Great Falls daily tribune., 1919-11-17

this year, ana ne proposes 10 mCIOuuCe SolIO OiiAo
to remedy the situation SO that the nation never
will be confronted with the three or four serious
problems that are easily possible, but which the
greatest good fortune has kept from the United
States during it's history.
These three dates should be remembered as
vital points in the curious and unintended stu
alton possible tangle over the presidential sue
cession in the event of the death of the president
elect
THE election of presidential electors is held
on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in
November.
2-The electoral colleges of the states meet
at their state capitals to cast their votes on the
second Wednesday in December.
3-The two houses of congress count the vote
of the electors on the third Wednesday in Febru
ary.
And here are some of the possible perplexities
that might arise, as figured out by ex-Speake1
Clark:
Suppose the successful candidate dies before
the electors meet in December? How would the
electors of the 48 states determine who to vote
for? It might be possible to reconvene the ma
tional convention of the successful party, or te
i
the various states.
The problem arises from the failure of the con
stitution of the United States to cover this point
in any manner No such occasion has, as YET
arisen but that does not mean that none ever
will The nearest approach was in 1872 wher
Horace Greeley candidate Of the coalition in op
position to President Grant, died less than
month after his defeat at the polls. The 66 eec
toral votes that would have been cast for hin
had he lived until December, were distributed
among half-dozen men.
After the state electors have cast their bal
lots they prepare three copies of the formal vote
one going to congress by regular mail, another
by special messenger and the third is filed with
the United States district court of the locality
in which the vote is taken Then the electors
power expires. If the successful candidate should
die after they have formally voted for him there
is no authority to be found anywhere that car
call them together again. Congress, when il
meets in February, has no right to change the
names on the ballots in such a contingency as
just noted
AS third possibility, suppose that after con
gress had formally canvassed the vote in Febru
ary the president-elect should die before the in
augural in March? The constitution provide:
for no power that could reconvene the electora
college or congress for that purpose if it should
have adjourned.
In addition to having discovered these grave
possibilities of future troubles Mr.. Clark has pro
vided what he believes would be a remedy. He
suggests that the governors of the states be
given the power to reconvene the electors for
further ballot, or that the secretary of state BIZ
authorized to call another joint meeting of con
gress to take some action to straighten out the
tangle. The former speaker proposes to intro
duce resolution shortly which will bring about
threshing out of the matter by congress ane
possibly forestall such catastrophes as have beer
described.
Another curious commission of the constitution
is that there is no provision for the successful
candidate being notified of his election. The
nominee of the national conventions always il
now notified of the honor done him, and in an i'm
pressive manner, but there is no such ceremony
for the president-elect. He is supposed to Gus
hear" it, and it is fair assumption that he will
In the much disputed election on 1878 Ruther
ford B. Hayes, who was counted in over Samue
J. Tilden by special election commission, did no
learn of that body's action until he was on rail
road train travelling from Columbus to Washing
ton, his notifier being the chairman of the repub
lican national committee Senator Zach Chandler
and a telegram being the method used.