I entirely
approved his conduct at the time, and, so far as I know and
believe, he agreed exactly with the doctrine on which I always
myself acted before and since. The power and duty of the
President are conferred and limited by the Constitution. The
Constitution requires that no appropriation shall be made
for the support of the Army for more than two years. In practice
the appropriation is never for more than one year. That is
for the express purpose, I have always believed, of giving
to Congress, especially to the House of Representatives, which
must inaugurate all appropriation bills, absolute control
over the use of the Army, and the power to determine for what
purposes the military power shall be used. At the session
before President Hayes's inauguration the Democratic House
of Representatives had refused to pass an Army Bill. The
House refused to pass an Army Bill the next year, except on
condition that the soldiers should not be used to support
the State Government.
It became necessary to call a special session of Congress
in October, 1877, by reason of the failure of the Army Appropriation
Bill the winter before.
Pages:
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788