The Evening critic., 1881-09-02

1.-THE executive power shall be vested in
President of the United States of America.
He shall hold his office during the term Of
four years, and, together with the Vice
President, chosen for the same term, be
elected as follows:
each State shall appoint in such manner
as the legislature thereof may direct, a
number of electors equal to the whole num-
Der of Senators and Representatives to
which the State may be entitled in Con-
gress but no Senator or Representative, or
person holding an Office of trust or profit
under the United States shall be appointed
an elector."
According to this view there can be no
election of President except once in four
years, and the executive functions of Presi-
dent may devolve upon an inferior officer,
and be discharged by him, in pursuance Of
legislative enactment, during the full term
for which the President and the VicePres-
ident had been elected. If such be n fair
construction of the Constitution, then q
President might become so without the di-
rect agency or the deliberate judgment Of
the parties to the federal com.
pact. This is not the opinion of
the committee. The legislation of 1902
evidently contemplated that the President
pro teDpore or Speaker should not only be a
contingent functionary, with Presidential
authority Of provisional character, but
that he should be confined to sphere of linn
tied and prescribed duties. There are but
two officers expressly provided in the cleo
ton held once in every four years-a Prcsi
dent and his substitute, the Vice President.
Beyond these no election by the primary
constituent college is provided for. In case
of vacancy in the Office of President,
either of temporary or entire
character, the Congress may, by law, de
alor hat cIan ucf IA DroOi,I,nf nd
such officer shall act accordingly, until the
disability be removed, or President shall
be elected The acting officer has not devolved
on him, in terms, the powers and duties
of an elected President, according to the
provisions Of the Constitution 1t seems to
the committee that the officer selected can
act only for limited term, and with pre-
scribed purpose
OF course he must discharge all the duties
of President until one is elected, and for
such purpose the officer is authorized to per-
form the duties prescribed in the act of 1902.
This act came from the minds of the trainers
of tho Constitution, and was passed in cir
cumstances well calculated to give it the
sanction of intelligence and purpose. The
President and Vice-President are elective
magistrates, and hold their authority d.
rectly from the Constitution. The officer
on whom Congress devolves executive func-
ti0ns by law is not elective; he is not the
choice of constitutional constituents, and
if he could become President the day
after the election of President and Vice
President, by their death, then stranger
to the people might indirectly become their
ruler against their consent. While the
committee do not question the constitu-
tionality of the clause of the act above
mentioned, they are satisfied that these
! provisions are not sufficiently full and ex-
plicit to guard, in all cases, against the mis-.
chief of confusion and anarchy.
The ninth section designates but two
officers to take upon themselves the
executive function, in the contingency
specified, namely, the President of the
Senate pro tempOre, and in case there be no
President, then the Speaker of the House OF
Representatives. These only are to perform
the duties of President as specified in the
ninth section. From the termination of one
Congress to the meeting of the next, there
may be no Speaker; and whether such
Speaker or President pro tempore would
have ut the time the requisite qualifications
under tho Constitution, to be invested with
the duties and powers of an acting President
is question of too much Importance to be
left to the decision of the occasion.
The fourth clause Of the second article of
the Constitution reads as follows
:" No person, except % native born citizen,
! or citizen of the United States at the
time of the adoption of this Constitution,
shall be eligible to the Office of President
neither shall any person be eligible to
that office who shall not have attained to
the age of thirty-five years, and been
fourteen years a resident Of the United
, States"
Your committee is of opinion that no one
} can be eligible to discharge, for the time be-
| f,nc Of prnctIa,f np1ace hf
, be thirty years old, and a native born
citizen. A Speaker of the House, or a
r President pro tempore might not have these
qualificatiOns-and If so, he could not act %:
President in compliance with the COnstitu
tion.
r To guard against the danger of an entire
; vacancy in the Office Of President, prudence
| would seem to call for further legislation
: What officer, then, should be designated
after the Presidcnu pro tempore and Speaker
0 to act as President? The Cabinet for thu
l in most circumstances be the proper func
3 tionaries to fill the vacancy. In cases o
| death they would be the persons most fl
for the occasion. There are other circum
4 stances, however, which would max,
S the Cabinet officers unfit to occupy tn,
j, place of the President In case O
his impeachment for high politica
y 0flenSeS, the Cabinet might be Implicated
: as particeps c,iminis, and ought not to be il
i position of allies. To allow any of tn,
o Cabinet to become President, therefore
: might be to arm them with powers of grea
f mischief Another question also nigh
9 arise-whether they could be regarded a
d officers after the official functions of thei
a principal had terminated or were suspended
1t might become the duty Of the substitute
If of the President to have new advisers b,
J. removing obnoxious ones from their offend
Il ing position.
e Another class of functionaries has beer
d indicated as properly suited for the dis
d charge of the duties of the vacant Presi
II dency to wit: the Senators in the order o
@ their official term of service, or when severa
j. Senators have the same continuous term o
IS service, then the Senator oldest in years t.
It be invested with the authority of an act
l. ing President for the purposes contem
If plated. There are two objections to suc
j. an arrangement; first question O
n fact might arise as to continuou
10 duration of term, and actual ag
IF would have to be ascertained by som
v inquiry before the power could vest wit
10 such certainty as ought to be provided b
% law. Besides, Senators are local represents
d tives, and such as are not in relation
O. be fitted for the discharge of federativ
N trusts. The attention Of the committee ha
)r been turned to another class of magistrate
Ig namely: the Chief Justice and other Jul
10 tees of the Supreme Court, as officers we