Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-05-09
ARMY ROW IN SENATE
Brownsville and Colonel Stewart
 Disturb Upper House.
PRESIDENT DEFENDS STAND.

Dismissed Negro Soldiers and Ex- fled Officer.
 Washington, May 9.-The third in a series of letters to members of the United States senate who have ques- tioned the presidents position in rela- tion to army matters was received by Senator Stewart of Vermont from President Roosevelt
 The other two were received in turn
 by Senator Rayner of Maryland and Senator Smith of Michigan. In each instance Mir. Roosevelt declares with a forcefulness incapable of misconstruc- tion that he Is the commander in chief of the army and supreme In matters pertaining to 1t. ~> feeling among senators to whom they have been shown, and the gage of the president will be taken up promptly by the senate in manner that will cause a sensation throughout the coun- try.
 Senator Foraker, who was one of the first to learn the contents of all the let ters, will rise to point of personal privilege in the senate and ask the production of the letters.
 Senator Seeks Information. Senator Smith some weeks ago saw a statement attributed to the president in which the latter said he had no au- thority under the constitution to dis miss a man from the army even if he
 was a murderer Senator Smith asked how the president reconciled this state
 ment with his action in the Browns
 vile affair.
 The president, according to informa- tion, came back with letter of thirty typewriter pages fairly soaring the ,, negro troops, declaring his belief that
 they were guilty and unworthy of re- instatement.
 Besides the Brownsville matter the ! presidents action in sending Colonel | William F. Stewart of the coast ar tillery to abandoned Fort Grant, in Arizona, has been the subject of much
 comment Colonel Stewart is declared to be incapable of living on amicable , terms with other army officers. Executives Power Too Great? The third letter came to Senator
 Stewart of Vermont. A few days ago
 during the debate on the Brownsville
 case Senator Stewart asked a question indicating that he had doubt as to the
 wisdom of extending to the president the power of passing on the innocence I>or guilt of ex-soldiers applying for re-
 instatement in view of the fact that it ! appeared the president still believes al! of the negroes to have been guilty of i complicity in the affray.
 The senator was surprised to receive from the president letter bearing on both the Colonel Stewart and the Brownsville cases. Attached to the communication were letters to Sena-
 tors Rayner and William Alden Smith, the one to Mir. Rayner asserting chiefly the presidents right to deal with an officer in such manner as he pleased as commander in chief. while the one to
 Mir. Smith was confined to the Browns.
 vile affair and reiterated the presi. dents belief that he had dealt with the case as conditions demanded. The president went further in his letter to Senator Stewart in addition to repeating much that he said to the other senators. He declared that Sena.
 tor Stewart from the question he
 asked in the debate appeared to be
 proceeding under misapprehenslon of
 the duties of the president of the Unit. ed States in connection with the army and the navy. He quoted the law as
 he understood it and denied that he
 was under any obligation to give to the discharged negro soldiers or to Colonel
 Stewart any court of inquiry. Several
 paragraphs were devoted to a discus.
 sion of Colonel Stewards case and the
 faults of his which have put him in
 disrepute in army circles. After his discussion the president wrote that in every community there is found maud. lin sympathy with murderers. and the Thaw case in New York is cited by htm as an example.