The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-03-11
PRESIDENT CLEVELAND
He Win Not Furnish Certain Papers
Regarding Suspensions from
Office.
In q Message to the Senate he MAR
tains His Right to Withhold
Them.

| Ihe fresfdent sent 10 the Senate. on the LIST OF
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 in departments upon which it is assumed
by the Senate that the suspensions of certain
officials are baseo. The message was read In
the open session OF tho Senate. 1t is as follows
To the Senate OF the United States:
Ever since the beginning of the present SEES
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 tho conduct OF such
officials, or for all papers and documents relat-
ing to such suspensions, or for all documents and
| papers filed in such departments in relation to
the management and conduct of the cfhces
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 n 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 tho Sem
ate and its &C mmittees in considering the pro-
| priety of the suspensions referred e..
Though those suspensions my executive
acts based upon considerations addressed to me
alone, and for which am wholly responsible, /
| have had no invitation from the Senate To state
the position which have felt constrained to as
sumo in relation TO the same, or 70 interpret for
| myself my gets and motives in the premises. In
this condition OF affairs have forborne address,
| ing the Senate upon the subject lest might be
! accused of thrusting myself unbidden upon the
attention of that body.
But the report OF the Committee on the Judi
ciary Of the Senate, lately presented and pub
lshed, which censures the Attorney General of
| the United States for his refusal to transmit
certain papers relating to a suspension from
Office, and which also, IL correctly interpret it,
evinces "A misapprehension of the position Of the
| Executive upon such suspensions, will / hope
| justify this communication.
The 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 ut the outset of the report:
The important question, then, IL wheoher it is
within the constitutional competence q either
house OF Congress TO have access 10 the official
! 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
| governmentunder the Constitution and the laws,
and that they are unincumbered by any lien in
| favor of either branch of Congress growing out
| of their Constitution and unembarrassed by any
obligation to the Senate the price Of their
creation. The complaint of the committee that
access TO official papers in the public offices is
| denied the Senate is met by the statement that
at 10 me has IL been the disposition or the in
tcntion of the President or any department OF
the executive branch of tie Government to
withhold from the Senate Official documents or
papers filed in any of the public Offices.
| While II is by no means conceded that the SEN
| ate has tho right in any case to review the act
OF the Executive in removing or sus-
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 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 rs they were found in the public offices.
they have been furnished in answer to such APP
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-
ton. There had been no official papers or docu-
ments filed in his department relating to the
case within the period specified in the resolu-
ton. The letter was intended, by its descrip-
ton of the papers and documents remaining in
the custody of the department. to convey the
ideaAhat they were not official; and ii
snmed that the resolution called for informa-
ton, papers, and documents Of the same char
acter as were required Dy the requests ana DC
mands which preceded it. Everything that had
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 n 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
I'm the cOfnfniftea's rapOrf rho nasulnDtiOn
on my part that the Attorney General or any
other head of department ~is the servant of
the President, and is to give or withhold copies
OF documents in his office according to
the will OF the Executive aud not
otherwise" but because / regarded
the papers and documents withheld aud, 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 n 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 I'M
them into my custody, might do so with entire
propriety, and IL saw MT TO destroy them no
one could complain.
objects Of the Senates 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 instgated thereto by
any official invitation at all subject TO official
control While some Of them are entitled 70 ex-
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. Arc all these. sim
ply because they are preserved, TO be consid-
cred official documents, aud 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, al they are
day by day developed, such as would be salts
! fed with my solection? Am l TO submit to
! theirs ut the risk Of being charged with making
suspension from Office upon evidence
papers to be regarded official because they have
! not only been presented but preserved In the
public Offices? Their nature and character re-
main the same whether they are kept in the Ex-
ecutive Msn sion or deposited In the depart
nents There is no mysterious power Of trans
I mutation in departmental custody, nor is there
magic in the underlined and sacred solemnity OF
| department files. IL the presence Of these pa
pers I'm the public offices n stumbling block isi
/ 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 requiremt Mt
! making them necessary to the performance of
| the official duty of the Executive. It 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. And Am quite pre-
pared to avow that the cases are not few in
which suspensions from Office have depended
more upon oral representations made to
me by C items Of known good repute, and by