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§ 34. THE PRESIDENT. The president's direct constitutional influence upon legislation is not limited to his cooperation and control, as sketched in the last paragraph. The constitution directs him from time to time to give congress "information of the state of the Union," and it is expressly made his duty to "recommend measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient (art. II., sec. 3). In the legislative initiative, as well as in legislation, congress is subject in a certain way to the control of the president, but this control, so far as the initiative is concerned, is naturally positive, not negative. Even if he cannot himself submit any bills, he can nevertheless exert a pressure upon congress to prevent its being guilty of sins of omission, for in his messages he calls the attention of the whole people to those matters which require the enactment of laws, or at least make new laws seem desirable. His reports "of the state of the Union" appear in the form of the so-called messages. The annual messages are sent to congress at the beginning of the annual session. They discuss all important domestic and foreign relations pretty thoroughly, and are therefore always much more comprehensive than the ordinary crown speeches in the monarchies of Europe. Accompanying the messages are the exhaustive reports by the secretaries about their respective departments. The messages and reports are called the executive documents, and are cited

sign a bill or return it with his objections within ten days (Sundays. excepted) after it has been sent to him, it becomes a law without his approval, unless congress has adjourned within the ten days (art. I., sec. 7, § 2). Thus a bill may become a law, even though the president has refrained from expressing any opinion about it, and it may also not become a law, because he has expressed no opinion. Every other order, resolution, or vote for which the concurrence of the two houses is necessary must likewise be presented to the president and is subject to the same provisions as the bills. The only exceptions are the resolutions to adjourn (art. I., sec. 7, § 3).

under this title in scientific and political literature. This designation embraces also the special messages, which, as their name implies, are issued on special occasions and relate to special business. The obligation to report to congress upon the state of the Union naturally does not exclude the president's right to express himself publicly in other ways and thus to address the whole people. But this happens very seldom, and in accordance with unbroken custom - only in two distinct ways: by the inaugural address and by proclamations. The oath already mentioned which the president must take upon assuming his office is taken publicly upon the vast open portico of the capitol at Washington, and thereupon the president delivers his so-called inaugural address, in which he unfolds to the people the programme of his administration.1 The occurrence of certain events, such as the admission of new states, is announced to the people, in accordance with legal precedents, by proclamation. The president also issues proclamations upon his own initiative. In these his character as the bearer of the executive power is more clearly and distinctly shown than in the messages or in the inaugural address. Many presidents have never had the opportunity of addressing the people in this most solemn and weighty manner, because the occasion must be highly significant and of a very special character to justify the use of this means or to make it appear necessary.2

1 Washington, upon his retirement to private life, delivered a farewell address to the people, which to the present day is regarded by the American nation as among the greatest and most valuable records of its history. Jackson is the only president who followed this example. His opponents took bitter exception to his venturing in this way to range himself with the father of his country.

2 By far the most important proclamations which the history of the United States has to show are Lincoln's emancipation proclamations of September 22, 1862, and January 1, 1863.

THE POWERS OF CONGRESS.

835. GENERAL PRINCIPLES. To rightly understand not only the powers of congress, but also those of the other factors of government, it is necessary, in considering individual instances, to keep constantly in view the general principles concerned and the fundamental doctrines of constitutional law.

The constitution does not define the powers of the factors of the government. It simply enumerates them.1 Since in their exercise they must necessarily be made definite, it devolves upon the governmental factors themselves to decide upon the limits of their own capacity. Thus the courts, and in the last instance the federal supreme court, under the principles and limitations already laid down, must be the controlling power in the decision. To define these powers correctly it must not be lost sight of that all the powers spring from one idea and are intended to reach one goal. They must therefore always be considered as a whole. It follows from these premises, not only that besides the powers expressly granted there are others which are implied by those granted and result from them (implied and resulting powers), but that the second kind of powers is not distinguished in substance from the first. If the doctrine that the powers of the government are enumerated must be understood to mean that the expressly granted powers must be literally interpreted and that there can be no unenumerated power, then the federal government would be deprived of the possibility of existence.3

If the constitution can be interpreted in two ways, one of which assures the fulfillment of the object of its exist

1 Gibbons vs. Ogden, Wheaton, IX., 1.

2 The Legal Tender Cases, Wallace, XII., 532.

3 Ibid., 546.

ence, while the other tends to render it nugatory, there can be no doubt which is the right rendering.

$36. TAXATION, FINANCE AND THE PUBLIC DEBT. The financial distress which ever threatened more and more to be fatal to the republic, under the articles of confederation, deserves to be thanked, in the first instance, for the reorganization of the Union. The constitution therefore naturally takes ample care that the federal government shall not want the necessary material means to fulfill the object of the federation. Congress is empowered "to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States, but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States" (art. I., sec. 8, § 1). Congress may levy imposts of any kind, and as they are collected directly from the individual by organs of the federal government, without the mediation of the states, it can constantly satisfy the needs of the nation in their fullest. range, for the amount of every impost, which congress is permitted to make, is left wholly to its own discretion. Political and economical considerations and regard for business interests set certain bounds to it in this respect, but its constitutional authority is unlimited.' But still the power of congress to levy taxes is not entirely unconditioned. In fact bounds are set to it in various directions by several express provisions of the consti

1 The Union is divided into collection districts. The president fixes their number and boundaries. In every district there is a collector who is allowed a number of assistants (deputy collectors). After a reduction earnestly undertaken, September 5, 1883, the number of revenue districts was eighty-four. The heads of the custom-houses are called collectors of customs.

See McCulloch vs. Maryland, Wheaton, IV., 316, 428. See, also, Veazie Bank vs. Fenno, Wallace, VIII., 548.

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tution. "All duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States." Moreover, direct taxes must be levied in proportion to the population of the states (art. I., sec. 2, § 3) and the census is made the basis (art. I., sec. 2, § 4).

Finally, "no tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state."

Further restrictions of the right of taxation result from the fact that congress can exercise it only for the fulfillment of the objects enumerated. The expression “general welfare" is indeed so comprehensive and vague that the discretion of congress is given the widest play. But however much this expression may be stretched, the mention of the three general purposes makes it certain that, for other purposes, no federal taxes can be levied. There are certain bounds, more or less clearly marked, within which the right of taxation unquestionably can

1 In Loughborough vs. Blake, Wheaton, V., 317, the federal supreme court decided that this means not only the states, but the entire domain of the Union. The provision thus extends also to the District of Columbia and to the territories.

2 The words used are 66 capitation or other direct tax." In a recent decision (Springer vs. United States, 102 U. S., 586; Otto, XII.), the supreme court has affirmed the already dominant view, that only poll-taxes and taxes on real estate are direct taxes within the meaning of the constitution. An income tax thus comes under neither of the constitutional provisions cited.

3 Schlief's view (pp. 233, 234), that this refers only to articles exported from one state of the Union into another, has never found a champion in the United States and never can find one. The debates of the Philadelphia convention over this paragraph were a struggle between the northern and southern states. The latter resisted with all their might the attempt to impose an export duty on their staple products, the result of slave labor, which were sent mainly to Europe. (See Elliot's Debates, V., 302, 357, 391, 432, 454, 538, 539.) The fact that the confederate states imposed a heavy tax on the exportation of cotton shows that the fear that congress for fiscal reasons would seize this means of raising money might easily have been justified, at least in times of distress.