Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-03-12

eastern portico of the Capitol. when,
the oath Of ONCE was administered to
President-elect Taylor by Chief Justice
fancy. This was at about l O'CLOCK
pm. Monday. March 5. 1919.
The biographers Of David 4 Atcnison,
senator from Missouri. all persist IN
stating that he was acting President OF
the United States for the twenty-four
or twenty-five hours intervening pc
/ tween the actual commencement OF
President Taylor's term and the taking
| of the presidential oath. The Biograph-
ica1 Congressional Directory, 1774-1sl1;
Lambs Biographical Dictionary ana
| other publications. make similar state
ments. The records show that Mr..
expired with the Sixteenth Congress.
March 8. 1S49, and that the oath OF
office was not again administereo TO
him until the opening day OF tne ex
Itraordinary session of the Seventeenth
Congress, or on March 5, 1S49. Not nav
| ing taken a new oath of Office as sena-
tor or as President pro tempofe ne was
naturally under the same disability as
the President-elect, who mad not taken
the oath on March 4.
To make the status of Mr.. Atchtson
more clear the journal shows that the
Senate, on March 8, 1S49, rendered him
a vote Of thanks for the performance
of the duties of President pro tenn
pore. One other conclusive fact 10 that,
although Mr.. Atchison was in the city
and present in the Senate chamber on
March 3, 1S49, the Senate was called to
order by the secretary. which would
not have been the case had the Senate
regarded Mr.. Atchison Its President pro
|tempore.
Immediately thereafter. by unanimous
consent, the oath of office was admin
istered to Mr.. Atchison as senator by
Mr. Benton, and then the Senate for
'mally chose Mr. Atchison to be its
President pro tempore. From this rec.
ord it must be clearly apparent that
Mr.. Atchison was not even quanneo
senator on March 4, 1s4s, and there
fore could not have acted as President
of the United States under the act
Stats. 24oS.
least twenty-four hours in 1S49 there
was legally no qualified person to per
form the services of President of the
United States. 1t Ia matter OF MS
tory that President-elect Taylor did
not reach the city of Washington until
the morning of March 5. and that. for
tunately. nothing happened to call for
the speedy action of chief executive.
Nearly Same State of Facts In 1877.
In 1877, when the 4th of March fell
on Sunday, almost exactly the same
state of facts existed as in the case OF
Mr.. Atchison. Thomas White Ferry of
Michigan had been President pro tenn
pore of the Senate. His term ended
elected for the term Of six years, be-
ginning March 4, 1877. On the Sd OF
March the Senate rendered Mr.. Ferry
a vote of thanks for the "dignined'
able and impartial manner, In Whicn
he had presided over its deliberations.
and Mr.. Ferry responded at some
length and then adjourned the session
without day. His credentials or re-
election had previously been read and
filed. and on March President Grant
had issued a proclamation converting
the Senate in extraordinary session on
Monday, March 5, at IL o'clock noon.
Mr.. Ferry was present when the ex-
traordinary session convened ana wnen
the secretary Of the Senate called the
body to order. Immediately thereafter,
on motion of Mr.. Hamlin, and by unan-
imous consent, the oath OF once was
administered by Senator Timothy y.
Howe to Mr.. Ferry. then senator,eiect
from Michigan, and he was CHOSEN
President pro tempore of the Senate
Mr.. Ferry then administered the oath
to the other senators-elect whose Gre
dentials were not challenged.
In this instance there was at least
A DAYS interim when the United States
was without a duly qualifed PRESIDENT
and when, seemingly, no harm what
ever resulted thereby.
Had not the trim of Mr.. Ferry ended
simultaneously with the Congress there
is little question but that he would
have been acting President Of the
United States" for this peculiarly
orphaned day. January 6. 1876. the
Senate committee on privileges ana
elections, oliver F. Morton of Indiana.
chairman, submitted an exhaustive re-
port relative to the tenure and char
acter of the office of President pro tenn
pore of the Senate. This committee.
out of some fifty cases cited and re-
ferred to, only found four instances to
sustain the contention of Mr.. Jener-
son, as laid down in his manual. that
the Office of President pro tempore Is
determined at the meeting of the Sen
ate after the first recess.
Findings of the Committee.
1t held that the usage of the Senate
overwh elmingly contradicted 1t. The
committee, therefore. assume the rule
to be well established that the Presi-
dent pro tempore of the Senate at the
expiration of one session does not cease
to be such with the beginning OF the
nvt-