Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-05
To WH|TEWASH
THE PRESIDENT
Senator Lodges Amendment 10
the Foraker Resolution.
CHARACTERIZED BY PRESS
Irrelevant, Impairment and Incom-
petent."
INTENT OF THE SENATOR
Not Likely That the Senate Will
Adopt It When It Comes
to Vote.
CHARACTERIZED BY PRESS
Irrelevant, Impairment and Incom-
petent"
INTENT OF THE SENATOR


From the New York Times.
To Senator Foraker's resolution directing
the committee military affairs to in
quire into the facts that leu to the dis
charge of the negro troops at Brownsville,
Senator Lodge has offered irrelevant,
impertinent, and incompetent amendment
declaring, that the President discharged the
negro soldiers lin the exercise of his legal
and constitutional authority commander
n-chief' Senator Lodge offers this amend
ment with intent to prevent any senatorial
investigation of the Pres dents action He
evidently reasons that If his amendment Is
adopted it will ''whitewash" Mr.. Roosevelt
and make investigation needless. 1t appears
to be his belief that the Senate will not
have the hardihood to reject the amend
ment since that woul1 imply that the PreSi-
dent has committed an impeachable Of
Tense. Therefore, the Massachusetts
ator thinks he has the Ohio senator "in a
hole"
If Mr.. Foraker has not lost his wits and
the Senate as body its sense of dignity
and independence, Mr.. Lodge will be disap-
pointed. The amendment can be rejected
not pertinent to the Foraker resolution
without casting the slightest reflection upon
the President. 1t is not an Improbable Of
Tense to make a mistake. Judges the
bench are continually making wrong de-
cisions, which higher courts reverse. But
they do not thereby violate their oath of
Office render themselves liable to i'm
parchment. Congress passed an income tax
law, which the supreme court declared to
be unconstitutional, but Congress was act
ing within its constitutional authority in
legiSlating upon the subject. 1t was a mis-
take, not high crime and misdemeanor, to
pass law that the judiciary department
declared unconstitution- i. In rendering its
any "affront' upon Congress. any more
than in ordering an inquiry into the
Brownsville matter the Senate would put
an affront upon the President by rejecting
ha D1t dyfnDn N
1t would be a double affront to the Presi-
dent to adopt the amendment. The question
Of the constitutionality of the Presidents
action is not before the Senate. Unless i'm
parchment proceedings should be begun 1t
cannot properly be taken up by that body.
snap judgment upon that question
which is not pending, would hardly have
been invited by Mr.. Lodge had he fully
realized the purport of his amendment In
the second place, the offering of 1t is a con-
fession by one of the Presidents most con-
spicuous friends and defenders that the
Brownsville incident will not bear inquiry;
that the President must be shielded against
the senatorial investigation. That admission
is little in accord with the PresidentA
defiant words that we must assume the
resolution to have been offered without his
knowledge. The foolishness of their friends
is one of the chief sources of the troubles
of the great.
Demonstration by Mr.. Purdy.
From the New York Sun.
Suppose that the energetic If somewhat
irregular efforts of the Hon. Milton D.
Purdy at Brownsville should result in
fixing upon a few of the soldiers of the
25th Infantry the guilt of riot and even
murder.
Suppose that this tardy investigation
should also demonstrate that others of
the enlisted men of the 25th were guilty
of INSTRUMENTATION and collusive at
tempt to shield the principal criminals by
concealing facts of which they had knowl-
edge.
If that should happen. and the guilty
soldiers were yet in the service of the
United States government, the course of
justice would be clear. The rioters and
murderers could be turned over to the civil
authorities for trial and punishment under
the provisions of article 80 of the Articles
of War.
The accessories after the fact and the
obstructionists of military justice could be
tried by court-martial under article 81 of