Evening star., 1947-09-01

if President Truman were removed
from office by accident or other
cause.
Is this a piece of pertinent in
formation? Does the fact that 81
per cent said they did not know
and 19 per cent answered that
Secretary of State Marshall would
be the successor mean that the
voters are lacking In intelligence or
knowledge? Does it mean that the
newspapers which recently printed
the fact that a law altering the
custom on presidential succession
was passed by Congress did not
display the item sufficiently or that,
for reasons of typographical make
up the readers missed it?
Not Concerned With Theory.
The answer would seem to be
none of these. Much more plausible
is the belief that the public is not
very much concerned with theo-
retical happenings and is more
familiar with things that are GUS
tomary and happen often This is
a simple psychological premise.
After all, the death of a President
does not happen very frequently.
From 1865. when Lincoln was
assassinated, to 1881, when Garfield
met violent death at the hands of
a disappointed Office seeker, there
was a space of Is years. From that
time till the assassination of Nc
Kinley in 1901 there was a span
of 20 years. Then % years elapsed
before President Harding died of
pneumonia. From 1923 to 1945. when
President Roosevelt died, another
% years elapsed.
In each case Vice President sue
ceeded to the presidency. so the re-
cent Gallup poll really deals with
something that has never happened
in American history-namely. the
death or removal of President who
has been Vice President so that no
Vice President is available foi sue
cession. The unfamiliarity of the
public with the way presidential
succession works is not reflection
either on its knowledge or intelli-
gence.
Question Of Second Successor.
After all, how many persons could
answer correctly the question of
what happens if Speaker Martin of
the Housewife, under the new law,
is first in line TO become President
were to die in that office? A poll
would show that even fewer per-
sons know the answer to that one.
Assuming, also, that those who did
answer correctly that the president
Pro Tenn" of the Senate, Senator
Vandenberg, would succeed Mr..
Martin, how many would be able
to answer correctly what happens
after that?
The provisions of the law passed
q few weeks ago then go back to the
old custom whereby the Secretary
of State succeeds the Speaker and
Senate president if both should die
and after that the other nine Cabi-
net officers are in line for presiden-
tiaf succession in the order Of their
rank.
How many people, even when the
old law was in effect, could answer
offhand what Cabinet officer came
after the Secretary of State? How
many would know that the rank is
fixed by the date on which each
Cabinet post was created originally
by Congress and that the Secretary
of the Treasury comes next to the
Secretary of State?
All these points might be inter-
esting as $64 questions on a quiz
program, but are they of any prac-
tical importance to the citizen in
his everyday life? Is it the kind
of information he is expected to ac-
uuire to be a useful citizen?
Isn't it more important that he
should know what President and
Congress are doing and the meaning
to him of the laws and decisions OF
the courts on major questions?
Isn't 1t more important for public
opinion poll to tell what the people
are thinking about than what they
know about remote contingencies
or abstract questions in civics?
Maybe a poll of the pollsters is in
order-or perhaps g. poll Of the
public to find out what they would
like to know from the poll-takers
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