Owingsville outlook. [volume] (Owingsville, Ky.) 1879-192?, 1898-12-15
MKINLEY'S TRIP.
Can CHIEF Magistrate Lave the
Boundaries of His own Country?
ihis. iiowsvr-, Wound Not Hold Good in
This Case Inasmuch as Cuba and
Porto St CO Are. Soon Wil
lie, Under Our Flag.

washington, Dee. IA report that
the president intends to visit Cuba and
Porto Rico AZ the ii =. favorable OPP
portunity has become known in the
state, war and navy departments and
was quickly made the subject of srri
Gus speculation among various otli-
cialS On account of the exceedingly in
tcrcsting questions il raised. Among
other things there was spon-
tancouS revival of the fiction that
the chief executive could not pass
the boundaries nf the United States
without fnrfcitin% his office. Ii
is peculiar how persistent is
the notion even among higher officials
that some constitutional or statutory
restriction confines the executive to
American soil, when. as matter of
fact, although none of President Me
kinlcy's predecessors have ever left
the country during their terms of Of
flee, their actions were alone affected
10y considerations of propricty or prrcc-
~
in the present instance.
1t was generally recognized Il AT the
president might naturally wish to
make a personal tour of inspection in
those islands as soon as he could spare
time from pressing public business in
Washington. and that no valid ohjcc-
tod could stand against such a tour as
he was understood to contemplate. 1t
is pointed out, however. that il would
hc practically impossible for him to
spare the time requisite for such an
extended voyage a> that To Porto
Rico before congress adjnurns on
March 1. which is. fortunately,
about the best time of the year Ia make
n short stay in the tropics During the
first six weeks of the new year, in adj
dition Ia the continuous executive rou-
tine business. the social obligations in
volvcd in the programmes of public
receptions and state dinners would re-
strict the president closely to Wash
ington. and after next weeks southcr
tour he will hardly find il possible to
leave the white house for more than
two days at a time before the beginning
of lent, in the middle of February. For
the ensuing two weeks, with the rush
of legislation which marks the closing
days of a short session of congress,
there will be no leisure for the execu-
tive and therefore his pennant could
hardly fly in the harbor of Porto Rico
before the middle of March.
With Havana only a single nights
run for the dispatch boat Dolphin from
Tampa, there might be a chance for
the president to spend two whole days
there in a weeks absence from WASH
ington, and remain always in close
communication with the executive de-
partments SO that if critical emcr-
gency occurred he could be in a rail-
way train speeding toward the capital
within IL hours. No thought is enter
tanned, however, of a presidential trip
to Havana before the Spanish flag is
hauled down on January /.
Practical unanimity of opinion pre-
walls among officials that the contem-
plated visit of the president to Havana
has a full warrant as his trip to Porto
Rico SO long as the American flag flies
over Cuba, although few quibblers
may hold that Porto Rico itself
is not actually part of the
United States territory until con-
gress has made a declaration to that
effect. either in 50 many words or by
ratifying the peace treaty of Paris.
This fine point is not seriously raised
except to show that Porto Rico and
Cuba must be considered identical in
view of the fact that they are gov
erned precisely alike-by military Off
GERS under the immediate direction of
the president as COMMUNICATIVE chief.
The belief is expressed that the presi-
dent would not care to set foot in
Cuba il il were held to be foreign ter
ritory, much as he might wish to see
the country, for that might be a per-
ilous precedent TO establish, but
no one appears to controvert the right
as well as the ACCESSIBILITY of an exc
cutive visit tn the new American pos
sessions. provided il does not involve
too long an enforced absence from
Washington.