Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-17
AGAIN STIRRED UP
Effect of Mr.. BIaCkburn'S
Brownsville Resolution.
RIGHTS OF THE EXECUTIVE.
Mr.. Foraker Opposes the Proposed Dis
claimer.
RIGHTS OF THE EXECUTIVE.
CHAMPIONS THE ENLISTED MEN
Declares That They Should Be Con-
fronted With Accusers and
Given Fair Trial

The hope generally expressed last night
that vote might soon be secured I'm tho
Senate on the Foraber resolution bearing
on the brownsville riot received another
shock Immediately after the senate con-
vened today. 1t was administered by Sem
ator Blackburn, who, when the resolution
was laid before the Senate. offered an
amendment expressly disclaiming any in
tention to question or deny the legal
right of the President to discharge with
out honor enlisted men of the army OF
the United States"
Mr.. Foraker, who had taken the floor to
finish the speech begun yesterday. imme-
diately assumed defensive position, say
ing that he certainly should oppose the
amendment. He had. he said, supposed
the compromise resolution presented by
himself yesterday was satisfactory. and
he contended that the consideration of the
question of the power of the President
should be postponed until after the inves-
tigation. He had not intended. he added.
to discuss the question of power, but the
amendment seemed to make II necessary
for him to go into that subject, which he
proceeded to do
Source Of Authority.
Mr.. Foraker said he had been contending.
and was still of that opinion, that the
President was supreme as commander-in-
chief TO command but could make regu-
lations only according to law enacted by
Congress He reviewed the positions taken
by Senator's Knox, Spooner and Lodge. II
was a surprise to him that the Massachu-
sets senator, above all senators, should
have taken the position that the trainers
of the Constitution had the British system
in mind when they wrote that instrument.
He should have had the tea party and
Bunker Hill in mind. Mr.. Lodge had taken
the position. said Mr.. Foraker. that the
President was given the same power as
comma nder-in-chief as the King of Eng
land. He quoted Alexander Hamilton in
opposition to this view.
"Hamilton. held" he explained. that We
! were not only trying to escape from kingy
power, but from the assumption OF any
| unwritten power. The trainers of the Cob
| stituiion knew the danger of leaving any
thing to be Inferred
Right to Court-Martia1.
Senator Foraker contended that II the
President, without regard to the state OF
the facts, can discharge without honor he
can discharge without honor in the absence
Of all facts A discharge without honor is
limited necessarily because of the construc-
ton which must be put on the other ar
ticles of war. When a man is charged with
crime and denies II he has a right to trial
by court-martial There Is power any
where to dismiss him before trial II he pro-
tests his innocence.
Senator Foraker hotly contended that the
President has not the right to indfct a
soldier by order try him by order. con-
Wet him by order and dismiss him by
| order. No such right exists anywhere. He
said that the spirit of our institutions is
that every man somewhere, sometime, must
have his day in court. Taking up copy
of the Bible Senator Foraker read from the
chapter in the Acts describing the Apostle
Paul before Agrippa, when a demand was
made for his life and reply was given that
il was not the manner of the Romans to
deliver any man to die until he had faced
his accusers and heard the charge against
him. Senator Foraker declared that this
same principle had been the law of civil
| ized nations for all time. Is 1t possible,
| he asked, that we in this twentieth century
and with our boosted civilization are bt>.nd
| the Romans of 2,VOO years agoI He re-
| piled TO the suggestion that the provision
of the Constitution guaranteeing TO every
man his life and liberty did not apply TO
| the army and navy; that Congress provided
| the enlisted man of the army with the
| right to trial by court-martial He asserted
| that the institutions of this country DO not
allow an enlisted man to be branded as
| criminal without trial
All these enlisted men. he said. claim to
have defense He did not know whether
they had or not. That remained to be
seen. He combining himself to the
| great question of constitutional power on
| one side and constitutional right on the
| other He was not to be thrown off from
| these broad and vital questions into dis
| cussion of the race question.
The Accusations.
Referring to Senator Soooner's assertion
| that these dismissed men had not been
| technically charged with anything by any
| body Senator Foraker said that he could
refute that contention in a few words.
Who was it that arraigned these men be-
fore the world? 1t was Gen. Darlington,
Mai. Bloxsom, the President of the United
States and the Secretary of War. They
said that some of these men had committed
murder. that some had committed perjury
and that all had probably committed
misprison OF felony.
The President had told of the savagery
of these men, had called them midnight
| assassins. All these terms, said Senator
Foraker are justifable IL proven. he did
not know whether they could be proven
| or not but there is no doubt that they
| have been charged against the men. Dis
| missal from the army is not adequate
| punishment for murder; it is severe pun
ishment, however, to the men who may De
! innocent.
| Senator Foraker declared that one pur-
| pose of the proposed investigation Is 10
| give these men opportunity TO snow
| that. they are not guilty of these crimes.
1t was a duty owing to the men, Inc
| Investigation ought to be held on the Presi-
dents account as WELL to the end that
In an investigation. properly conducted, ne
may be indicated, If the testimony ad-
duced would have that effect.
Senator Nelson called attention TO the
fact that nothing in the evidence thus
far submitted sustained the Presidents
charge that there had been misprlsion OF
felony.
The Athens, Ohio, Case.
Senator Foraker thanked him for the sug-
gesyt.on and reiterated the point made by
the senator He referred to the case of the
regiment of government troops at Athens,
Ohio, who had shot up the town, and TO
whose defense the Secretary OF war sum-
moned the legal machinery of the govern
ment Senator Foraker thought that 1t
for defending the soldiers, those enlisted
men were in a measure the w4gds OF the
nation and had to be looked OUT for Sem
ator Culberson pointed out that in the
Brownsville case the Secretary of War had
asked the Attorney General to direct the
district attorney to that the men had