The record-union., 1891-04-12

the Mississippi River. Another was to
| make the city of Baltimore accessible to
war steamers by the Patapsco River. All
| these were vetoed, but Congress passed
them over the veto. Mr.. Buchanan,
however, was able to arrest these i'm
tlnue the removal of distractions from
| the mouth of the Mississippi River could
not be overcome.
February l. 1850, Mr.. Buchanan vetoed
the bill to deepen the channel over the st.
Clair flats, and his veto killed the bill.
He put the question thus: "DoeS Con-
gress possess the power under the Con-
stltutlon to deepen the channel of rivers,
to create and improve harbors for pur-
poses of commerce." 1.-THE time
has now arrived for final decision of the
question" It had not arrived. His We
toes stood, but he was the last President
ever to suggest the want Of power or to
question the policy.
Nothing can more strikingly illustrate
the harm that may come to the country
through pertinacious opposition to wise
legislation, and the difficulty of overcom-
ing the veto, than the evolution of our
law upon the subject of internal i'm
proYements. 1t took us from 1917 to the
close of Mr.. Buchanan's administration
IN 1861 to put to rest this constitutional
bugaboo, which is now universally con-
| ceded never had a1eg to stand upon. The
work on the Des Moines rapids was
shown by Senator Frye recently to be
about completed, at a cost of $4,550,O0O,
making continuous river, hitherto
blocked at Keokuk, from Minnehaha
Falls to the Gulf of Mexico. The bill
passed at the last Congress appropriated
about $24, 100000 for rivers and harbOrs,
| and no suggestion Of unconstitutionality
has been made.
Mr.. Buchanan vetoed the Agricultural
in +Io I,r Nocfoa
bill in 1860, on the ground that the Con-
stltution gave no power to Congress "to
give away the public lands, either to
States or to individuals"
Both these measures had to wait for
more enlightened and a broader view of
constitutional powers, and yet no class of
legislation is more deeply rooted in the
Constitution or has more universal sane
ton than these very measures. Under
these benign laws, and the Act in aid Of
public schools, rs, ,659, ,439 acres were con-
Veyed to the States up to 1880, and 81, ,G67,-
GA acres were given to actual settlers to
the same date, representing about as
many families as 100 are contained in the
whole acreage-or nearly 100000 families.
C''The Public Domain" 1SSO)
A statement of the money expended in
internal improvements since the barrier
of Presidential vetoes has been overcome,
would be staggering.
several Presidents would have forever
left closed, have been opened by jetties
and other devices costing many millions,
while the shores of that majestic river are
being rapidly carpeted with willow mat
ting and built up to stay the ravageS of
floods, SO that ultimately the Government
will have the waters controlled from
Cairo to the Gulf of Mexico at a cost
greater than would be believed if stated.
AS we now understand the Constitution
we relieve the cholera and yellow fever
stricken people; we build transconti-
| mental railroads; we give enormous sums
as pensions; we build asylums for the in
sane, the halt and the crippled, the deaf
and dumb and the blind, the orphan and
widow; we extend the mouths OF rivers
into the ocean by great sea walls; we dig
great canals around river rapids; we
spend countless millions on rivers and
harborS all over the land and on the great
lakes; we build costly buildings here,
there and everywhere; we enter upon
stupendous schemes for storing water
and irrigating the public domain and
| making it possible to give away land that
nobody Will now have for the asking: we
! bore experimental arteSian wells for the
same purpose; We conduct experimental
stations to develop agriculture, and we
carry on large garden to produce seeds
| for gratutltOus distribution, and hun
dred other things we do, under the uni
versal belief that the Constitution per-
| mitS, and all of which Madison. Monroe.
Jackson, Tyler, Pierce and Buchanan
| aSSeverated in the most solemn manner
would be gross violations of our funda-
mental law.
We may well ask where we would
stand to-day in national development if
| the scrupleS of these Presidents, as ex-
pressed by their yetoeS, had not been
overborne by public sentiment that
gave to the Constitution an interpreta-
ton commensurate with national growth
and national requirements.
1t must be apparent that the vicissi-
tudes Of legislation would be very great
if we had to fight our way through the
| Executive as well as through Congress-.
! 1t is doubtful whether we could get on at
| all if the President felt bound to satisfy
| his personal judgment before signing
! bills. It is difficult now to pass inn
portant measures by the requisite ma
jorities, but what would be our situation
if we had TO secure two-thirds of both
| houses? An examination of the debates
| will show that men divide not so much
| on party lines as on lines of individual
| judgment, and with the President it
| would always be doubtful where he
would place himself on bills involving
no party issue. OF the six river and har-
Dor bills vetoed, only one, that Of Mr..
| Arthur, was passed over the veto. OF
seven yetoes OF bills classed as internal
improvements, not one was overcome by
the required two-thirds vote. OF the long
catalogue OF private pension and reliei
bills passed in aid of Union soldiers by a
Democratic House and concurred in by
the Senate and vetoed by Mr.. Cleveland,
only one was overcome by the requisite
two-thirds of both houses. The halls OF
the House of Representatives were reso-
nant with suppressed anathenlas as these
| INil hot
ident's negative, and yet the House dared
not rebuke the President by passing the
| bills. Members who had voted for the
bills on their passage voted to sustain
the veto. They did the same thing with
General Grant and other Presidents, and
this will always happen. 1t only shows
how dangerous Will be the concession
once made and firmly fixed in the popu-
lar mind that the President has the right
and upon him rests the duty of subjecting
all bills to the crucible of his private
judgment.
/ refer to few of Mr.. Cleveland's
vetoes as illustrating my meaning, and
with ali due respect for his exalted char
acter. He vetoed the House bill granting
a pension to the widow of Major General
David Hunter. The public will recall
! many instances of recognition by Con-
gress to the widows Of distinguished sol
diers for conspicuous public service.
General Hunter was one Of the grand
characters of the war, and had devoted his
life of great usefulness to his country. He
died poor. Congress proposed to make a
small provision for the widow Mr. Cieve-
land said no; and on the vote q majority
of the House sustained the veto after
once granting the pension. This was
case where no just Interpretation of the
veto power warranted any Presidential
interference. 1t was a case whers Con
gress should be the exclusive judge of the
wisdom of the measure.