Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-12-01

| /W-N&A 10 clause in the Con-
stitution and no provision of the law which
| requires the President to communicate
| with Congress on this or that day; but It
| has become a custom for the President to
| make one of his communications at the
| time when Congress assemblies In special
! or regular session. So well recognized is
| this custom that when we speak of the
! Presidents message 1T Is understood conf
| monty that we mean the message sent to
| Congress by the President at the begin
| ming Of a congressional session. There
| may be many other messages from the
| President recommending particular pieces
of legislation. or explaining vetoes, but
the" Presidents message is the annual
message-the message written usually in
late November, to be sent to the Senate
and House on the first Monday or the first
Tuesday in December.
This address Of the President to Con-
gress is awaited with much interest, often
with an eagerness which touches the peo-
pie of all classes of society, and particular
ly the people in all branches Of trade. The
President of the United States is not the
maker of the laws nor is he the guide set
up for Congress in the road to law max
ing. But the policy of administration
is recognized always as having distinct
influence with Congress, and the expression
of the Presidents views is an indication of
the attitude he will assume toward this or
that legislation If il is laid before him for
approval. Independent as they assume to
tie, the members of the two houses OF Con-
Gress are Influenced very greatly by a
knowledge CT what the President may DO
with the veto privilege. Not infrequently
Senators state in their public speeches
that they are rot to be shaken in their
judgment by what may be done in an
other place." they express it. Yet it is
matter OF very recent political history
that legislation is influenced very largely
by the Presidents attitude toward IL. one
of the most conspicuous instances of this
was the failure of the Senate to pass
free silver measure at the time the So
called Sherman" law enacted There
was no doubt of the existence of a FREQ
silver majority in the Senate at that time
But members of his party had been to the
President and learned that he would op-
pose free silver legislation by every con-
stitutional means in his power and party
cxpediency demanded that the republicans
should not go on record through their rep
Iesentative in the White House as OPP
posed to free coinage.
The Presidents Chance.
In this way the expression Of the Presi-
dents views becomes of Importance to the
members Of Congress and to the country.
1t often anticipates legislation or gives a
certain assurance that legislation Of this
or that kind will not be enacted with tho
a news value, too. In the last annual mos
sage of President Cleveland was the story
of treaty which had been negotiated Sc
cretly by the Secretary of State. Tbs
first information about this treaty went to
the country through the Presidents mes
sage. Beyond this, the message contains
careful review of the condition of busi-
ness in the executive departments; and Ii
is in soma degree political document, for
1t defends or explains the course of the de-
partment chiefs in carrying out the Presi-
dents policy during the year which has
just closed. 1t supplies to the President al
most the only means of reaching the peo-
pie; for while Presidents have given in
terviews to the press from time to time
(and Mr.. Cleveland is no exception to the
rule) 1t is not common thing for the
President to be interviewed; and too often
those who claim to speak for him when
he Is being abused are not his best de-
Tenders. So ii happens sometimes that the
Presidents defense against public criticism
is reserved for his annual message.
The Newspaper Interview.
The messages of a President have boen
known to possess a commercial value-as
when some great financial question was in
the balance and the country was waiting
for an indication Of the course likely to
be pursued by Congress. 1t is said that one
Of the messages of Andrew Jackson would
have brought $4,000 In Wall street On
several occasions the message has been OBJ
tanned prematurely for publication by some
newspaper or newspapers at great cost.
Its value then depended less on its con-
tents than on the rivalry between pub-
fishers to beat each other in the circula-
ton of the news. There is not likely to
be much competition to obtain copies of
the message which President Cleveland Is
now writing at his country place Wood
ley: because he has defined his position
so recently on the great political questions
that the subsistence of the document could
almost be written for him by one who was
famll1ar with his public acts and express
sions. But Mr.. Cleveland has a happy
faculty of filling his public documents with
strong phrases which command attention
and attract comment; and there is likely
to be entertainment in his forthcoming
message, which will make II interesting TO
his party friends and party foes as well.
Speaking of presidential interviews re-
calls the fact that Mr.. Cleveland has not
given himself into the hands OF the inter-
viewer since his unfortunate experience in
New York when the reporter claimed that
Mr.. Cleveland simply forgot himself and
spoke too freely, and Mr.. Cleveland as
ted that he had been misquoted grossly
Before that time Mr.. Cleveland had given
interviews to several men. He never took
to it very kindly. l recall the account
given me In conversation by T. c. Craw-
ford of the first interview with Mr. Cleys-
land obtained after his Inauguration. Mr..
Crawford represented a paper which MI
Cleveland did not like, but which Mr. La
Mr.. Crawford had asked Mr. Lamont sew
eral times to speak to the President about
giving him an interview, and Mr.. Lamont
had discouraged him. He was sure he
said, that the President would not consent
to be interviewed. One day Mr.. Crawford
was at the White House on other business
1t was in the fall of 1855, following Mr.
Cleveland's Inauguration.
Revised the Copy.
Incidentally Mr. Crawford brought I'D
the matter OF the interview. why don't
you go In and see him yourself?" said Mr..
Lamont. He's in the next room" All
right" said MIR. Crawford, and in he went.
The President was in a pleasant mood
and Mr.. Crawford sat down to a conversa-
ton with him. Presently he preached the
subject of the interview. Mr.. Cleveland
was much opposed to 1t. 1t was undigni-
fed, he said. Mr. Crawford assured him
that other Presidents had not thought so,
and quoted the cases of those whom he
had interviewed. Finally the President
was won over and he asked what Mr..
Crawford wanted to know. The interview
was in the nature of a conversation, In
which the President spoke very freely Of
a great many things. When Mr. Craw-
ford arose to go, the President said: you
will not print anything without letting me
See It," and Mr.. Crawford acquiesced. The