The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-29
The Summer Headquarters OF Fed
i54-=. eral Administrations.

~ eraI ADMINISTRATOR.
: There is not much that is very novel
Fin the abandonment Of Washington
during summer as the place where the
President transacts executive business.
The Constitution has made the District
of Columbia the seat of the Govern
h,ent .of the United States" but that
does not prevent the President from
executing the Constitution, the treaties
and the statutes wherever he may hap
pen to be, if he can thereat be put in
possession of all the facts and there
from give necessary orders to his
numerous subordinates.
That execution can be on a railway
train, or by the aid of modern wireless
telegraphy may be on the high seas.
II may be in a foreign country. The
President may desire to visit our pos
sessions in the Far East, and in going or
coming may make the grand tour and
tarry in Europe or Asia or Africa. We're
he in person to command the navy or
army in war, as he might wish to do,
his presence would perforce be on the
ocean, and might even be in the enemys
country. The Constitution has not made
provision for absence by the President
from the country unless in the sentence
relating to inability to discharge the
duties Of his Office, which may, possibly,
mean portion of them.
The four Virginia Presidents, WASH
INGToN, JEFFERSON, MADISON and Mon
ROE, were, as history tells us, often at
their respective homes in the summer
during their terms of office; and the
elder ADAMS and the younger ADAMS
were frequently at Quincy The country
was then relatively smaller than now
and there were fewer treaties and fewer
statutes to be executed faithfully by the
President.
JACKSON was once or twice, or oftener,
at the Rip-Raps on the Potomac. VAN
buren,, TYLER, POLK, PIERCE, BUCHANAN
and LINCOLN were less often absent
from the seat of Government than were
JAcKsoN's predecessors. 1t was GRANT
who sometimes disregarded some of the
conventionalities of the White House
under his predecessors. His many alb
sences called forth formal inquiry by
the Senate, which resulted in a State
Department examination of the records
Of Presidential absences. It's report was
published by the Senate as a public
document If the inquiry was really
initiated by the Senate, it was an ex-
ample Of an exercise by that body Of
an assumed right to scrutinize the abb
sences Of the President.
Probably, in the light of precedent,
there is not sound constitutional OBJ
lection to temporary transfer of the
executive Office to Oyster Bay without
the consent of Congress. The President
is entitled to decide where he can most
conveniently to himself execute the Con-
stitution, the treaties and the statutes.
His is the discretion, up to a certain
point at least, and his is always the
never-ceasing responsibility. He must
somewhere execute the laws. In exc
cutting them he has option, selection and
choice of ways, within certain limits,
h il the words of the law are ambiguous.
but a proper discharge of that duty
may require consultation with the head
of the proper department. Such con-
sultation and taking the instruction of
the President from day to day and hour
to hour can, Of course, be done best at
the seat of Government, where are the
archives and the subordinate agents
The postal, telegraphic and telephone
services may sometimes be quite made
.quate and unsafe when conferences
need to bA confidential, but the country
should reS assured that the President