Evening star., 1901-09-14
He BEHAVED. ALL RIGHT

1t would be difficult said thoughtful
man of affairs. Ito ina gine more difficult
position than that h1fwhich a Vice Presi-
dent or the United States finds himself
when he receives the news that the Presi-
dent has been the victim of an injury
that seems TO be mortal Then, il ever, he
knows that the eyes of the whole people
are upon him. He 'kn3ws that his country
men, simply because they are human, are
bound to turn from the account of the
Presidents injury to the account of the
manner in which the Vice President re.
celved the news. White he is perfectly well
aware that there are few persons in an en-
iightened country like. the United States
who would be gtiilty5fof even suspectins
tnat ne !et the slightest elation over his
opportunity TO Slip into the President s
chair, he is bound to feel that there are
at ieasl some who would be capable of
viewing the matter in that callous and un-
warrantaoie light. and this feeling cannot
put De heavy oneF.
When Arthur heard of the ATTACK ,,,on
aaIhsiu' ne was too stunned to speak l
nave peen told that he didn't say a word
Ior Iuiiy hfteen minutes after he received
snto In. nu"s. ne simply sat down and stared
into vacancy. He was far from being a
oemonstrative man, but there can be no
oouDt IN NE that he felt the President s
acutely.
he conducted himself throughout the
long period during which Garfield hnvered
Desween NE and death with the dignity of
hign-grade man, and this at a time. too,
nartic,ne, m1 1ne split in the republican party.
Senate, made his position doubIy hard to
enuuIe. ihe question of the succession vas
not absolutely determined then as it is
now, ana then, again, the clause in the
otIine ~ which requires the presidential
ftyyar 20 he Hoo De-
gent In case Of the disability of the Iresi-
uenI was one that was publicly discussed,
ana often with virulence during Garfield 8
n1o- oue 1oi nie There was a considerable
eieuent III the country who believed that
Artnur mad a right to take over the reins
oi Soterhment from the moment that Gar
iieiu was struck down. while the larger Gle
n.an oi.Leriy scorned such an idea, and
oo.s oh lnese even went so far as to almost
openly accuse Arthur of holding to the be-
iiei that in the circumstances he was en-
titleu 10 avail himself of the clause i'm the
66Suuon 6uaS;a enabling him to mount to the
Iissiuent chair-which was absolutely alb
surd; Arthur never even dreamed for a
moment OF such a thing But his position
was heavy and solemn and an acuteIy
enloarIassing one He carried himself
.hiouShout In 1t like the big-souled man
and the chivalrous gentleman that he was.
ana Hoosevelt's conduct too, was abso-
iuteiy unimpeachable. 1t seems that the
man was absolutely overpowered with
$50 "hci lie HedTu the news OF the at
tempt on the Presidents life-and Roose-
veit is only demonstrative when he is
mixed up In fight-he takes his griefs
dumbly, as | happen to know But the
close intimacy that has for years existed
between the President and Roosevelt is
wen known. and 1t Is the testimony of
everybody who met the Vice President be-
lore ana after he reached Buffalo that he
acted like a man in mental pain. And the
poy1sh delight with which he welcomed
every encouraging conference of the doc
tors and bulletins indicated the state of
ms feelngs-for Teddy would not be able
to portray a state of feeling that he didn't
possess In thousand years; he's not con-
structed that way. He's been so long in
the public eye. too, and the people are so
perfectly familiar with his out-and-out
way of expressing himself and of doing
tnlngs, that there hasn't been even q
shadow OF an idea in anybody's mind that
he didn't feel every bit as bad as he seemed
to feel over the Buffalo tragedy.
Another thing: Teddy l honestly be-
lieve, wouldn't care to take the presi-
dency by succession.