Evening star., 1938-09-25
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star


o, 1888, than the fact
oonsfesslohAi that the Constitution
Pocket Vetoes. of the United States,
which is supposed to
prescribe the methods of legislation with
the greatest exactness, should have been
signed in convention one hundred and
one years ago and that successive Con-
crosses SHOULD have met, made laws and
adjourned regularly, under that Consti-
tuition, for ninety-nine years and six
months and yet that 1t should have re-
manned for an accidental clash of parti-
san interests in the House OF Representa-
tives to discover that there is no constitu-
tional provision and no rule of either
house of Congress declaring how, when
or by whom a bill shall be laid before the
President for his approval or disapproval.
Yet such is the state of things developed
by the furry over the Chinese exclusion
bill. The measure is railroaded through
the House, whangbanged through the
Senate and comes back to the House for
enrolment and transmission to the
President. But meanwhile Mr.. Scott,
having quilted his seat for brief period
and everybody else having had time to
cool down and think matters over, 1t is
concluded that the bill was unwise in
inception and indecent in its manner of
being forced upon the Nation, and the
party in power in the House does not
care especially to take the responsibility
of It's parentage So Representative Kill
gore, as chairman of the Committee on
Enrolled Bills, calmly pockets 1t and no
power on earth can take 1t away from
him till he sees fit to give 1t up.
This is, of ITSELF an interesting state
OF affairs. But with how much danger
the discovery is fraught no one can now
judge. There may be circumstances in
which an insignificant minority in either
house will have it in their power to OBJ
struct legislation indefinitely by simply
contriving to get the custody of bills
which have passed both houses ina regu-
lar manner and holding them back till it
suits their ends to send them to the
President 1t is most dangerous gap to
leave open. The death of Vice President
Hendricks in 1885, at time when there
was no Speaker of the House and no
President Pro Tempore of the Senate, left
a single life, and a peculiarly exposed
one, between organized government and
anarchy and brought Congress face to
face with the necessity of prompt pro-
vision against such emergencies in the
future. The result was the enactment
OF law which, though confessedly i'm
perfect in many particulars, would serve
to bridge over the trouble, and both par
ties in Congress. and all classes of people
outside, acquiesced with good grace.
Now that another unguarded point
| has been found, by all means let it be
furnished with defense of some sort, if
it be nothing better than rule, adopted
in each house, which may be changed
next week if desired. There is no dan
ger if the rule once gets into its place,
of its being uprooted. The Chinese bill
has nothing in itself to commend it, but,
If its passage shall result in the emend-
ing of perilous breach in our legislative
system, its author will have builded bet
ter than he knew-better, perhaps, than
he cared to-
The following in The Star of Septem-
Der 2l, 1888, recalls the name of literary
r.; sleuth which has been
Asha'luS forgotten by most of the
Donnelly. present generation:
THE discovery by Ii
brarian Savage of Stratford on-Avon of
a play entitled Irus,' which he believes
to be Shakespeares. is given to the world
in the very nick of time. He will have
just six weeks and four days more in
which to produce his proofs and nail
them into the minds of the public with
out fear of interruption. For that period
Ignatius Donnelly will be too closely oc-
cupied with his canvass for Governor of
Minnesota to give any attention to prov
ing that this work, too, was written by
Bacon"