The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1882-01-11
Ghs GntelIigenfsr.
M, 1o.. ~ aud q fooEIeenIh slfeeI.
Ia, Chicago Tribune use he phrase

r., Chicago Tribune use he phrase
,,.,, lnl PRESIDENT whenever it refers tc
President ajs Arthur, We scarcely sec ,he me
p.i,,eu,. p."s The Tribune, however, has ad'
rIs, aI ,bc theory, and thus supports it.
N, Shn'," yirr % President Of the United States
nr, oamipg into the office Of the President, s, an
"uSS o'ise rhichbc was not elected tot gil, can
anu nOS,'' %o rcrarIcd other than as an "acting
3p,s.,I.nt'~iu,, 3o' III a, the President Of a cor
.,,;on i',s doe. not become President but
P,a"0i .o,in, President in case OF the disa-
NH %ili,y or death Of the man wllo was regu-
s".,, p,s,' 'slsc,ed President Of said corporation.
W.T.! I.,r,intrias that the Constitution does not
l...,j i.D,i him in any other light than as Vice
na'-iJsnt n Of the United States, and us such
ms "sclinc Prcsident"-thnt. is, acting for
,hs man who is disabled or removed, or in
",ber M words Gliugavacancy until u regular
.lecliou occurs, and until regular Presl-
dent is elected by the people.
Tho Twelfth Amendment to the Consti-
,p,iop, which has been part Of the Consti-
tption for eighty years, provides when
there is failure to electa President by the
neoDlc and also a failure to elect one by
ibe House Of Representatives, Us follows:
"Apd II the House of Representatives
shall not choose President whenever the
,;cbt Of choice shall dCvolve upon them
beiore the i,h day OF March next following,
iben hs Iics. Pr6Gini shall act as PreSident,
a, The cdg Of The death or other conditdiOnaI
di,abGiy of&c Pre.iteni.
The Tribune maintains that this clause
Of the Constitution is direct interpreta-
ton by the Constitution Of the relation
borne by u yice.Prcsident to the Prcsiden.
tnl office when he succeeds to it as Vice
President Says the Tribune:
at provides that in a certain contin.
gncy the ViCe-President shall "aet as
President" precisely as he "acts rs Presi.
dent" in the case Of the death Of the Presi-
dent. Mr.. Arthur succeeds to the Presi.
dency because Of the death OF the Presi.
dent, in which case the Twelfth Amend
ment TO the Constitution expressly
declares he "shall act as President"
Indeed, this amended article Of the
Constitution declares that whenever
the Presidential office shall become vacant
because Of the death Orother constitutional
disability Of the President, the Vice-Presi.
dent shall act as President" Only as the
Constitution was originally framed the peo-
pie voted for two persons for President, the
one having the greater number Of votes to
le President, and the other ViCe.President;
button the change of the Constitution it
was provided that the people should vote
for one person only for President and one
iOr Vice.President, and in case the office Of
President became vacant, then the Vice
President was to "aCt as President"
Admitting ior the sake of the argument
that this theory Of the Presidency is the
true one, yet even the Tribune must admit
that even as acting President. for an un-
expired term Of the President elected by
the people, the powers and duties Of the
office are to be exercised and discharged
by him the same as il he had been regu-
larry elected President by the people. So
in this view Of his tenure OF office what
difference docs it make2 He has all the
power and is invested with all the re-
spOnsibilities Of the position, and he ought
TO be, as it seems to us, regarded and
respected by the press and people
as the legitimate incumbent in all
respects of the Office, as indeed he is.
TOspeak ofhimasthe "acting President" is
10 confuse or becloud his title in the public
mind and thus derogate from the proper
respect for his official acts. He is the
President Of the United States until the
ne1teIection, aud that is enough, whether
he simply acts as President or whether he
is, in all respects, the same sort Of Prcsi-
dent as il he had been elected to the
office. We know that the possibil-
ity OF his successorhip to the
office, as in the case OF all Vice Presidential
candidates oman electoral ticket, was pres
ent in the minds OF voters at the polls on
election day, and the understood fact was
that il the President for whom the people
voted along with the Vice President)
should die, the Vice President would be
called upon to fill the vacancy, and be
to all intents and purposes the President
oi the United States.
Wcsubmit then that it is not only bad
lOgic and bad taste to speak of him other
than as the President OF the United States,
but il, has atCndency to create the impress
sion that the Tribune, or anybody else
who thus speaks Of him, is hard pushed for
something to find fault with in his admin
istntion.
So far rs his Presidential title is con-
euned, it is just as perfect as was that Of
p,.,;,Io,,, E,.GJl