The Washington herald., 1912-10-30

pestse. and one Of the stsnographsrs
o1 The Senate. Mr.. Blumsnberg 10 III IN
New York. But no one in authority 70
Speok of what happened 1T Chicago
doubts that the convention folloWed
the usual rule. and adopted the GUS
tomary resolution empowering the
committee to all vacancies on the
ttokst Il was suggested to-day that
II the vacancy occurred before election
Gov. Hadlsy Of Missouri. who was un.
dsrstood to be President raft's first
choice for his running mate ai the time
when II was understood that Vice
President Sherman would not be Q
candidate for reelection.
a more serious situation would be pre-
sented II the vacancy occurred after
Mr.. Sherman had been actually declared
elected by the House Of Representatives
He would b Vice President.elect. but not
yet In once. A vacancy then might be
construed to be q vacancy In the once
itself. The Senate would MI the Va
cancy IN that case by the installation OF
it's President pro tenn, who. without be-
ing the Vice President. would perform
the duties Of the once. The more ssri-
Gus complication would BE- the reduction
Of the choice for Vice President In case
by reducing the Republican Senators to
the necessity Of choosing between Gov.
Marshall and Gov. johnson. In case the
House should fail to elect President.
which II would do under existing condi.
tons. the duty would devolve on the
Senate Of electing . Vice President. who
would in turn become President
Their choice. unlike that In the House.
would be limited to the two candidates
having the highest number Of votes for
tho ONCE. This 10 supposed to have been
20 limited to prevent the Senate from
finding itself unable to make q choice.
This provision. It IL believed. renders 1t
almost certain that the Senate would
make q choice with but two candidates
to select from. II Gov. johnson should
poll more votes than Mr.. Sherman the
situation under such circumstances would
not be changed. The choice would be
limited to the same two men. johnson
and Marshall. But II in the election 1t
should turn out that Sherman received
more votes than johnson, Mr.. Sherman's
removal from the list Of candidates, ac-
cording to some authorities. would reduce
the choice to one man. Marshall. and &C.
cording to others. the votes that had
been cast for Mr.. Sherman would have
to be disreGarded in view Of the va
cancy and Johnson's vote counted Tor
comparative purposes.
Contingepeies Remote.
All Of the contingencies are admitted
to be remote But no one probably ever
thought there was any probability that
tho House would ind itself in a situation
politically where 1t would be unable to
elect a President when the duty should
devolve upon 1t. But that 10 its condi-
ton to-day. when there Is q possibility
that 1t may be called on to make that
choice. The situation in the Senate Is
not only by the Illness OF
Mr. Sherman. but by the fact that the
Senate il without q permanent presiding
oficer because Of the snarl between reg
ular and insurgent Republicans. by which
the insurgents have brought out . candi-
date of their own and deadlocked the
Senate on the choice Of . President pro
tenn. Throughout the last session no
choice was had. Regulars supported Sen
aeor Gallinger. the Republican nominee:
Insurgents voted for Senator Clapp. and
Democrats supported Senator Bacon Of
Georgia The deadlock stu exists- From
time to time the Senate has chosen .
temporary President pro tenn. alternating
as a matter Of courtesy between Senator
and Senator Bacon.
1t is likely that the Senate will feel the
Of settling this deadlock in the
Interest Of expediting business soon after
It assemblies in December. Senator La
Toilette OF Wisconsin 10 mainly respon-
sible for the snarl. He fell out with Sen
ator Gallinger over his committee assign
ments and assembled his little band Of
followers in the Senate and held up the
after Mr.. GallinSer had
been nominated for President pro TEN by
the party caucus.