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16 THE VOICE BEAUTIES FROM THE "SHOW ME" STATE [[image - photo of young woman wearing fur coat]] [[caption]] MISS ARIA INEZ MALONE St. Louis, Mo. [[/caption]] [[image - photo of young woman with bobbed hair and large pearl necklace]] [[caption]] MISS CHRISTINE STARKS TERRY St. Louis, Mo. [[/caption]] The Veto Power of the President By Atty. Freeman L. Martin Its Source and Benefits ARTICLE I, Section 7, Constitution of the United States, among other things provides as follows: "Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approves he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two-thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that House, it shall become a law." That paragraph was designed to prevent any question as to how and by whom a bill may be passed into law. A bill returned by the President "with his objections" to the House in which it originated is said to have been "vetoed," but the word "veto" does not appear in the Constitution. In most of the colonies the governors had the power to veto legislation and their MISUSE of it was one of the GRIEVANCES causing the Revolution. Massachusetts was the first of the original states to grant (1780) the veto power to the governor. Many bills passed by the two Houses of Congress have been vetoed by the President because he regarded them as contrary to some provision of the Constitution, or at variance with the policy or premise of his political party, or against sound financial principles, or as inopportune [[end page]] [[start page]] APRIL, 1926 17 [[image - black and white photo of woman in elegant dress]] MRS. HIBERNIA THOMPSON St. Louis, Mo. or injudicious. There always has been a decided conflict of opinion between statesmen as to the constitutional limitations of the "veto" power of the President; but the great majority of people feel that the "benefits" far outweigh its "dangers." And in order that you may be able to rightly judge this matter, to know how all of the Presidents, from Adams to and including Wilson, have exercised this great "VETO" may serve a good purpose: Adams, Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, Taylor, Fillmore and Garfield NEVER "vetoed" a Bill passed by Congress. And only a few were "vetoed" by the other Presidents. Washington vetoed 2; Madison, 6; Monroe, 1; Jackson, 9; Tyler, 8; Polk, 3; Pierce, 9; Buchanan, 7; Lincoln, 3; Johnson, 22; Grant, 46; Hayes, 8; Arthur, 4; Cleveland (first term), 301, many of which were private pension bills; Benjamin Harrison, 19; Cleveland (second term), 42; McKinley, 6; Roosevelt, 40; Taft, 26, and Wilson, 26. Except in times of unusual feeling, or when a bill of extraordinary importance has been involved, Congress has but seldom repassed a measure over the "veto" by the President. Much deference is shown by the Legislative Department of the government to the opinion of the Executive Department, to which the Constitution commits a share of the law-making power. Still many vetoed bills have been repassed by Congress and have so become laws despite the "veto". Still many others have failed of repassage because they could not get the NECESSARY two-thirds vote in each House. And two- means only TWO-THIRDS of the members present, assuming the presence of a quorum, and not two-thirds of the membership of each House. And it can well be said that the veto power of the President has been a positive quantity in legislation. (Please study the Constitution of the United States, the foundation as well as the safeguard of all our rights, between man and men, nation and nation.) THE NEGRO IN RAILROAD SERVICE By R. S. Pettis By a vote of 381 to 13 the House of Representatives just passed an act called the Railway Labor Bill. This was virtually a unanimous vote, both parties concurring in its approval. This Bill was not written in Congress nor
