Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-07-06
lancaster fntelltgenrer,
EVENING, July 8. 1881.
The Crudity OF Our System.

EVENING. JULY 8. 1881.
The Crudity Of Our System.
There has long been q common feeling
that the methods provided for keeping
our government supplied with contln-
uous head, are very crude and lnem-
cient and the present disaster renews
the iveliness of this feeling, while ex-
hibiting an additional fault in our pres
ent system. The hereditary plan of sue
cession has this great excellence-that
there is always chief, and one who is
likely to be in sympathy with the idea of
government established by his predeces-
sor. 1.-The king is dead-long live the
king" signifies an instantaneous trans
fer of authority which is essential to the
well-being of any state. There should
be no possibility Of lapse of authority !;
and there should be as little chance as
may he that a violent removal Of one
head shall establish in power another OF
antagonistic political feeling. The
changes in policy, when they are
made, should come about through the
deliberate action of the sovereign peo-
pie, taken directly or through their rep
resentatives. There should be no op.
portunity given to men of evil or unbal-
anced minds to achieve the triumph OF
their views through assassination. The
shooting of Garfield was not, as we con-
ceive, anything more than the individual
act of a man not 50 crazy us to he igno-
rant that he was violating the human
law, but still SO unsound as to believe
that he was obeying the higher law.
There will always be people who are
law unto themselves and who can not he
restrained by any fear Of punishment
from doing what they see fit. This man
Guiteau is a clear sample of the class.
He insists that he has committed no
crime for which he should he punished,
because he has no ill-feeling against the
president and did not shoot him from
malice, but only because he was hidden
by.God to remove him for the good of
the country. Such men are not to he
convinced by reason nor controlled by
punishment. They are wont to believe
that they will 60 unframed as Gods
anOinted, or that if they die for their
act it will he martyrs death.
The necessary safeguard to the life Of
the ruler is to make his death Ineffective
to change existing conditions. Our con.
stitutiOn seemed to have provided such
a protection in making ready vice
president, of the same party as the presi-
dent, to take his place. But the party In
opposition to the Democratic party has
been singularly unfortunate, in generally
having a vice president disposed to
reverse the policy of the executive
whose death places him in power
In making ticket to be elected the
faction disappointed in its presidential
choice is given the despised second place
to secure its vote. 1t WAS the concession
of the vice presidency to COnkling which
gave Garfield the vote Of New York,
and elevated him to the presidency and
the gates of eternity. Should Arthur
succeed to the presidency he stands in
peril of his life, ut the hands of some eX-
alted fellow sOf the other side, or even
some crazy Democrat who might want tt
put into the presidency the Democrat who
will be very likely to be chosen as presi.
dent of the Senate at the next session.
Still, as no Democrat shot the fraud
Hayes there is reasonable prObability y
of the safety of all other Republican
presidents from assassination at Demo
cratic hands.
A serious hitch in the succession is
presented 10y the fact that no man at
present stands ready to occupy the pres
idency should Arthur succeed to it and
die in it; 10 president of the Senate
having as yet been chosen by that body
through Arthur's failure to give it an
opportunity, by leaving his seat, to select
a substitute. A ready way to save this
difficulty while at the same time provid.
ing a successor to the president who
would I've identified with his policy would
he to give the succession to the cabinet
officers, i'm prescribed rotation, until an
election could be held. Practically this
would be giving the president the power
to name his temporary successor should
he be removed: and we know no
objection, hut great advantage, in
conceding him this privilege. This
would require a constitutional change ;
but it is generally conceded that
the mode of electing our presidents
requires amendment and the revision
should be SO radical as to seek to remedy
all the confessed evils in this part of our
federal system. The electoral device,
though good in idea, has been smOthered
in the clutch of the party convention !;
and the excellent idea that the people
should decide who their president shall
Ike has been as efficiently knocked in the
head by the same overpowering might.
The electors have no choice but to record
the will of their party the people no re-
source but to accept one of the two can
didates of the conventions of the dOmi-
nant parties. Garfield and Arthur were
not the officers selected by one out of a
thousand of the Republicans who felt
imDellei TO vote for them. The de-
mocracy of our government is vastly
more in its name than in its essence it
is not the good judgment of the majority
rs <I,o ,,o/v,lo chat oo1ooto tho mon xvl,n