The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-03-17
Strange Loop Hole Left by COnstitu.
tiOn.
AMENDMENT OF BANGOR LAW.
YER PRESENTED BY MIR. HOAR.
Provides for President Succession In All
Possible Emergencies-GeneraI Desire
for an Early Adjournment of Con ress
Successful Maine Men.
ESPECIAL TO THE PREss.]

ESPECIAL TO THE PREss1
Washington, March 16-The judiciary
committee of the Senate have taken up
and acted on the amendment to the Con.
stitution proposed by Mr.. Albert W.
Paine, the distinguished lawyer of Ban
gor, Maine Mr.. Hoar has reported from
his committee form Of, amendment to
be proposed to the legislatures of the
States. AS three fourthsu Qf the states are
required to concur in an amendment be-
fore it can be adopted:the reform proposed
by Mr.. Paine is yet some way off. Yet
there is no doubt that his suggestion is
a valuable one, as is shown by the facts
which he presents in statement forward
ed to the Senate.
The United States Constitution, Article
XII, section 1, item 6, provides remedy
for the contingency of the death of Presi-
dent by substituting in his place the Vice
President. and in case both die, then
Congress shall provide for the same, and
Congress has already made such provision
But there is no provision in the Consti-
tuition to meet the contingency Of death
of the President-elect after the electors
have cast their vote in January, and be-
fore his inauguration on 4th of March.
Should such death occur, there is no
provision whereby another President
could be elected, and Congress could not
supply the deficiency, so that no Presi-
dent could afterwards be legally or con-
stitutionally chosen, the only contingency
provided for being that Of the dsath of a
President. The person elected by the
electors as President does not become such
until his Inauguration in !, March after
wards. So that the provision cited does
not cover the case, and there being none
other, the defect charged really exists and
needs amendment.
How great the danger s is apparent
from several considerations.
In the first place, there are nearly two
months OF time during which the danger
exists, from the casting of the electoral
vote, in the first part of January, to the
4th of March. during al which time the
person elected is exposed to the extra dam
ger arising from the grave responsibility
of his position, the immense work cast
upon him, and other dangerous features.
Then, again, the danger arising from
the work of the assassin in such Case is
by no means small. Two of the small
number of our Presidents have proved
this by their death, and to these may be
added the death of the late President of
France, all three OF whom have been VIC
tins of the assassin s hate.
Had Lincoln on the way to the capital
for his Inauguration met the fate which
awaited him at Baltimore, no legal Presi-
dent could have ever after existed
Had Blaine been successful candidate,
as was so generally desired. the same re-
suit would have followed, his death hav-
ing occurred on January 80.
The fact that four of our Presidents
have died within few weeks after their
Inauguration shows that the position is
altogether a dangerous one.
Should an anarchist desire to accom-
plish his work in the most effectual man
ner. he could not select a more fitting op-
portunity than the one now exposed, the
result OF which would be to produce a
state of anarchy, for which there exists
no possible legal remedy-just the case for
an anarchists practice. < s
Tho Hayes 1'iIden case was y bad
enough example to put us on our guard
country had legal remedy there which,
by the courtesy of the parties, could be
properly exercised through the interyen-
ton of referees But the present case is
of different kind, where no such cour-
tesy or reference could be exercised. The
committee on Judiciary have gone little
beyond the plan proposed by. Mr.. Payne
and have drawn an amendment to cover
not only the contingency foreseen by Mr..
Payne, but also the chance that there
might be failure to elect President, or
Vice President, or both. Such a failure
nearly occurred in the case of Jefferson
and Burr. The amendment proposed by
Mr.. Hoar's committee is in the form OF
new article, to be called Article XVI,
and to be as follows:
THE provisions of Article II, clause 5,
of the Constitution shall remain in force,
and whenever there is no person entitled
to discharge the duties of the office of the
President, the same shall devOlve upon
the Vice President. The Congress may
by law provide for the case where there is
no person entitled to hold the Office of
President or Vice President, declaring
what officer shall then act as President,
and such officer shall act accordingly I'M
til the disability shall be removed or
President shall be elected"
IneIe SecluS 10 pe d general uSslro taA7
al ound for Congress to get away. Theg
leaders of both House and
Senate are working to get business done
expeditiously, and the Democrats of both
bodies are said also to be- hoping that
there will be a speedy adjotrnmeDt The
President is also understood to be DESTROYS
that Congress shall adjourn. With such
a general feeling all one way it would
be strange If there should be long de-
lay The Democrats think that they have
an easy thing in tho elections if they can
assist to get the Republican Congress
home without anything being done for
Cuba. The Republicans generally feel
that they will have done we'll If they can
keep the country in the paths of peace,
and are quite willing generally TO go
home with the record of peace. prosperity
and plenty of revenue. The President
also is probably anxious not to en- bark
the country in the hazards of war, just
when it is getting on its feet after the
prostration of the last five years.
Among the appointments made by the
Governor of Minnesota within the last
year is that of Hon. William Lancaster,
of Minneapolis, to be Judge of the Dis
trict Court of Minnesota. Judge Lancas-