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Show sent to Mr. Roosevelt from the West. Kansas City Star. AN UilWBITTEN LAW. . The President must not leave the United States even for a day. . This is an old. unwritten law which has been respected by air successors of George Washington, with perhaps one or two exceptions. This restriction Is not Imposed Im-posed by statute. President McKlnlcy emphasised his respect for this rule on his tour to the South and West. It was unofficially' announced that he would meet President Dias of Mexico somewhere some-where near the boundary of that .slater republic. A controversy as to whether Mr. McKlnley might properly cross the Mexican line, even for a few hours, arose. Early in May, when he visited El Paso, Tex., where he was greeted by President Diss's personal representative, represen-tative, be expressed a desire to take a look Into Mexico. From El Paso there extends Into Mexico the International bridge spanning span-ning the Rio Grande. Whether the President would dare to cross this structure or not was the question which members of his party asked one another. an-other. He did not He went to the bridge snd caught a view of the Slerre I Madre. Half way across the bridge was a line. Stepping over this was putting foot upon Mexican territory. President Harrison had ventured ss far aa this line ten years before. But President McKlnley did not so much as place his foot upon the bridge. President, Presi-dent, Arthur was accused of violating this unwritten law in October. 1883. upon up-on a pleasure trip to Alexandria Bay, Thousand islands. His political enemies ene-mies accused him then of venturing across the Canadian line on a fishing excursion. Tho boundary between Canada Can-ada and New York extends to the middle mid-dle of the St. Laurence river. President Cleveland was similarly accused. ac-cused. On one of his business trips to North Carolina he sailed by the ocean route past Cape Hatteras. His enemies contended that he ventured outside the three-mile limit According to international inter-national law, a country's possessions extend for three miles outside Its coast line. Plying the seas further than this Is leaving home territory. The President must not accept gifts of great value from Inferiors in the Federal service, but he may accept gifts from foreigners. Grant McKlnley and Mr. Roosevelt have received gifts from foreign rulers. Several gifts have been |