Evening journal., 1919-03-14

The constitution OF the United states
provides a method for the convenlng Of
Congress, under the mandate that that
body shall meet at least once a year.
The exact word ng OF the constitution
Is as follows: Art. 1, Sec. 4-2: "The
Congress shall assemble at least once in
every year, and such meeting shall be
on the lrst Monday In December, un-
less they shall by law appoint a diff
ferent day"
10 would appear, from the reading Of
this provision that. unless Congress
has by law, which requires the sigma
tute OF the President, provided for a
day other than the nrst Monday in
December for its annual meeting. II
could not Of itself convene and transact
business. This Is too strict a con-
structlon OF the constitution. In the
event, however, that a majority OF each
House OF the Congress should assemble,
there Is no power 10 prevent such
meeting. The clause OF the constitution
above quoted IS mandatory as against
a failure 10 meet. and administrative
for the purpose Of providing a cusio-
mary rule for meeting; but nothing In
the constitution can be construed 10
prevent a majority Of each House from
convening upon It's own motion for the
purpose Of transactlng public business.
Art. 2, Sec. 3, Of the constitution gives
the power 10 the President "on extra
ord nary occasions 10 convene both
houses" This power. which inheres in
The President, 10 call the Congress To-
gether, makes him a judge Of what Is
'an extraordinary Occas on" but 1t
does not make him the sole judge. The
majority Of the Congress may itself
cOnstrue some occasion extraordinary
and convene itself for the transaction
Of the necessary public business to
meet an extraordinary situation.
10 Is not conceivable that the Con-
g~ess OF the United states should not
have power 10 convene itself during
nine months OF extraordinary national
cme~ ~gency II the Pres dent happened TO
be recalcitrant and refused to convene
it
The legislative body Of the nation Is
provided for in Art. /, Sec. 1 Of the
constitution. as follows: "All legislative
powers herein granted shall be vested
N the Congress OF the United states.
when shall consist Of a Senate and a
House Of Representatives" The Con-
qress represent the legislative power of
the peonle, and therefore is dealt with
IN the n~st article. The executive is
dealt with in article 2, as it is the
gent 10 administer the laws which the
Congress enacts.
At the time when the imneachment
NJ Governor Sulzer was under advise
ment. the Legislature Of the state Of
New York happened 10 be in eXtraordi-
0a~v session called by Governor Sulzer
under the provisions Of the cOnstitu-
tion nf tho state Of New York. which
nrOvides that at an extraordinary ses-
sion no matters can be acted upOn eX-
rept those presented 10 the Leg Stature
by tho governor. The Evening Journal
at that time called attention TO the
ract-when the point was raised that
The Assembly Of the state, convened
as il was in extraordinary session.
under this provision Of the constitu-
tion. had no power 10 imneach Cow
ernor Sulzer-that the power Of the
Assembly 10 impeach lay at any time /;
that il could convene itself for the pur-
pose OF impeachment. II was incon-
ceivable that TO the Assembly. in wh 'ch
was lodged the power Of imDeachment
the opportunity 10 exercise that power
should be denied because 10 did not
happen 10 be in session. This argu-
ment was accepted by the Court Of In
neachment. and Governor Sulzer was
convicted. apparently in violation Of
The letter OF the construction Of the
state.
70 is equally true that The Congress
n the United States may convene Itself
for the purposes Of the nation which Il
represents. regardless Of the proviso
~eferred 10 at the beginning Of this
article. The Congress Just adjourned
without day, spent three months doing