Evening star., 1923-02-15

SoIilc oUe suggests AHAb W0 Suoulu
abolish the ONCE of Vice President. on
the ground that it is sort Of yermi-
form appendix to the constitutional
government. The critic fears that
Congress may accept the offer of a
home for our Vice President, and that
that will carry with Il the means for
keeping the fires burning and the
which, in these days Of normalcy,
might cost $4,000 a year"
Even while the above suggestion
was being made former Vice Presi-
dent Marshall was making a speech
In church. telling, in his facetious
way. how nobody liked to work. and
he added. II wouldn't work at all IL
! didn't have to. hate work SO much
that I'm almost willing to be Vice
President again."
Many truth is spoken in jest. Even
though this announcement of Vice
President Marshall, of his candidacy
for third term as Vice President
was made in jocular tone, and in a
Mount Pleasant church, it is known
that he would really prefer a drive
against vice." for he Is a sincere
the off1ce that rankled him. Drop that
prefix and his real ambition may be
satisfied.
But all the talk belittling the office
OF Vice President Is as baseless as the
fashion Of poking fun at red-headed
girls and white horses. II Vice Presi-
dents I'm the past have had little in
fuence on the administrations Of their
terms. they held honorable rank in
the government, and as presiding Of
ficers OF the Senate they were always
in positions of great influence and
responsibility. independent of dicta-
tion by legislative "blocs."
The position might well be magni-
fed into much greater usefulness. as
President Harding, for the first time
in the history of the government, has
undertaken to do. He has added Vice
President Coolidge to his cabinet.
thereby taking him into confidential
relations with the administration.
The tendency of the future, un-
doubtedly, will be toward magnifying,
rather than lessening. the dignity and
responsibility of the vice presidency
II political slate-fixers and conven
tions have underestimated the i'm
portance Of the Office in the past they
will soon discover the Nervousness of
the risk in the new order of things
Since the Vice President is heir-ap-
parent to the presidency. he ought
never to be other than of presidential
caliber.
The rumors of cabinet discussions
of possible new transisthmus canal.
probably across Nicaragua, recall some
OF the strange delusions in the
early days regarding the building of
the Panama canal. 1t chanced that
the present writer was doing corre-
spondence in 1886 from Paris for
interview Comte Ferdinand de Les
seps soon after the latter's tour of
inspection OF the progress of the
work on Panama isthmus. In re-
sponse to a question as to whether
he had found the work progressing
well, NJ. de Lesseps said:
Yes There are now from $4,000 to
10000 workmen regularly employed.
consider that number quite suff-
cient. The canal will be fin
ished in three years"
TIE question OF eStravagances in
some contracts was broached, TO
which NJ. de Lesseps replied:
There has been no extravaganza.
W course there We're great many
expenses in the beginning = houses.
hohpitais tid y" udu 10 ne
constructed-but now all that is done
and everything is ready TO go right on
eXcavating."
Were the early surveys well done?'
Yes. OF course. there are slight
changes, but nothing important. The
principal change is not building locks
and levees, which were thought nee
essary at first, owing 10 the differ
ence in the levels OF the Atlantic and
Pacific. which is SO little that locks
are not needed. There will be a
slight current through the canal, but
not enough to interfere with Its ef-
ficiency. We shall save 36o0e,O00
francs on locks and 100000 on
leveeS. a.
ago and you expect its completion in
three years, may ! say that the canal
is two-thirds finished?"