these bills are yet before the committee
of conference and the amendments to some of them have not even been
printed.

Foreseeing that such a state of things might exist at the close of
the session, I stated in the annual message to Congress of December
last that--

From the practice of Congress such an examination of each bill as the
Constitution requires has been rendered impossible. The most important
business of each session is generally crowded into its last hours, and
the alternative presented to the President is either to violate the
constitutional duty which he owes to the people and approve bills
which for want of time it is impossible he should have examined, or
by his refusal to do this subject the country and individuals to great
loss and inconvenience.

* * * * *

For my own part, I have deliberately determined that I shall approve
no bills which I have not examined, and it will be a case of extreme
and most urgent necessity which shall ever induce me to depart from
this rule.

The present condition of the Treasury absolutely requires that I should
adhere to this resolution on the present occasion, for the reasons which
I have heretofore presented.

In former times it was believed to be the true character of an
appropriation bill simply to carry into effect existing laws and the
established policy of the country. A practice has, however, grown up of
late years to ingraft on such bills at the last hours of the session
large appropriations for new and important objects not provided for by
preexisting laws and when no time is left to the Executive for their
examination and investigation. No alternative is thus left to the
President but either to approve measures without examination or by
vetoing an appropriation bill seriously to embarrass the operations
of the Government. This practice could never have prevailed without a
surplus in the Treasury sufficiently large to cover an indefinite amount
of appropriations. Necessity now compels us to arrest it, at least so
far as to afford time to ascertain the amount appropriated and to
provide the means of its payment.

For all these reasons I recommend to Congress to postpone the day of
adjournment for a brief period. I promise that not an hour shall be lost
in ascertaining the amount of appropriations made by them for which it
will be necessary to provide. I know it will be inconvenient for the
membe