Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1904-10-03
ADDRESS BY
SENATOR KNOX
{ Continued from Page ~

them political success.
When and how has the president
violated the constitution Of the Unit
ed States, that greatest of all char
ers of government, or ignored the
laws passed in pursuance thereof, as
alleged by this extraordinary confed.
Grafton? 1t is said In some quarters
that he violated the constitution and
the law of nations by recognizing the
independence of Panama and by nego-
tlatlng a treaty with that republic.
| reply that it is an executive func-
tion TO recognize the existence of
foreign powers and to negotiate trea-
ties, and that there is no rule of in
ternational law that was infringed
in the presidents performance Of eth
err of these executive powers. Tho
action of this government in this re-
spect was the same as that Of the
principal civilized powers. There may
be those who claim the president vas
impolitic and unwise in executing the
law Of congress requiring him TO take
the necessary steps which congress
specified to secure the joining OF Inc
two oceans, but he was safely with
in his constitutional powers when he
did so, and rs to the policy mi wis
dom of this act that is for the Amer
lean people to approve or ~disapprove.
The connection Of the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans by a canal and the sub
stitution of a short route for the pas
sage around Cape Horn was not a
question Of the hour, nor merely y
of the political relations between
Panama and the United States, but
rather one that concerned the planet
upon which we live, involving a vital
change of the relations of grand a.
visions of that planet to each other.
The change proposed and the work
projected will outlive most of the
present governments of the world
and be Of use to all mankind when
the present political relations OF those
governments with each other will be
dim traditions, if not altogether for
gotten.
What would have been the opinion
of posterity and what would have
been the opinion of the eXpectant ma
lions of the world if the president with
plenary constitutional power and the
specific statutory authority, and the
opportunity to accomplish this grand
object. should have stood hesitating
and quibbling about insignificant
questions and permitted the opportu-
nifty to pass from our hands at the
moment when everything was in
readiness, when the mean had been
provided by congress, the purchase OF
the property had been arranged for,
and the sovereign of the territory di-
rectly affected ready and anxious to
enter into a treaty comforting upon
the government the necessary fran
chise?
What would have been the verdict
of the American people if the presi-
dent had folded his hands in ease and
closed his eyes and waited before ex-
ecuting the law, until every academic
doubt as to his constitutional powers
was resolved in the minds of his self
constituted critics?
II the administration of the affairs
of the United States is TO halt every
time some one cries out that me
constitution is being outraged we
would never move.
Men always have differed and al
ways will differ as to constitutional
construction, and ven the courts fail
at times TO reach unanimous con-
illusions.
Did the president disregard the
constitution or the pension laws he
was sworn to execute when to enable
him to do so faithfully and in full
accord with the spirit of a grateful
country he used his discretion, as
his predecessors of both parties did,
in ordering that in consonance with
common sense and human experience
Ii sould be a REPUTABLE presumption
that a soldier at sixty-two had deter
iorated fifty per cent in his ability to
perform physical labor and at seventy
was wholly incapacitated Did he
usurp the functions Of congress in
so doing? Certainly not. His trder
did not appropriate to the soldiers
their pensions. The appropriations
was made by congress after the order
and for the specific purpose OF meet
ing it's requirements. The president
did not direct that disabled soldiers
should receive a monthly stipend.
Congress did that by a law duly en-
acted, and the constitution put upon
ALA