Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1886-02-23
n PRESIDENT AND THE
SENATE.

present controversy with the Presiden
is undeniable, but, says Harper's Weekly
cit does not follow that all their posi-
lions are unsound. Senator Sherman Il
unouestionably correct in his assertion
that while the Senate cannot properly
demand the reason Of an act OF Execu
tive discretion, it may justly ask to see
any paper upon record in a public De
partment. If such documents could be
withheld, the representatives OF the peo'
pie might be prevented from knowing
facts indispensable for legislation, and
the Executive might secrete proofs OF his
own sinister designs. The doctrine oil
coordinate powers in the Government
cannot be pushed justly to the point OF
the absolute exclusion from one branch
of all information in regard to another.
Moreover. the Senate is q constitutional
part Of the executive power for certain
purposes, and for those purposes 1t is en-
LfLtcu u dlt lIkOl
Executive Department. This right, how
over, does not involve that OF requiring
the reasons OF the exercise of the Presl-
dents discretion. These reasons, in
deed, may be inferred from the papers.
But the inference may be entirely wrong.
The present object OF the Senate Is to
discredit the President by the production
of papers which will seem to show that
efficient officers have been suspended for
political reasons. But the appearance
may be deceptive. The real reason may
not be disclosed by the papers.
"The argument that the Senate may
require all papers regarding removals,
because the Senate is a constitutional
part of the removing power, opens the
question, which has never been and never
will be finally settled, of the nature of
the removing power. Mr.. Edmunds
cites Calhoun's report of 1885, and Ben
toms of ten years before. The latter re.
ported a bill requiring the President,
upon making a nomination to fill a va.
cancy occasioned by removal, to accom-
pany it with a statement of the reasons
for which such officer may have been
removed The bill did not become q
law, and was really a part of the Jack
.1u,,u un,ou1k upap Adano Nvhinh xrna
ludicrous, because the power of removal
was never less abused than by John
Quincy Adams. Mr.. Calhoun's bill also
required the President to give his rea-
sons for removals. The requirement was
sustained by Mr.. Webster. in the
mastery speech in which he reviewed
the whole constitutional question, and
modestly but firmly arrayed his opinion
against that of Madison, which decided
the debate in the first Congress of 1889.
and gave the power of removal exclu.
sively to the President. Mr.. Webster's
position was that the power OF appoint.
ment naturally and necessarily includes
the power of removal, where no limita.
tion is expressed, nor any tenure but
that of will declared. Consequently the
decision of 1889. which implied a power
of removal separate from the appointing
power, wa erroneous. Mr.. Webster
admitted, however, that the decision Of
1889 had been established by practice
and recognized by law, although he as.
serted the just power OF Congress to
reverse the decision as the safety of the
Government and the Constitution might
require.
"This reversal took place in the
passage of the Tenure OF Office Act dur.
ing the administration of Andrew John.
son. That Act went beyond the Acts of
Benton and Calhoun, by reinstating the
displaced officer if the Senate did not
approve the reasons Of removal. Con.
gress made Webster's and Calhoun's
opinions law, and maintained it against
the Presidents veto. But in 1869 the
Senate renowned the right which it had
claimed, and acquiesced in suspensions
at the discretion OF the President. 1t
was a Republican Congress, and the AID.
ministration was Republican, and until
tho law should be modified the Senate
abandoned the right to demand reasons
for removals. But as the present Ad.
ministration and the House of Repre-.
sentatives are both Democratic, the Sen.
ate cannot now modify the law and re.
gain the control of suspensions by rein.
stating the officer if it should not be salts
fed with the reasons for suspension. 1t
seeks, therefore, by requiring papers in
secret session, from which enough would
be made public to serve the purpose, to
discredit the President whom it can.
not control. This is the party game
of the Senate, and it is played
with skill. The counter move Of
the President, in which he would be sus.