Evening star., 1924-12-08
in TODAY'S SPOTLIGHT
BY PAUL !. COLLINS.

How often the stability Of the United
States Government has been thrown
! into jeopardy by the uncertainty of the
presidential succession!
There was much discussion during the
last campaign as to what would happer
| if the electoral college failed to regis
ter an actual ma jority for one of the
three candidates, and then If the House
should fail to elect a President and the
Senate should deadlock upon the choice
OF Vice President.
! x x
! bill has been introduced in the
House by Representative Cable of Ohio
| to provide more clearly for meeting al
! contingencies of failure of the people
or of Congress TO elect these supreme
/ executive officials. and for the orderly
! succession in case the presidency and
vice presidency should be vacated by
death or inability prior to inauguration
! of the newly elected.
This bill provides the same line OF
cabinet officers as successors, in turn
| 'in the event the House has not chosen
| q President or the Senate Vice Pres
! ident" as was provided in the law OF
| 1SS6-the Secretaries of State and War
| the Postmaster General or the Secre-
taries of the Navy, Commerce ano
! Labor, in the order named, as heirs to
| the presidency.
| Prior to 1886 the legal successor to the
presidency, after the Vice President, was
! the President pro tempore of the Sen
! ate, under the law passed in 1892 The
| death of Vice President Hendricks while
| in Office was the direct cause OF chang-
| ing the law in 1886 and making the sue
| cession through the cabinet, in place OF
through the President pro tempore o.
the Senate, yet it applied only 10 Vacah-
! cies after inauguration.
| Cabinet officials, except the POST
master General, hold office until they
resign, die or are removed. Hence
| in case of a non-election of a Presl'
dent, the old cabinet would hold over
| indefinitely; the members need no'
| resign March 4. as is the custom
| when a new administration begins
| The only change proposed by tne
| Cable bill lies in applying the 1eo'
! succession to cases of vacancy oc.
curing prior to inauguration.
does not attempt to reach some OF
the very serious contingencies which
can be handled only through a con-
! stitutionaI amendment. Present ac-
| tion by Congress rests upon the pro
visions in the Constitution, clause .
section /, Article ii, and In the I'M
| pIied powers" covered in clause ~
| section g. Article ], but 1T must De
exercised through enactment of law
and Congress has never before uhueF
| taken to enact any law providing foi
(a) vacancy due to failure to elect
| President and Vice President, e1thei
by the electoral college or py Con
grass: OBJ in case of death OF the
| elected between election and an
auguration; Co to define the llmita'
tions, II any, existing upon the power
of the electoral college, to ignore tne
| popular vote and to choose as Presi.
dent and Vice President men VINO mac
not been nominated by any party
The electoral college, in the firs'
| years of it's existence. was supposed
| to have absolutely untrammeleo
power to deliberate and to select Its
own choices for@the offices. but thai
was before the days of political par
! ties in this country.
The powers of the electoral college
cease after the vote is cast on Janu-
ary -, and forwarded to Congress
| It never convenes in any delibera'
/ tive body. but the electors cast theil
| ballots in their respective States, anc
/ they are thence sent directly to Con
| gress to be counted. The powers Of
| Congress to elect through a failure
of the electoral college to do SO, alst
| Iapses, in case Congress fails to de
| so prior to it's time limit-March I
Then arises the question a. to how
long the legal successor from thu
! cahinat would Eetata office it j.