Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-10-14
THE "INABILlTY" CLAUSE
No Congress Has Ever Enforced the
Constitution Provision Authoriz.
ing the Vice President to Act
for the President In Case
the Latter ls III


for the President In Case
the Latter Ia III
Mo VICE PRESIDENT OF the United
| ~ States has ever been delegated by Con
| gross 10 serve as President prior TO the
| death of the Chief Magistrate of the milton.
The constitution, however, is definite
| upon this subject, According to a clause in
| Article u, I'm tho case of the removal of
! the President from office, or of his death,
resignation or inability to discharge the
| powers and duties of said Office, the same
| shall dcvolyc on the Vice President, and the
| Congress may by law provide for tho case OF
removal death resignation or inability
But the presciercc of the makers of our
| Fundamental legal instrument, in this in
! stance, rs in numerous others, assumed a
! set Of circumstances which have never in
| their entirety occurred. Five Presidents
! have died in Office. The constitution ma.
chincry was easily equal TO these conditions
| Five Vice Presidents were speedily inaugu-
| rated i'm tho highest executive Office in tho
! land
With regard To removal no case has
over arisen. During the impeachment tria
of Andrew Johuson the country was con
"idcring y new possibility. The President
margin was extremely narrow. Failing Of
conviction by a single vote, however. John
SON. despite hittcr Republican ouiaEoniem
remained in office,
BY the lsw of 1891. then ia force, the
president pro temporc of the Senate would
have stepped into Johuson = shoes had tho
tvo-tbirds condemnation vote been attain
able at the trial, pder tho later act oi
lSS2 the succession passes TO the sccFctarN
of state in case removal. death, rcsjgua
ion inn Iv Ia
was originally elected as Ni"c President
Tho johnson crisis was oNtraordnar}'
Its outcome IN period OF 'ntrnS" partisan
rahcor renders II extremely unuN"!I 'oa'
congress "l'l eyer naI' 10 puSE ''s''l u,9,u
wiz" inc Pr'S'u'o'Ia' Su''rSSio" Hu's,,o
PioPo""H'' 'H '''"oNd' W WV '"'''''''
.....,.:,,,.,. ..,a,,a
II '"' -
- ',,"" ''' WV" N"'" ~ "'> ''"' ~"
oo'u ,o"E''sH "uu tue "",'ou "'N' ",'"
u'''"'".} 'o,S',N"'','' ''H'"'.u wv" ''H"'H
u8tN "'', ""'',a" "r'o t"' '"!d' p'"'' y"
!'N - 1851 INC po," raI S,lu7''"" WIS
'"' 'ro" S'rsoc' S'o'o 'nr NcP"oi''""N' tue"
o power W''' pu"rr'"ns "'"uuE '"'"
soNGs' tue Hon''hlS,rs''on Wig .. inc n'r'I
naI'ns I" 'outend WIN '"' N'M r'N
'Na,"aF,>' "' "hotn 'u' r''ouo"''' ''oN ?
'o' '"nNI'oS "o8 CURT
But Congress was moi il session and
hence tn" ''iuabpity OF the President wR'
moment No bills were awaiting Garfield
signature. II was clear that if he lived hc
would be sufficiently recovered 10 perform
his necessary official duties by the next
December,
llcartlcSs and unsympathetic critics did,
If +, true. discuss .:iuabjlity." Their n-
.istcncc was invalidated when some i've
weeks after the shooting the President did
actually sign one document. a paper pre-
,entpd he the secretary of state concerning
an cxtraditiop case with Canada,
sI,,r,I, ortor,.,rd ,l,o ,,.t;or,.s .o,ait;,n
t,,k turn for fine worse and there was
furtbor talk about tho propricty Of leaving
tho eXcr1tiye dcpsrtncpt of the government
without an active head. Toward fbe close
Of the scorching August of 1881 the Prcsi-
dent became so i'll that the bad taste of
discussing successor TO him was rcalzed
even by III" most "allous iuquirers Garfield
was fighting for his life. He died on Sep
t"mbcr 10. at Elbcron, \. j.. whittier h"
had been removed in order TO avoid the
alleged malarial airs Of Washington
Chester A. Arthur his successor, made
all admirable President, The toukling in
fucnco, which bad alarmed one of the
political factions. proved 10 be negligible in
his administration of more than three and
half years.
DRESlDENlIAl. inability was never
l. issue with regard TO any of the other
Chief Magistrates who uied ~ othc', Those
who succumbed to disease were i'll for too
brief period for the theme to become
prominent.
Lincoln and Mckinney, who fell by The
assassin's bullet, had no such apparent
chance for life Is Garfield. John Wilkes
Booth performed his dcspjcabo decd very
thoroughly. Abraham Lincoln was shot on
the evening of April n, 1869. The next
morning at : o'clock h" died
nor . dav or Iv.o .o,,c r,o,,,,c If A.,