New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-12-20
PRESIDENT or THE SENATE Pro TEMPORE.

The resolution of Senator Edmunds requiring
the Senate to proceed to the election of a Presi-
dent pro tempore on the 18th of next month
ought by all means to he adopted. Mr.. Ferry
is understood to insist that having been regu-
larry elected at the last session, he cannot he
displaced except by absence. Whether he is
also of opinion that in such case the once
would return to him whenever he should re-
sumo his seat we are not informed, but con-
sistency seems to require that he should take
that extreme view of the situation. We do
not suppose that any considerable number OF
Senators will be found to agree with him.
The Senate has power under the Constitution
to elect It's own officers, and as their term OF
service is not defined either by that instrument
or by statute it appears to be a necessary con-
cusiOn that they can be changed whenever
the Senate sees tit.
Upon the further question whether the APP
pOntment of President pro tempore holds
good from session to session there Is great
uncertainty. Here the weight OF written au-
thOriy is on one side and the prepOnder-
ance OF precedents on the other. The COnsti-
tuition provides that the Senate shall choose
ga President pro tenlpOre in the absence OF
the Vice President, or when he shall exer-
" else the Office of President OF the United
Estates" The act of March l. 1892, de-
cares that in case of removal, death, resig-
"nation or inability both of the President and
Vice President of the United States, the
President of the Senate pro tempore
IS shall act as President Of the United States"
This is all the law there is on the subject
Mr.. Jefferson in his manual" says of the
President of the Senate pro tcmpOre: HIS
"Otlice is understood to be determined on
the Vice Presidents appearing and taking the
chair, or at he meeting Of tie Senate
"offer the first recess But to this latter rule
nothing has ever been settled. During the lst
Congress there was no President pro tcmpOre
except during the counting of the votes for
President of the United States, when John
Langdon was chosen for the sole purpose
of performing that duty. The importance OF
the Office was not recognized until the passing
of the act of 1892, at the first session OF the
Id Congress. Since that time we find between
fifty and sixty instances where the Vice-Presi-
dent Of the United States was absent at the
opening of Congress, and while in great
majority of these cases the President pro tenn
,.ore chosen at the previous session TOOK the
uniform. The first precedent was at the open
ing of the second session of the lid Congress,
November 1892, when "in the absence
"of the Yce-Presdent and also OF
the Hon. Richard Henry Lee, elected
President pro tempore at former
session. the Hon. John LangdOn was elected.
Here the inference from the journal is that if
Mr. Lee had been present he would have been
recognized as the presiding officer. The next
case occurred at the second session OF the Hid
Congress, November 1894, when Ralph lzaId,
chosen at the previous session, took the chair. At
the first session of the WITH Congress, however,
Vice President Adams being absent, Mr.. Taze-
well, who had been President pro tempore at
the previous session, did not take the chair until
he had been reelected. At the second session
of the With Congress, November, 1900, Wee
President jefferson being absent at the opening,
Uriah Tracy, who had been President pro tenn
pore at the previous session, did not take the
chair, though he was present, and the Senate
elected John +. Howard. Precisely similar
cases occurred at the second session OF the
With Congress, 1902, and the first session Of
the With, 1903.
So far therefore the prevalent understanding
seems to have been, as jefferson expressed it,
that the Office expired at the meeting of the
Senate after the first recess. But from 1904
down to the present time we have 40 I'M
broken precedents for the contrary rule, list
of which was prepared year OF two ago by
Mr.. Mcdonald, the Chief Clerk of the Senate.
In 1854, at the opening of the second session
of the XXXIIId Congress, the question Of the
tenure of this Office was raised, but no decision
was reached upon it. The Vice-President
(KiDg) was dead, aud Mr.. Atchison, who bad