The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-03-15

NAL period.
Senator Chiliagworrh gave notice of
his intention 10 Introduce a lii appro-
Rriating the sum Of $1,000 for the
repair OF roads IN Palol0 vaEev.
The consideration Of the messages of
the Governor yetoIng certain bills was
then begun. Senator Smith moved that
the bills pass. He said the veto power
was, perhaps, a good one when judi
ciously used. Supporting the argu-
ments he presented a statement com
piled from data contained in Blaine's
- Twenty Years in Congress. -
He quoted instances Of vetoes in the
official lives Of Presidents Of the Unit
ed States during eighty years of the
life OF that Government saving:
PRESIDENTS AND VETO POWER.
The earlier Presidents, filed with
the spirit Of the convention that form
ed the Constitution, were extremely
careful in the use Of the yeto-power.
twice Neither John Adams nor Thorn
as Jefferson used It even once. Nadi-
son resorted 10 it three times, Monroe
only once, John Quincy Adams in not
a single instance. Under the first six
Presidents, the veto-power had been
used but six time in all; unless there
should be included some private Bills
sent back for correction and not in
fCFas f7c -
test between parties. The country had
thus been educated by the sages Of the
era Of the Constitution in the belief
that only an extraordinary occasion
justified a resort 10 what, in the pop
uIar dislike of its character. had re-
ceived the name OF "the one-man
power" President Jackson, therefore.
surprised the country and shocked
conservative citizens by his frequent
employment of this great prerogative.
During his term he thwarted the wish
and the expressed resolve of Congress
no less than eleven times on measures
Of great public consequences. Seven Of
these vetoes were of the kind which,
during his presidency, received the
name of "pocket-vetoes."
Commenting with great power, at
the time, upon the new use Of the
veto-powers in all its forms by Presi-
dent Jackson, Mr.. Webster declared its
tendency was to disturb the harmony
which ought always 10 exist between
Congress and the Executive, and 10
turn that which the Constitution in
tended only as an extraordinary rem
edy for extraordinary cases, into a
common means Of making Executive
discretion paramount 10 the discretion
of Congress in the enactment of laws
II was literally making the extreme
medicine OF the Constitution its daily
bread.
An example set by so strong a ruler
as Jackson, especially in the establish
ment of a practise so congenial 10
mans natural love Of power, was GER
tain to be followed by other Presidents.
It was followed so vigorously indeed
that the forty years succeeding Jack
sons advent to power presented a
strong contrast with the forty years
which preceded il. The one began with
washington, the other ended with An
drew Johnson. Mr.. Van Buren,. though
in all respects a lineaI heir to the prin-
ciples Of Jackson, did not initiate
him in the frequent use of the veto
power. But Mr.. Tyler on nine differ
emf occasions ran counter to the ac-
ton Of Congress by the interposition
Of his veto Mr.. Polk resorted 10 II in
three signal instances. but neither
General Taylor nor Mr.. Fillmore came
in conflict with Congress on a single
measure. President Pierce almost
rivaled General Jackson in the ten
vetoes with which he emphasized his
own views as distinct from those Of
Congress. Mr. Buchanan used his ar
biIrary power on four occasions dur
ing his term Mr. Lincoln permitted
one bill 10 be defeated, as already not
ed in these pages, by the expiration OF
Congress, and arrested the passage OF
another by direct use Of the veto.
President Johnson, who in many fea-
lures Of his career has been suspected
Of an attempted imitation Of Jackson,
far surpassed his great prototype in
the use Of me veto-power, employing
il directly IN no less than twenty-one
instances. besides pocketing al least
two bills OF public importance the
aggregate number OF yetoes, therefore.
III the forty years that followed Cen
eral Jackson's first election exceeded
fifty, as against six for the forty years
preceding it
This bit Of history was followed by
a reference TO the bin which would
give a married woman the right TO deal
with her separate property In a way
the remarks made by the Senator were
a mild roast Of the Governor for his
apparent abuse Of the veto power
Senator Dowsett agreed with the pre-
vfous speaker in 80 f.r as abusing the
veto power il. concerned but he di5 not
believe now. nor in committee. the
measure advisable and for that reason
he would support the veto.
Senator Chfllingworth opposed ire
argument OF Senator Dowsett and said
the training the gentle sex is getting
today fits them, not only 70 look after
their own affairs but the business al
fairs of the husband. Years ago s'Ich
q thing as woman secretary in an
Office was unheard Of while today there
are hundreds. Instances in the city
show that the management Of prop
erty by a widow has been ni're adEan-
"a gaos1s than by the huSbagi GuT-IIS