Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1886-03-11
PRESIDENT CLEVELAND
He viii Not Furnish Certain Papers
Regarding Suspensions from
Office.
In Message to the Senate He Main.
tains His Right to Withhold
Them:


March. message stating his position in relation
to the suspensions Of officials and defending his
action in refusing to send to the Senate papers
on file u departments upon which it is assumed
by the Senate that the suspensions OF certain
officials are based, The message was read II
the open session Of the Senate It lis as follows
To the Senate OF the United States: t
Ever since the beginning OF the present ses.
sion of the Senate the different heads of the de-
partments attached to the Executive branch OF
the Government have been piled with various
| requests and demands from committees OF the
Senate, from members of such committees and
at last from the Senate itself, requiring the
| transmission OF reasons for the suspension OF
| certain officials during the recess of that body
| or for the papers touching the conduct OF such
ofiicials, or for all papers and documents relat.
| papers filed in such departments in relation I'd
| the management and conduct of the offices
held by such suspended officials. The different
terms from time to time adopted in making
| these requests and demands, the order in which
| they succeeded each other, and the fact that
| when made by the Senate the resolution for that
| purpose was passed in executive session, have
led to presumption, the correctness Of which
will, suppose, be candidly admitted that from
first to last the information thus sought and the
papers thus demanded were for use by the Sem
ate and its CO mmittees, in considering the pro-
priety OF the suspensions referred to.
Though those suspensions are my executive
acts, based upon considerations addressed to me
alone, and for which am wholly responsible, 1
have Eat no invitation from the Senate to state
the position which have felt constrained to as
sumo in relation TO the same, or to interpret for
myself my acts and motives in the premises In
this Condition Of affair have forborie address,
ing the Senate upon the subject lest, 1 might be
accused of thrusting myself uhbidden upon the
attention OF that body.
But the report OF the Committee on the Judi
iished, which censures % the Attorney General O Of
the United States for his refusal to transmit
certain papers relating to q suspension from
office, and which Also il correctly interpret il,
evinces n misapprehension Of the position of the
Executive upon such suspen5ions, will, hope
justify this communication.
Tho President refers to the resolution OF the
Senate calling for the Dustin papers and the re-
ply Of the Attorney General thereto, and says:
Upon this resolution and the answer thereto
the issue is thus stated by the Committee on
the Judiciary at the outset Of the report:
THE important question, then, Is whether 1t is
within the constitutional competence Of either
papers ana documents in the various public
offices OF the United States created by laws en-
acted by themselves"
do not suppose that "the public offices OF the
United States" are regulated or controlled in
their relations to either house OF Congress by
the fact that they were created by laws enacted
by themselves" 1t must be that these instru-
mentations were created for the benefit Of the
people and to answer the general purposes Of
governmentiunder the Constitution and the laws,
and that they unincumbered by any lien in
favor of either branch Of Congress growing out
OF their Constitution, and unembarrassed by any
6Igast2p q tth th Ssa9assfs Sasf Tbs ths RfG fcas 81 thsiE II
denied the Senate is met by the stntcment that
at no time has IL been the disposition or the 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 1t is by no means conceded that the Sem
ate has the right in any case to review the act
OF the Executive in removing or sus-
pending 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 purposes TO
the good faith of that body. And though no such
paper or document has been specifically de-
manded in any OF the numerous 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 ap-
plications.
The letter OF the Attorney General in response
to the resolutions of the Senate in the paIticu-
lar case mentioned in the committees report
was written at my suggestion and by my direc-
tion. There had been no official papers or docu-
ments filed in his department relating to the
case within the period specified in the resolu-
tion The letter was intended, by its descrip-
tion of the papers and documents remaining in
the custody of the department, to convey the
idea that they were not official and 1t was as
Bumed that the resolution called for informa-
tion papers, and documents Of the same char
acter as were required by the requests and de-
mands Wnicn pfeceueQ IL. everything tnaU nad
been written or done on behalf of the Senate
from the beginning pointed to all letters and
papers of private and unofficial nature as the
objects Of search, IL they were to be found in
the departments, and provided 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 di-
rection This has not been done, as is suggested
in the committees report, upon the assumption
on hat ha
other head Of a department "is the servant Of
the President, and is to give or withhold copies
Of documents in his office according to
otherwise" but because regarded
the papers and documents withheld and adj
dressed to me or intended for my use and action
purely unofficial and private, not infrequently
confidential, and having reference to the per-
formance Of a duty exclusively mine. con-
slider them in no proper sense as upon the hles
OF the department but as deposited there for
my convenience, remaining still completely un-
der my control. l suppose II desired to take
them into my custody, might do 80 with entire
propriety. and IL saw fit to destroy them no
one could complain.
The papers and documents that are now the
objects OF the senate's quest consist OF letters
and representations addressed to the Executive
or intended for his inspection they are volun-
tarily written and presented by private citizens
who are not in the least instigated thereto by
any official invitation or at all subject TO official
control. While some Of them are entitled TO ex-
ecutive consideration, many Of them 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, SIM
ply because they are preserved, to be consd-
cred official documents, and subject TO the in
spection Of the Senate? II not who is TO deter
mine which belong to this class? Are the mo-
tives and purposes OF the Senate, as they are
day by day developed, such as would be salts
fed with my selection2 Am / TO submit to
theirs at the risk of being charged with making
suspension from office upon evidence
which was not even considered2 Are these
papers TO be regarded official because they have
public Offices? Their nature and character re-
main the same whether they are kept in the Ex-
ecutive Mansion or deposited in the depart
ments. There Is no mysterious power Of trans
mutation in departmental custody, nor is there
magic I'm the underlined and sacred solemnity Of
department files. II the presence of these pa
pers In the public offices is stumbling block in
the way of the performance of senatorial duty,
IL can be easily removed.
The papers and documents which have been
described derive no official character from any
constitutional, statutory, or other requirement
making them necessary to the performance Of
the official duty Of the Executive. IL will not
be denied, suppose, that the President may
suspend a public officer In the entire absence
Of any papers or documents 20 aid his official
judgment and discretion. And am quite pre-
pared to avow that the Gases are not few in
which suspensions from Office have depended
more upon oral representations made TO
me by citizens of known good repute and by
members OF the House Of Representatives and
Senators Of the United States, than upon any
letters and documents presented for my exam
the veracity. integrity, and patriotism Of Sem
ators, or ignoring their. representation, be-
cause they were not In party afiiliation with
SS recall few suspensons % ~SioS bear tSs sp
proval Of individual members identified
politically with the majority In the Senate.
While. therefore, her I am a. constrained M 20 deny the