Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-02-10
Senator Knox's Disqualification.

It has been discovered that when Con-
sress last year wrote into the legislative,
executive and judicial appropriation Dill
a clause increasing the pay OF cabinet
members and certain other officers of the
government 1t thereby excluded from par
ticipating in the administrative service
under President Taft as head of de-
partment every member of the Senate
whose term does not expire on the 4th OF
March next. This exclusion, 1t is now
noted, will prevent Senator Knox from
taking seat at the cabinet table as Secre-
tary Of State. because he was member
of the Congress that increased the salary
of that office and his term does not expire
until March. 1911. The country Will lose
by the excessive precaution OF the Coh-
stitution makers. unless some way Is
found to avoid the disqualification.
Here is a case where a perfectly proper
principle of law works 4 to the In
Jury rather than the BENEFIT OF the 1eo.
eral service. When Senator Knox Voteo
on the salary-increase proposftion-as a
matter of fact he voted for 1t, although
his disbarment from the State Depart
ment would have been as effectual II ne
had voted against 1.-THE had not the
slightest idea that he would ever benent
pecuniarily as a result of his action. IL
was not known at the time who Wouio
be the nominee of his party for the presl-
dency. He was himself the candidate of
his own state for that honor. BY COM
bination of circumstances wholly beyond
calculation at that time a tender OF
the State portfolio has come to him, as
it might have come tc. one of the most
rigid economists of the Senate with a
consistent record Of opposing all salary
increases. and the Constitution bars him
from service, unless Congress now pro
ceeds to amend the act of 1908 by re-
ducing the salary of the Secretary of
State back to it's former figure. APP
parently no other device will meet the
emergency. Mr.. Knox might agree to
turn back into the Treasury every dollar
of difference between the old and new
rates of secretarial pay. and yet he would
be barred.
The Constitution makers were canny
people, who wanted to prevent all forms
Of graft. The word was not known then,
but the idea Of preventing improperly
on the part of lawmakers was evidently
in the minds Of the wise men who worked
out fundamental law. They could not
foresee the political conditions of today.
They could not forecast such contingent
cies as Judge Taft's present embarrass-
ment at having chosen for his chief of
staff a man of rare ability, of proven
merit, and of valuable experience, only
to find him disqualified for having been
member of the Senate at one of its
rare moments of liberality toward public
officers, in the middle of his term of Of
flee.
In this connection it is noteworthy that
if the proposition to increase the salary
of the chief executive is finally written
into law at this session every member of
the Senate will be eligible to the next
presidency, while If the measure goes over
to the extra session and is then enacted
into law every senator who takes the oath
for a new term in March will be barred
from that office during the term following
Judge Taft's first. The probability of
such a dilemma confronting any member
of the upper house is not strikingly great.
inasmuch as an impression prevails-in
Washington at least-that the Office will
not be open to newcomers until March 4.
1917. Yet it behooves ambitious senators
to watch carefully the political calendar
when they are considering salary-increase
propositions, and If they are looking for
ward with hope they should make sure to
have such laws enacted at the close of
their own terms.