The first chapter of the Statutes
of that session, being an act making appropriations for the
support of the Army for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1878,
and for other purposes, enacts "that none of the money hereby
appropriated shall be expended, directly or indirectly, for
any use not strictly necessary for, and directly connected
with, the military service of the Government; and this restriction
shall apply to the use of public animals, forage, and vehicles."
It was, therefore, President Hayes's Constitutional duty,
in my judgment, to desist from using the military power of
the Government on the 30th day of June, 1877, when the fiscal
year expired for which there was an appropriation for the
support of the Army. In fact he removed the troops a little
earlier. But he received assurances from the Democratic leaders--
whether they were made good I will not now undertake to inquire--
that there should be no unlawful force on their part after
the removal of the troops. Mr. Hayes was right and wise
in securing this stipulation if he could, by freeing these
communities from military grasp a few weeks before he would
have been compelled to do it at any rate.
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