Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-08-06
The Successor
to the Presidency

The succession to the presidency in
| case of the death of the vice president
or in case he should succeed to the
presidency Is one of the few matters
concerning the machinery of the fed
eral government which is not governed
by congressional statute. This ques-
tion was overlooked when the constitu-
ton was written and 1t was not until
the first administration Of President
Grover Cleveland that the necessity of
settling the succession arose.
Shortly after President Cleveland
took office. the vice president, Thomas
A. Hendricks, died and then, as Presi-
dent Cleveland was about to depart for
the funeral in Indiana 1t dawned upon
someone that II anything happened to
him there would be no executive head
OF the government left authorized to
carry on his work.
Senator Edmunds of Vermont pleaded
! with President Cleveland not to take
the risks of the long railroad journey.
and the need of some legislation on the
subject was so patent that Congress
acted upon it at once. The matter
! aroused no controversial fight between
, of the. Laws Of the 49th Congress, pro-
viding that in the event of the death Of
vice president. who has succeeded to
| the presidency, that the secretary of
| state shall succeed to the Office, and
was approved Jan. 10, 1884.
This law also fixed the line of sue
! cession further down through the list
| of cabinet officers in the order of their
rank, thus: Secretary of the treasury.
| secretary CT war, attorney general.
postmaster general. secretary of the
| navy, secretary of the intror. At that
| time the Offices of the secretaries of
| agriculture. commerce and labor had
not been created, but it is considered
that these would follow in succession
according to the dates the offices were
| instituted.
But the law governing the succession
of cabinet officers to the presidency is
! different than for the vice president.
| Should a cabinet officer succeed he does
| not become president as the vice pres
| idcnt does. The law saws he shall act
| as president" until the disability of the
| president is removed or a new one
| elected, and it further states that such
a cabinet officer must call Congress in
| extraordinary session, if it is not then
sitting giving 30 DAYS notice. Thus a
cabinet officer is only an acting presi-
dent
| With the present makeup of the cab
| met the line of succession would be
| Secretary of State Charles f. Hughes.
| Secretary of the Treasury Andrew W.
Mellon. Secretary of War John w.
| Weeks. Attorney General Harry NJ.
| Dausherty. Postmaster General Harry
S. New, Secretary of the Navy Edwin
| DENLY. Secretary of the Interior DR..
| Hubert Work Secretary of Agriculture
Henry G. Wallace. Secretary of Com
mcrce Herbert c. Hoover and Secretary
| of Labor James J. Davis.
Some confusion has been caused in
the minds of the public by trying to
| place the president of the Senate
| some whore in the succession. probably
| on the theory that he succeeds TO the
duties of the vice president. This is a
mistake; the president of the Senate
| does not come into the line anywhere.
| He is simply the~prcsiding officer of the
| Senat in the absence of the vice pres
dcnt. He has not duties other than to
decide matters of parliamentary pro-
cedure in that body.
At present the president Of the SEN
ate is Albert r. cummins of Iowa, al
though s the Senate is not now in sos
sion and as now Senate will sit when
Congress conEcncS. he Will either by
reelected or another man put in his
place.