The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-04-22
Great MEN DON'T Want IT
The vice-Presidency No Longer Re.
Qarded an Honor.
BUT IT MAS NOT ALWAYS THIS
In Oideu Times tho Man Who Couldn't
Get the Very Highest Office Was
Glad to Take tho Next
Highest One.
C. N. Harvey, in the Globe-Democrat.

men OF what may De called presidential
size, or who think themselves Of presi-
Dental size, to accept vice presiden-
tial nomination shows that the "sec-
ond office" under the government lacks
the attraction for great statesman
which it possessed in earlier days. Four
or five men are In the Republican race
for the higher candidacy in 1896. or i'm
agine they are in, but it Is doubtful If
any one of these would take the lower
one If offered, though Hendricks, Demo-
crat, and Logan, Republican, who were
presidential figures. and who said they
wanted the first office or nothing, ac-
cepted the candidacy to the second.
Yet the vice presidency was held by
many eminent men. Adams. JEFFERSON.
Calhoun and Van Buren among them.
Adams, Jefferson and Van Buren, We're
subsequently elected presidents. Jef-
ferson, when chosen vice president,
which was in 1876. was, of course, run
ming for the presidency. Onward un-
til the election Of 1904 electors voted Tor
two men without indicating which was
desired for president, and the one who
received the highest number OF votes,
II a majority of the whole number, was
made president and the next to the
highest became vice president.
This was changed after the tie vote
Electoral college in 1900, when the
twelfth amendment to the constitution
was adopted, directing electors to des-
,gnate which of the two men voted for
was intended for the higher office and
which for the lower. Adams, however
knew that he himself was running for
the vice presidency in the two years I'm
which he was elected to that office. for
Washington was a candidate, ana re-
ceived one of the votes of all the elect
ors. and everybody supposed he
would.
In Adams time in the office, however,
the vice presidency appeared to be a
more exalted station than 1t subse-
quently was known to be. At the out
set he was in very grave doubt as to the
precise scope of his own functions and
prerogatives, as well as Of those OF the
president He was in the dark as to
the exact place where Washingtons
powers ended and his own began. Are
we," he asked the senate, "the two
kings Of Sparta, the two consuls or
Rome or the two suffetes of Garth.
age" (J. c. Hamilton's "History of
the Republic" vol. ILL.,, p. 560). This was
called out by a report which reached
the senate that Washington. who took
Office later than Adams in 1883. should
be received in the senate chamber Just
before he qualified for the presidency,
and should then go to the house OF rep
resentatives to be sworn In.
ADAMS DISTRESS.
A writer who was a member OF the
senate at that time, and who kept
diary, which was published six years
ago, gives a graphic account of Adams
distress at this juncture. Gentle.
men," said Adams to the senate, Il feei
great difficulty how to act. I am pos
sessed of two separate powers. the one
in esse and the other In posse. l am
vice-president. In this I am nothing,
but may be everything. But I am
president also Of the senate. when the
president (of the United States) comes
into the senate what shall be? can
not be president then. No, gentlemen,
I can mot, I can not. I wish, gentle
men, to think what shall be-" will
lam Maclay's Journal. p. 81 Maclay,
who was an ardent enemy Of Adams
party, the Federalist, and who was a
prominent Jeffersonian in politics be-
fore Jefferson, adds: Here, as II OPP
pressed with the sense Of his distressed
situation, he threw himself back In his
chair. A solemn silence ensued. God
forgive me. for 1t was Involuntary. but
the profane muscles of my face were In
tune for laughter in spite of my indis-
position"
In some positive respects the vice
presidency was an office of greater
power in the early days Of the govern
ment than 1t has since been. The con-
stitution (article 1, section 8, clause ~
sets forth that "the vice-president of
the United States shall be president Of
the senate" but stipulates that he
"shall have no vote unless they be
equally divided" In this particular,
as in some others, the vice-president Is
ordinarily less powerful official than
the speaker, who, being a member Of
the body he presides over, Is entitled
to vote the same as other members
Ties. however. came often in that lit
tie body Of twenty-six members over
which Adams presided in the first two
of his eight years in the vice-presl-
dency, and which had only thirty-two
members in the latter part of his SER
vice.
The casting vote Of the vice-presi-
dent avails nothing. of course, except
when given for the measure, for the
question loses unless it receives a ma
jority. Most of the important meas
ures before congress during the dozen
years following the establishment Of
the government under the constitution
In 1883 We're Federalist measures. The
Federalist party, to which Adams, as
well as Washington, Hamilton, Madi-
son (until 179D and the Pinckneys be-
1onged, had many faults, but 1t was
stronger In constructive craftsmanship
than any other party which ever fig
ured in American politics. The party
which ranks next to 1t in this respect
was the Republican party from 1851 to
1879, from the beginning Of the war to
the close of reconstruction and the re-
establishment Of the nations currency
on the gold basis. During those dozen
years the Federalist party held the
presidency (through the eight years of
Washington's service and the four
years of Adams). The party was in
in one or other branch Of con-
gress during part Of this time, but by
its courage, energy, skill and organiza-
tion, and the advantage which a posi-
tive policy and aggressive leadership
gave Il, placed most of it's measures on
the statute book. Equal divisions in
the senate were frequent in the early
years Of Federalist sway, and vice.
president in thorough harmony with
the purposes Of that party was in a
position to impress himself powerfully
on leGlSldtlOU. OuCH d mum was JOnn
Adams. Indeed, during the four or five
years in which the framework of the
government was being perfected and
the parts Of the great legislative and
machine put in smooth
working order the vice-president was a
much more potent personality than the
president. In the First congress, that
Of 17S9-91, about twenty important
measures were made law by the cast
Ing vote of John Adams.
Several times. too. though only for
short periods, the vice president was
permitted to appoint the senate COM
thus giving him an authority
which the speaker Of the house has had
during almost the whole Of the life of
the government under the constitution.
For q short time the committees were
chosen by the president pro tempore,
but throughout the greater part Of the
time they have, as at present. been
elected or appointed by resolution. A
efce president having, this power would