The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-04
WATERWAYS TO BE WORKED.
TIE SENATE OVERRIDEs THE
PRESIDENTS VETO.

One Of the Few Who Defended the
President in the Debate-Many of
the Senator'S Criucise Him Sc
vereIy.
Washington. June 3.-The Senate of the
United States followed to-day the exam
pie set yesterday by the House Of Repre-
seutaCves in passing, by a vote of IS to
8, the river and harbor bill over the Pres
dents veto. The five negative votes
came from democratic senators. namely
! Messrs. Bate Of Tennessee. Chiffon of
Texas. Hill Of New York. smith of New
Jersey and Villas Of Wisconsin.
The debate preceding the vote lasted
about four hours. Speeches in favor Of
| oVerr4qtng the veto We're made by Sena-
tors Vest, Sherman, Pettigrew, rep. Of
South Dakota, Berry. dem, of Arkansas.
stewart pop, OF Nevada, HaWley, rep,
of Connecticut and Butler. pop, of North
| Speeches in favor Of sustaining the veto
| were made by Senators Smith, Villas, Bate
and Hill-the latter Introducing a joint
resolution TO amend the constitution BY
giving the President power TO veto any
| items in an appropriation bul-a power
| which the constitution of the state of New
Hork gives to the governor Of that state.
| Mr. PetugreW's speech characterized
| the veto power as a relic of the past,
| Which had no place in free government.
| he denounced the President in severe
terms, charging him with an utter dis
! regard Of his sacred oath Of office, with
| overriding the laws, influencing congress
| men by the use Of patronage, and, in fact,
| permitting no restraint but his imperial
| will
Mr.. Vest opened the debate upon the
/ question Of passing the. river and harbor
| bill over the Presidents veto. He said
| that there were statements in the Pres
| ldent's message as 10 which, with all due
| respect to the President and his high Of
! hee, something should be said in defense
! of the houses Of congress. He should
| enqeaVor % say just as much about the
/ Dill and the message as was absolutely
! necessary, and no more. While uuQUes-
| uOnaDly the President of the United
| states had the extreme power TO eXer-
! else his veto prerogaGve, IL was not the
! idea of the constitution that the veto
| power should be exercised as one of the
| ordinary instrumentallties of administer
! ing the government Inc veto power nad
| been exercised only seven times in the
! first twenty-four years OF the govern
| ment, twice by Washington ana 1ve times
| by Madison, never by John Adams or
| Thomas Jefferson.
| Mr. Vest proceeded to discuss the mes
! sage in detail and pointed out various in
| acouracies in it. Among these was the
| statement that the bill appropriated di-
| rectly about $lAOOO,O0O and covered con
| unuing contracts 10 the amount OF w.
| 0OO00. The former sum exceeded the ac-
| tual figures by $l,390eJO, and the latter
| sum by $2,343. .0JO The President, Mr.. Vest
| said, had rhetOriCally charged congress
| With extravaganza, but If the President
| had turned to the river and harbOr bLls
! have discovered that, considering the size
! Of the country and the demands of inter
| nal commerce, the bill was comparatively
| economical Then 1t had to be remem-
bered that the appropriation was not for
| one year but for two years, so that in
! stead of an appropriation Of about Sl4,-
| to be spent in the next fiscal year would
| not be more than S6OOQ00O, being one-halt
| of the Sl20O00O0 already mentioned.
! Mr. Vest said he was puzzled TO know
| 10 what the President alluded in speaking
| of private interests; but he supposed that
| it was a case of the destruction or the Bar
| at the harbor of Brunswick, Ga. which
| had been undertaken by a private citizen,
! a lawyer, and where an additional depth
| of eight feet Of water had been obtained
| at a cost OF $4,000
This had been done in the face of the
| opposition of the army engineers. II was
| so remarkable success that the confer
! ence committee had voted to extend the
| contract. He was prepared 10 detend II,
| and to say it was right, and that there
| should be no monopoly of engineering by
| army engineers. lie propheSled as com
! ing events cast their shadows before,
| that in a very few years, the attention
| Of congress would be drawn to the neces-
| sity of Immediately improving all the
| Waterways of the country in order to give
| cheaper transportation to the people. he
| pointed out the revolution that has been
! made in the grain exporting trade by the
! deepening Of the mouths of the Mississippi
| New orleans having become thereby the
] chief grain exporting port Of the country.
| As to the Presidents intimation that the
| payment Of the $62 100000 covered by the
| bin was as binding as the bonded debt
| of the government Mr. Vest mildly sug-
| gested TO the President that there was
! no interest on it, 1t did not propose" to
| use another expression OF the President,
| ITO mortgage poSterity.
| Mr.. sherman gave reasons why he should
| vote for the passage of the bill, notWith-
| standing the Presidents objections. In
! the first place he did not think that such
| an appropriation bill ought ever to be
vetoed unQer any circumstances. 1t was
| not a mandatory provision, but merely a
/ permissiVe one. If the Secretary OF the
| Treasury said that there was no money
| in the treasury not otherwise appropri-
! ated," he was not bound TO eXpend it. So
! that the President had complete control
| of the whole matter. Therefore, he could
] not conceive case where such bill
! should be vetoed. Congress, Mr.. Sherman
! declared, ought to stand by its exclusive
! power TO appropriate money, leaving TO
! the President the expenditure of il only
| when there is sufficient money in the treas
There was a wide difference between a
| mandatory law binding on the President
| and on all the departments and on the
| people, and a mere permission to expend
! so much money for particular object.
! He could not imagine, therefore, a veto
! which he would support. Instead Of seven
| VetOes ia the first twenty-eight years Ct
| the government, vetOes came TO one house
| or the other now almost every day. Con-
| gress ought to curb or check if possible,
| the exercise of the veto power.
Mr.. Smith, dem, of New Jersey, differed
/ from Senators Vest and Sherman on the
| subject of presidential Vetoes, and remind
! ed them that similar bills had been We
! toed by Presidents Jackson, Tyler Polk
| and Pierce; and that in 1876 President
| Grant sent a protest to congress against
| a river and harbor bill which did not
! appropriate one-fifth of the amount ap-
| propriated in the pending bill.
Mr.. Villas sounded note of caution.
| Where, ne asked, was the money coming
| from2 He knew that il had been said in
| the Senate and in the House-somewhat
| recklessly-that there was money in the
| treasury, but that money, he said, was
| borrowed for the purpose only of MAIN
! tanning the credit of the United States.
| AS to Mr.. Shermans suggestion that the
matter was within the discretion of the
| executive officers Mr.. Villas asked whether
| the Secretary of the Treasury could ex-
ercise the discretion of discharging APP
| prOpriatious made in the river and harbor
| bill and Of leaving undischarged those
| made in the legislative appropriation bill.
| In conclusion, he said: 1--WE are going
| on too recklessly, and it is for that rea-
son that | cannot bring myself to sup
port this measure, which viii impose such
! great additional burdens on the people
/ of this country at a time when a period
! Of distress has left them less capable
! than at other times to sustain them"
I Mr. Berry. dem. of Arkansas argued In