Grand Rapids herald., 1893-02-02

Some Powerful Reasons for
Executive Session
or The UNITED STATES SENATE
A Phsss q Popular Qusstioa Thas 10
Ass - Wen ura-rssood a. II
shcala B-.

There i manifestly an Increasing tea
denry on the sparf II some II the
Younger members II the uited STATES
sanAte 70 abolish tie en>ton Of hol.iing
executive sessions la secret. a few of
The Older senators. b.s~ang % the viii
OF their peopse. have rocentsy been all
vocafs4lg open executive sessions 40
that IL atsocates II this nesv system
are growing ccntinuaiiy more apgres-
ave IA The advancement Il their ideas.
e.nnet confess 90 entertaining any
great degree of respect for the older
senators y 30 favor this scheme. u Il,
fA~sf ,luty. osst - their wisdom and ex-
rerirrce. - teach the people and IN
tighten fhcm. rather than oosx cripg-
ingiy before sentiment which they
know i wrong. For the younger seIia-
tsrs uh0 savocate open executive ses-
kons ~ man eherishes resentment.
They viii know more and b. wiser
rhcn thsy are cider some II them
}ecin II wise. smart. and an assertion
bf their Independents" u violate al
.t,rs-cedcnts. trampie uf~'n the sense of
hropriety of their elders. pose ami pa
,rade tefssrc the gailerieS: jcst a. ~
,Giwats have srcn neo memtsers OF the
Ihonse exhibit themselves such men.
iofherwis., talented and learned. cannot
:te expected ID be wiSe and dignifled.
iThev have already. withir the pasE two
jyra-s. lowered poeiic respect IN the ra-
'tioral capital for the hitherto most re
spect.Sd legislative t-ody in the world.
IL Is not - he wondered a; that such
men want - play the ieonoclastic act
ia every particular. The bull IN the
iehina stss,p attracted great deal OF at
itention while he WAS smashing his way
Through valuable property. but not
even Eli Perkins or joe Muiiholiand
has Ln1ertaken 20 convince anybody
tbs. Tho bull received any applause or
iencorc> for his performance.
/ Fxees4tiVe sessions ~ the senate
fsho4i1 always be held Ia secret. and the
senators should ali ot them have rc~
yp,st for their colleagues even IL
fthry have not sufficient solfre-
spert 70 refrain from talking
and telling 70 outsiders wha, was
sad and done behind closed doors.
Treaties with foreign countries AMI dis
cuS>1ons concerning strained relations
with any for-ign power. even our new
ioonociasts conccde. should not be made
public They realize that. for the gem
eral welfare, il would not be wise u
give publicity 20 such discussions par
ticulkrly when the people are stirred -
intense feehag over any international
occurrence. such a. the Valparaiso in
cident of the last year. But these re-
cent acquisitions - the senate affect 10
believe that the consideration of presi-
Dental nominations u public Office
should b. consiter-d and debated in
open sessions of the senate. n other
words. they will think that the United
States senate should he degraded into
= common arena for political dog
fghtiug or cuciiax mains That would
D. the result One example will prob
ably suf3cr "a demonstrate the folly ~
open executive erssie1s.
Nearly IA year, a-o there was con
tenapistsa q change in the Tsnstfaaster-
ship ~ Terre iiAute. Ind Th., IS a
presidential ofllee - The iirst class. and
II is valuable appointment pf course
there were several candidates for the
position. and the papers in th., case -
each cardica.c were poarsng into the
psi ofliec department daily for months.
before the case was finally decided
Fonr card boxes. such as merchants use
for packing q dozen shirts. were used