Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-08-18
DISABILITY" of the President
st. Louis Republican,.

What is the proper tribunal for deter
mining the temporary disability Of q
PRESIDENT The Constitution provides
that in case of the Presidents inability
to discharge the powers and duties of
said office. the same shall devolve upon
the Vice President" There is an i'm
perative sound in the word ''shall' which
cannot be evaded, even when the Vice
President is such a man as Mr.. Arthur.
But who is to decide when the ''inabili
ty" of the President exists2 The Vice
PRESIDENT The country will not accept
such an Interpretation, for an ambitious
and reckless Vice President might i'm
pute Inability" to his superior when
nothing of the kind existed, and cause
us to present to the world the Mexican
picture of two pretended Presidents
at the same time. Shall Congress de-
cider But Congress may not be in SEES
siOn Indeed, we have case before us
at this very moment of disabled Presi-
dent and Congress not in session. Con-
gress may be called together in special
session. But by whom2 The disabled
President. Suppose the President in
stead of being temporarily disabled by
wound, or grave and protracted illness,
were to go insane, is it to be supposed
an insane executive would issue a
proclamation converting Congress to
set him aside and place the
Vice President in the White House?
Demented persons are not usually so
cOmplaisant as that 1t has been sug
gested that the Cabinet might properly
assume a power which has not been
lodged elsewhere, and, in case of the
manifest disability of the President,
formally announce the fact to the coun-
try and induct the Vice President into
the higher Office. But suppose the Cabi-
net were divided and could not agree
what then? Or suppose it were disa-
bility of insanity and the insane Presi-
dent should deny the inputatiOn of in
sanity, refusing to vacate the White
House, remove his Cabinet and call upon
the army to sustain him-what tribunal
of experts would have authority to de-
eide between them.
The easiest way out of the difficulty,
in case of the Presidents serious illness
unmarked by insanity, would be for that
high official himself to call upon the
Vice President to act for him till he
should recover-and when he recovered
to formally resume his duties. This
would prevent trouble. But even this
could not apply to a contingency in
which the President were insane or inca
pacitated by protracted delirium. At
present the country is not suffering by
President Garfeld's illness, for trusty
and discreet Cabinet easily manages to
perform through the departments the
perfunctory executive duties. But if
Congress were in session Mr.. Garfield
would be incapable of the arduous labor
of writing messages and reading and
signing or vetoing bills; and, much as
the country would dislike it, there would
be no alternative to calling Mr.. Arthur
to the executive Office.
Somebody ought to be, indeed will
have to be, invested with authority to
determine this question of Presiden-
tial disability = not for Mr.. Gar
fields case particularly, but for all
possible future cases, for we have no
right to assume that our Presidents
will be exempt from the infrmities of
our common nature. Objections will
perhaps be made to Congress acting as
the deciding tribunal, but Congress will
have to perform the duty or appoint an
other body to do it. 1t is the supreme
legislative power in the land, and the
people would not consent to have the re-
sponsible duty performed by any inferior
body.