Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-03-24

removal OF these parties.
Sir, the language of the acs of 1869 70
ever precludes any such construction
Under the act of 1867 when The Presider
sent q nomination to the Senate, if th
Senate failed to concur in that nomiul
ton the suspended officer Immediately r,
sumed the functions of his Office. Thl
act undoubtedly required action by th
Senate with reference to the suspension {
removal. Under the act of 1869 the Pres
dent sends the nomination to the Senate
The Senate can not act on the question {
suspension. 1t is especially precluded b
the act from doing so, because instead {
the question Of advising and conssnting I
the removal or to the suspension bein
submitted, the act provides that if q nom
nation sent to the Senate be not con6rme
the President stall as soon thereafter O
practicable send in another.
WHY SEND A NOMINATION
to the Senate when the Senate has slread
acted on the ground that the Senate i
opposed to the removal of the incumbent
If the act contemplated that the Senate
should act on that removal, why not bAv,
provided, IS intelligent men must have
provided, that ifthe Senate failed to assen
to the nomination the suspended Officer
should forthwith resume his functions
Discretion is given by the statute. II is mo-
to make the Senate Chamber graveyard
for character and have one man whose
name comes in defeated because the Sen
ate does not want the suspended officer
removed. If the man put in his place is not
confirmed, another name comes from the
President, and still another, and still an
other. The Senate all the time goes through
the idle process of referring nominations
to committee insuiring into the propri
ETY. of the nomination, having determined
in the frat instance that the suspension
ought not to be made, and receiving one
after another of the nominations the Pres.
ident sends here without an inquiry into
their fitness and determined in advance to
defeat them.
Isubmit that no candid minded lawysr
can read those two acts without the clear
conviction tkat the act of 1869 was intends
ed to be
PRECISELY WHAT Mr.. BLAINE DECLARES
it to have been, practical repeal Of the
act of 1861 The President suspends an
officer until the end of the next session OF
the Senate; he makes a nomination to
succeed him; you approve or disspprove it.
You may put it on the ground that you
reject his proposition to suspend the Off
Ger. You are estopped 10 raise that CUES.
ton. That man is suspended until the end
of the next session of the Senate. The
moment it ends, what matter to you or me
whether by operation Of law the suspended
officer gets back or not3
By an act Of the President, his mere
signature, he gets out again. Adhere to
the form if you will, but the law pats in the
hands Of the President, independent Of the
constitutional question, the absolute and
arbitrary power to suspend public officer;
aud yet we are met by the proposition that
in all these matters the Pre.ident must
submit without law to every degradation,
to every humiliation, to every demand BY
the Senate which is made under law
which has been denounced by it's own
friends and supporters as the result of the
feverish excitement of the time when it
was enacted and which has been "prac-
ticslly repealed"
| had intended to read few extracts
from some of the arguments made in 1869
when the law was modified.
The report of the Committee on the
Judiciary here says that the President OF
the United States, notwithstanding his
civil service sentiments, sent TO the Senate
within thirty days after its meeting
SIX HUNDRED AND FORTY-THREE SUSPENSIONS.
IL would have been at least fair if the conf
mittee had stated that these six hundred
and forty-three suspensions covered a per.
iod Of eight months, as they did. The law
required the President to send to the Sen
ate within thirty days Of It's meeting the
nominations to succeed every officer
suspended by him during the previous re.
cess, and that number amounted to six
hundred and forty-three IS reported By the
committee. But in 1869, when General
Grant assumed the functions Of the execa-
tive office, he sent to the Senate Blk hun
dred and eighty removals within seven
weeks, and during six weeks Of thcse seven
the original act OF 1867 ws' still in force.
This is so SO shown by the files of the
Senate.
In eight months President Cleveland
sent in CAB, while in seven weeks, and for
six weeks of those seven the tenure-ot'ot-
fee act OF 1867 was in force, President
Grant sent to the Senate $50 removals, Of
which be withdrew in q short time 81,
leaving $50, and they
DID NOT COME FAST ENOUGH.
The popular demand to carly OF: the
policy indicated by Mr. BlSines chap
ter which | read to the Senate was so
great, it was so stronghold gentleman now
a member of the Senate and at that time @
member Of the House, offered an amend
ment which want as a matter OF histori.
cal interest to read to the Senate. Bear In
mind that the act was pending which was
passed and which made tbs modification OF
the act Of 1867 under which We are living
and acting to day.
The Senator from Illinois Mr.. Logan !,
q Senator whom we all respect for his open
and manly methods of de1ling with all
questions, recognizing the popular haste OF
his party, forgetting doubtless for the time
t.ing any question Of Constitution, Of
statute, or ANYTHING else save the pressure
which impelled him, offered the following
amendment:
provided, That ell civil offices, except
those of Judges of the United States Courts,
that were filed BY appointment BY the
President OF the United States, by and with
the advice and consent OF the Senate, be-
fore the 4th of March, 1869, shall become
vacant on the Goth day Of June, 1863"
Every civil etilcer in the United States,
excep: Judges who hold BY constitutional
tenure,
WAS TO BE STRICKEN DOWN ~ DAY
nv this amendment. President Grant was
70 be overwhelmed in an hour by the fact
that one hundred thousand Offices, whose
iucumbents were called upon 20 help in ad-
ministering the affairs of this great RePub'
lie we're vacant. And still we hea:
through the solemn formality OF report OF
A committee Of the Senate loud protes:a'
.;,,, tho rsrnnval If siy hundred and seven