Daily Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1876-1884, 1881-07-08

rather fanciful than otherwise, we
dnd ourselves obliged to recur to
the line of succession should the
President die. We overlooked the
fact that the last Congress expired
on the 4th Of March; and that. con-
sequently, there is at present no
Speaker Of the House. Arthur
would, Of course, become President
Immediately on frinso fdcie
title. His duty would be to sum-
mon . special session of the Senate
Of the United States, and the chair
man which that body would at once
proceed to elect would be the Vice.
President of the United States, and
Arthur's successor, should he be
found to be disqualified. On the
superstition Of Arthur's death be-
fore the meeting Of the Senate the
United States would seem to be in
lamsntable predlcament, but
there is little danger Of such a ca.
lamity happening go soon on the
last. The San Francisco Alta,
WHICH started out to rebuke Gen.
stedman, acquits itself of the fol.
lowing:
Some foolish papers have bee n
worrying themselves about the
possibility Of trouble arising over
the succession should the President
die. There Is no danger. When
1t seemed as II the death OF the Ex-'
| e0utive were near at hand, the Sec
rotary of State did the one thing
that Was proper to be done. He
summoned the Vice.President to
| the Capital. Had the Executive
Office become vacant, the Vice.
President would have promptly
taken the oath Of Office az Presi-
dent, and there would have been no
lapse of the succession. That
windy blatherskite, General Sted-
man, OF Ohio, once more rushes for
ward to threaten awful things if
certain things should occur, but he
doesn't amount to anything. The
talk about Arthur's not being q
citizen is only talk. He is the son
of an Irish Presby terrain minister,
who emigrated to Canada, and
thence came to this country. Ger
tain person have insisted that the
| Vice-President was born in Can
ada. This cannot be proved,
or the Democrats would have
proven 1t when he presented him.
self to take the oath of Office as
Vice President. It does not seem,
either, that it can be clearly proved
that he was born in this country.
The whole matter, therefore, rests
upon his word. He says he Is
nativs-born citizen, and there IL an
end of it. Should he become Pres
ident, his nativity, like that of
Andrew jackson, will always be
involved in doubt; but jackson
was very decidedly President, all
the same, and so would Arthur be.
II the Vice Presidency should be
vacated by Arthur's accession to
the Presidency, the line of success.
sion 10 broken, as the Senate is
without . President pro tenn, and
the House, being as yet morgan
lied, is without q Speaker. In this
emergency, the New York Legis-
lature would doubtless elect two
Republican Senators without de.
lay, an extra session would be
called, the Senate would choose o
Republican President pro tenn, (for
the Democratic members could not
afford to resort to technicalities to
keep out the New York mep) aud
the emergency would be met.
There is no danger of trouble, and
no need for worry. The govern.
ment never dies.
There is both sense and folly in
the foregoing. We don't attach
much real significance to the quss-
ton of Arthur's nativity; but,
should he be found to be an alien,
he would be obliged to step to one
side. AS respects the election of a
chairman of the Senate, the Alta
talks dat nonsense. The Senate
would be organized by its present
members, of whom there Is o ma
jority Of two Democratic Senators.
They would probably at once pro.
coed to elect Bayard, or some other
Senator from reliably Democratic
State, Chairman, and the man 90
elected would be Vice President or,
In case of Arthur's established In
eligibility, President. The ques-
ton Of the new Senators from New
York, should such be elected, would
come up In its regular order, and
be considered In the usual way,
after the organization of the Sem
ate.
franklin Oliver bought $500 acres
- T.