The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-18
a FOOLISH TRADITION.

A Washington dispatch says that Presi-
dent Roosevelt's expressed desire to wit
ness the naval maneuvers in the Caribbean
sea next fall have raised the old-time ques-
ton whether a President has a right to
leave the country during his term of Office.
1t is further said:
When President Mckinley was about TO
make his trip to California he got a letter
from the citizens OF Vancouver asking him
10 make stop which involved a trip 10
Canada. He asked one Of the chiefs of
the legal department to make report TO
him on the subject. The report said that
the precedent for the President not leav-
ing the country was established by Wash
ington. He made a journey from New
YORK to Massachusetts as President before
Rhode Island had become a member of
the Union. Instead of taking the easy
and direct route through Connecticut and
Rhode Island he made long detOur. reach
ing Boston without touching the Obstrep-
erOuS State. The reason given at that
time was that ii was not proper for the
President TO leave the country and be in
foreign land where the President could not
secure proper protection from the citizens
or the republic. From that day 10 this
there have been public objections expressed
every time the proposal for the President
to leave the country Is made.
If any chief of the legal department gave
such an opinion he drew on his magma
ton for alleged facts and reached con-
clusion that is not warranted by the con-
stitution or laws of the country Just when
or how the idea had its origin that the
President may not leave the country dur
ing his term Of Office is not known. but
1t seems to have become fixed in the pop
ular mind. The reasons assigned above
are no doubt fanciful. Washington made
his overland journey from New York to
New England in the summer Of 1859, a few
months after his first election as Presi-
dent. 1t is true that at that time Rhode
Island had not yet ratified the constitution
and entered the Union. She was the last
ratification dating May %, 1890. Her delay
in this was owing TO popular distrust of
some features OF the Constitution, but there
was never any disturbance or commotion
concerning the matter beyond earnest polit-
zeal discussion. There was never any doubt
about the final action OF the State in rati-
flying the Constitution, and the idea that
Washington could have regarded Rhode
Island foreign territory or that he would
have been in any danger there, or could
have harbored so ridiculous and cowardly a
thought is preposterous. 1t is possible he did
not care to visit the anti-Federalist lead
ers who were leading the opposition TO the
Constitution, but there is no evidence of
such a feeling on his part. The real reason
why he did not take Rhode Island in his
northern journey was that it was out of his
way. His objective point was Boston, and
the shortest and best carriage road from
New Haven to that city did not lead
through Rhode Island. That State had
done it's full share in the revolutionary war,
and the idea that any person in 1889 could
have regarded it as a foreign country or
that the President might not have been
safe there is too absurd for serious consid-
Grafton. AS to the danger of our Presi-
dents going beyond protection from the cit
liens of the Republic, it should be remem-
bered that all three Of the Presidents who
have been assassinated were killed within
our own borders.
The matter is not important except as 1t
is always important to correct errors.
There is not a word in the Constitution
regarding the President remaining within
the country, and while no President has
ever gone outside of it during his term
of office, circumstances might arise that
would make it desirable for him to do so.
The time may come when President will
feel that he ought to visit Porto Rico or
Hawaii. Some great and friendly occasion
might call him to Canada or to the neigh
boring republic of Mexico. When the trans
isthman canal shall be completed it will
be highly proper that the President should
be present in person at its opening and
dedication. If any of these circumstances
should arise the President should disregard
the foolish tradition here referred to and
go where common sense and duty call him.