The age-herald., 1901-01-11
Constitutional Lawyers Differ on
 Important Points AN AMENDMENT IS NEEDED
Questions Somewhat Similar to Those Which Arose During Colonel Sam ford's Illness After He Had
 Been Elected Governor.

Washington, January 10.-(Special )-The in6isposition of the President has served to emphasize a constitutional omission or two that might be embarrassing in the event of Mir McKlnley's death, but there is no fear that the Presidents illness will take a serious turn.
 While the public generally assume that | William Mckinley and Theodore Roosevelt have actually been elected President and Vice-President, they have not as mat ter of fact. The people at the polls on November sgnlhed their approval of the candidates of Mckinley and Roosevelt, and under the provisions of the constitu- ton elected electors whose duty 1t Is to choose the President and Vice-PreSident
 n.tSese electors have not met as yet, tNo" Semble in the capitals of their ou' 'nes es on January II for this , February the House of purpose and Tn to count their bal- Representatives meetsN a,o ,,o lots Now should the Saa.a.a.,, oe fore January 14 MT. Hay, theS a,, o,,. State, would become President andV the unexpired term, but the question a as to what the electors would do. They are in honor bound to elect Mckinley President and Roosevelt Yice-Presdent, if both are alive when they meet, but for whom would they vote for President if Mckinley died As Roosevelt was the choice of the people for Vtce-President 1t would naturally be assumed that they would vote for him. But If enough elec- tors should refrain from so doing, there would be no election and the election would fall to the House.
 Another Question.
 But should the President not die until after the electors have met and before the House canvasses the vote of the electors, the election of Mckinley for President and Roosevelt for Vice-President would be de- clared, for the function of the House is simply that of a recorder, counting the votes and declaring the result in the pres- ence of the Senate.
 But in the event of the death of the Pres ident-elect, before he is sworn in, the ques- tion arises as to who would become Presi- dent, because there is no constitutional pro- vision for such an emergency. Some lead- ing constitutional lawyers assume that the Vice-President-elect would be sworn In as Vice-President and immediately afterwards take the oath as President, saying that it is drawing sharp technical distinction to make a difference between the succession of the Vice-P President to the Presidency and that of the Vice President-elect to the Presidency. Other lawyers who make points of constitutional law say that though there is no specific constitutional provision to govern such an emergency the right of the ce-President-elect to be sworn in as Vice-President and then to become Presi- dent would not be questioned though the constitution makes no provision for Vice. President-e1ect succeeding to the Presidency in the event of the death Of the President.
 Several times the Senate has passed a joint resolution proposed by Senator Hoar to govern such contingency, but the House has never approved 1t and conse- quently it has never been submitted to the several states for approval as an amend- ment to the constitution. The Hoar amend- ment makes Article XVI of the Constitu- tion read as follows:
 The Hoar Amendment.
 Tn all cases not provided for by article second, clause fifteen, of the constitution, where there is no person entitled to dis charge 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 Presi- dnt or Vice President, declaring what off, ficer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly until the dis ability shall be removed or a President shall be elected"
 The death of ex-Governor Roger Wolcott of Massachusetts, one of the Massachu- setts electors. develops an interesting fact, and that is that there is no constitutional provision for the filling of vacancy in the electoral college caused by the death
 an eector before balloting for Presi- dent If any Presidential candidate should have but one more than majority of the college the death of two electors might cause the election to the Presidency of candidate who did not have a majority In the college when it was first chosen