
either house OF Congress to have access to
/ the official papers and documents in the
| various public Offices of the United States
created by laws enacted by themselves.
JURISDICTION OF CONGRESS.
| do not suppose that ''the public officers
! Of the United States" are regulated or con-
| trOlled in their relations to either house of
! Congress by the fact that they "werc created
by laws enacted by themselves" 1t must be
| that these instrumentalities were created for
| the benefit of the peOp G and to answer the
| general purposes of government under the
constitution and the laws and that they are
branch of Congress. growing out of theiy
construction and unemharrased by any Obi-
CATION to the Senate us to the price of their
creation.
The complaint of the committee that &C.
cess to official papers in the public offices is
denied the Senate is met by the statement
that ut no time has II. been the disposition
or the intention of thu President or any de-
partment of the executive branch of the
Government to withhold from the Senate
official documents or papers filed i'm any of
the public offices. While it is no means
conceded that the Senate has the right in
any case to review the act of the executive
in removing or suspending public officer
upon official documents or otherwise it is
considered that documents and papers
of that nature should, because they
are official, be freely transmitted to the
Senate upon its demand, trusting the use of
the same for proper and legitimate pur-
poses to the good faith of that body, and
though no such paper or document has been
specifically demanded in any of the hume
rOus requests and demands made upon the
departments. yet as often as they were
found in the public offices they have been
furnished in answer TO such applications.
The President continues:
The letter of the Attorney General in re-
spOnse to the resolution of the Senate i'm re-
gard to the part cular case mentioned in the
committees report was written ut NV sug-
gesticn and by my direction. There had been
no oGai pa rs,n or documents hed in his
period specified in the resolution. The letter
was intended, by its descr ptiOn of the docu.
ments and papers remaining in the custody
they were not official. and it was assumed
the resolution called for Information. papers
and documents of the same character rs
were required by the requests and demands
VIII ch preceded 1t, and every thing that had
been WI. item or done in behalf of the Senate
from the beginning pointed to ali letters of
private and unofficial nature as the
object of the search, il they were
to be found in the departments and
provided they had been presented to the ex-
ecutive with a view to their consideration
upon the question of suspension from office.
Against the transm ssOn of such papers and
documents have interposed my advice and
direction.
THE PAPERS UNOFFICIAL.
This has not been done, rs 10 suggested in
the committees report, upon the assumption
on my part that the Attorney General or any
OF the President and is to give or withhold
cop es of documents in his Office according
to the will of the executive and not other
documents withheld and addressed to me or
intended for my use and action rs purely I'M
Official and private. not infrcquently conf
dental and having reference to the per-
Torrance of duty exclusively mine. 1 con.
slider them in no proper sense as upon the files
OF the department., but Ms deposited there
pletely under NV control. 1 suppose IL de-
sired to take them into my custody might
do SO with entire prOpriety and IL l saw At to
DESTROY them no one could complain.
The papers ana documents that are now
the object OF the Senate request consist of
letters and representations addressed to the
executive" or intended for his inspection.
They are voluntarily written and present-d
by private citizens who are not i'm the least
instisated thereto by m official Invita- on,
or at all subject to official control. While
some of them are entitled to executive con
sIderatiOn. many of them are so irrelevant
or IN the light of other facts SO worthless
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 pre-
served to be considered official documents
Ii not, who is to determine VIII CHI 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 selec.
ton? Am to submit to theirs at the risk
of being charged with making q suspens on
from ONCE upon evidence which was not
even considered: Are these papers to be re-
garded us Oflic al because they have not only
been presented but preserved in the pubic
ofhces! Their nature and character remain
the same whether they are kept in the exec
utivc mansion or deposited in the depart
menrs. There is no mysterious power of
transmutatiOn in departmental custody. nor is
there magic in the underlined sacred solem
nifty of different files. II the presence of
these papers n the public Offices s a stumb