Wichita eagle., 1888-06-24
sN .ss-.,ssssS
Tue - 4a0e
THE viCE-PRESlDENCY.

Tho Importance of the oface-Good Men
Should Always BE Chosen for the Sec
0nd Place ON the Ticket.
Daniel Webster forty-eight years ago re-
fused to allow his admirers to present his
name for the Vice Presidential nomination.
He had been one of the candidates Of his
party for the Presidency four years earlier,
and was, next 70 Clay. the party's most
conspicuous member. The second place on
the ticket he deemed beneath his dignity,
especially as the first place was TO be given
TO man whose only recommendation to the
party was his military reputation. Never
theless, IL this decision, the great expound-
er did not act wisely. Had ne consented
to run for the Vice-Presidency, the ticket
would have been Harrison and Webster in
stead of Harrison and Tyler. which was the
ticket actually placed in the field. With
Webster for second place, he would have
been President for three years and eleven
months of the term for which Harrison
was chosen, as the latter died 2 month ait
er his Inauguration, the Tyler treachery to
the party would have been averted, the
Wings would have been strengthened so
that they could, it is likely, have waged a
successful canvass in 1914, with Webster,
probably, as the leader, and the whole sub
sequent history of the country might have
taken radically different form to that
which it has assumed.
TWENTY-FIVE men have held the office OF
President of the United States, but only
eighteen of them were chosen to that posi-
ton. -Four men who were elected to the
Vice-Presidency acceded to the higher
Office on the death of the incumbent. These
four Presidents were John Tyler,
Willard Fillmore Andrew johnson and
Chester A Arthur. Tyler was President
three years and eleven months; Fillmore,
two years and eight months; johnson, three
years and eleven months, and Arthur, three
years and six months. Three of the four,
as will be noted, held the Office for practi-
calIy the entire term for which their imIne
date predecessors had been chosen. And
during their incumbency they enjoyed the
same powers and prerogatiyes which an
actual election to the position would have
conferred upon them.
These facts illustrate, says the St Louis
Globe Democrat, the Importance of the Vice
Presidential Office and the need Of selecting
men for that position with especial refer
ence to the possibilities for advancement
which it involves. Every American citi-
zen who reads the pagers has been
exercised for months past over the
question as TO who will head the tickets Of
the parties, but apparently nobody cares
who will be put on the tail Of the tickets. In
every National convention the Vice-Presi-
Dental nomination is used either to placate
faction which failed in its attempt to win
the higher Office or to distribute the honors,
In sectional or geographical sense, with
sone show of fairness.
No thought at all is given TO the fitness, as
compared with other conspicuous members
Of the party, of the Vice-Presldential nOmi-
nee for the more exalted position for which
there is one chance in five that he will be
rallied upon to fill. If the conventions which
nominated Tyler, Fillmore, Johnson and
Arthur had ever dreamed that these men
would accede to the Presidency on account
pf the death of the incumbents, not one of
them would have been selected. Every one
Of them except Arthur, when in the Presi-
Genital Office, disappointed and antagonized
their party, and Arthur, worthy of the
higher honor as he proved himself to be,
would not have been placed upon the ticket
ut all if the death, while in Office, Of the head
Of the ticket had been foreseen. 1t is time
that the people of the country should de-
tnand that in the selection Of candidates for
the Vice-Presidency the possibilities of
promotion which that Office holds should be
kent carefully and continually in view