The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1912-09-05

States shall be necessary for choice.
Now, by turn of fate which might
not happen again in half a century,
the House, voting by States, shows a
majority for neither party. The dele
cations of four States are evenly
divided: and the Democrats, though
having large majority in the body,
are apparently three States short Of
the necessary twenty-five.
In the Senate the situation is not
much more promising for 2 choice.
The Republicans are expected to keep
their nominal majority 10y slender
margin. But a good slice of their ma
jority is Progressive or lnsurgent.
And it is difficult to see how an agree
ment could be reached upon either
Mr.. Sherman or Mr.. johnson, mas
much as a majority vote is requisite
here, too.
One odd point is the fact that the
House votes upon the three highest
candidates for President, while the
Senate votes upon the two highest
candidates for Vice-President. So any
sort of cross-matched executive is
conceivable-W Wilson and Sherman,
Taft and Johnson, Roosevelt and Mar
shall, and so on.
# the House is unable to elect
President by March 4 and the Senate
is unable to elect a Vce-President by
March 4 some grave Constitutional
questions may arise. one naturally
turns to the succession proyisions--in
Article H., Section /, paragraph OF
the Constitution and the statute passed
10y Congress pursuant thereto. But
the language OF the constitution pro-
vision is not as satisfactory rs it might
be: 1t reads;
SIN case of the removal OF the Presi-
dent from Office, or of his death, resig-
nation or Inability to discharge the
powers and duties Of the said Office,
the same shall devolye on the Vice
President and the Congress may 10y law
provide for the case OF removal, death,
resignation or inability, both Of the
President and Vice-President, declar-
ing what officer shall then act rs
President, and such officer shall act
accordingly until the disability be re-
moved or President shall be elect
ed.
AS our readers will probably recall,
Congress, under this authority, has
named the various Cabinet officers in a
succession statute beginning with the
Secretary of State.
Considerable perplcxity has been eX-
pressed over the language quoted
above. 1t is certainly not apt language
to describe the case which may now
conceivably arise, whore one Presi-
dents term expires naturally anc a
gap exists simply through the failure
of the machinery to produce new
President, But it may well be con-
strued to cover such case, in which
event the Honorable Secretary Of
State, whoever he might be on March
/, 1913, would step into the White
House.
Various other possibilities have been
suggested one is that the power OF
the House to elect President does
not expire on March 4, f(The language
which has been taken to imply the
contrary is to be found in the Twelfth
Amendment If this is true the new
House could take up the task. Also n
distinction may perhaps be drawn be-
tween the House and the Senate on
this point, and even if the power of
the House failed the Senate might
proceed to the election Of Vice.
President. Lastly, Congress has a
power to determine the time OF
choosing the electors under which a
call for special election could possibly
be justified.
We present this long tale of doubt
and confusion to show the possibilities
which always lie in throe-cornered
election under our present system.
An utter failure in the Presidential
line is practically inconceivable. But
it seems worth pointing out that the
constitutional provision is by no
means as definite or certain rs it
might be on this allimportant point.
N ew York Sun,
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