Government in the United States, National, State and Local Part 23

_The Raising of Campaign Funds._--Prior to 1884 the expenditures on account of a national campaign were comparatively small and were raised by the party in power largely by a.s.sessments on federal office-holders; but the civil service law enacted in the year previous forbade a.s.sessments of this kind and thus cut off an important source of supply.

More attention then began to be turned toward the great corporations, many of which desired to become the beneficiaries of special legislation or to secure immunity from government interference with the management of their business. In a recent campaign, one corporation, a life insurance company, contributed $200,000; one railroad company gave $100,000; and many others $50,000. Sometimes a corporation contributes equally to the campaign funds of both parties, on the principle that it is a wise policy to be on good terms with each.

_Contributions of Corporations now Forbidden._--The raising and spending of so much money as a part of the process of electing a President has recently given rise to a demand that the sources of national campaign contributions should be made public. Moreover, it is coming to be regarded as an evil that the large corporations who desire beneficial legislation or immunity from prosecution should have become the chief contributors to campaign funds. This feeling led to the enactment by Congress in 1907 of a law forbidding national banks and other corporations which have charters granted by Congress, from making contributions to the campaign funds of any party at any election, national, state, or local. The law also prohibits any corporation, whether chartered under the authority of the national government or not, from making campaign contributions at any election at which the President of the United States or any member of Congress is to be chosen.

_Publicity of Campaign Contributions._--In 1910 Congress pa.s.sed a law requiring the treasurer of each national party committee to make and publish after the election a sworn statement showing every contribution of $100 or more received by him, every expenditure of $10 or more, and the totals of all other contributions and expenditures.

Finally, in 1911, Congress went still further and pa.s.sed a law requiring the publication of such statements _before_ the election. The elections affected by these acts are those of President and members of Congress.

The act of 1911 forbids any candidate for representative to spend or promise more than $5,000, and any candidate for senator more than $10,000, in his campaign. And such candidates are required to file statements of all campaign receipts and expenditures.

=The Succession to the Presidency.=--The Const.i.tution declares that in case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the same shall devolve upon the Vice President. In case of the removal, death, resignation, or inability of both the President and the Vice President, Congress is authorized to provide for the succession.

The only way in which the President may be removed is by impeachment and conviction. President Johnson was impeached, mainly for the violation of the tenure of office act, but the senate failed by one vote to convict him. Had he been convicted the office would have been declared vacant.

There has been no instance of the resignation of a President.[72] Five Presidents have died in office: Harrison, Taylor, Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley. In each case the dead President was succeeded by the Vice President. No case of inability to discharge the duties of the presidential office has ever been construed as existing, though in fact such a case existed from July 2, 1881, when President Garfield was shot, to September 19, when he died. A similar case existed during the period in which President McKinley lingered on his deathbed, from September 6 to September 14, 1901. In neither case did the Vice President a.s.sume the reins of office until death had made the office vacant. Likewise during President Wilson's serious illness in 1919-1920, the Vice President did not act.

[72] John C. Calhoun resigned the Vice Presidency to become a senator from South Carolina. The statutes provide that the President shall signify his resignation, in case he resigns, by a letter to the secretary of state.

_Succession Law of 1792._--Congress provided by law in 1792 that in case of the removal, death, resignation, or inability of both the President and the Vice President, the president _pro tempore_ of the senate should succeed, and after him the speaker of the house. There were several practical and political objections to this arrangement, however. In the first place, there might be considerable periods of time when there was no president _pro tempore_ of the senate or speaker of the house, and consequently no one to succeed in case of a vacancy.[73] Another objection to the law--political in character--was ill.u.s.trated by the situation that existed in 1886. The Democratic Vice President Hendricks had died, and in case the presidential office had become vacant it would have been filled by a Republican president of the senate. Thus the executive branch of the government would have pa.s.sed from the hands of the party that had carried the country at the last election, to the other party, merely by the death of a public officer.

[73] From March 4 to October 10, 1881, there was no president of the senate, and from March 4 to December 15 of the same year there was no speaker, the new house not having met and organized. Had Vice President Arthur died before Mr. Garfield's death there would have been no one to succeed to the vacancy until October 10, when a new president _pro tempore_ of the senate was chosen.

_Succession Act of 1886._--In 1886 Congress changed the law so as to give the succession to the presidency to the members of the cabinet, in the order of the creation of their departments, in case of the death or removal of both the President and the Vice President. As the members of the cabinet usually belong to the same party as the President and Vice President, the office in such a contingency would remain in the control of the party which elected the President at the last election. No special provision has yet been made, however, in regard to the succession in case the President elect and Vice President elect should die after their election by the electoral college on the second Monday in January and before their inauguration on the 4th of March. The electoral college could not be reconvened because it becomes _functus officio_ immediately after electing the President. As the law stands, the succession would probably go to some member of the old cabinet, who might be of the opposite party. In such a case, however, Congress might provide for a special presidential election.

=References.=--ANDREWS, Manual of the Const.i.tution, pp. 166-177.

BEARD, American Government and Politics, ch. ix. BRYCE, The American Commonwealth (abridged edition), chs. vi, vii, lii-liv.

FULLER, Government by the People, ch. vii. HARRISON, This Country of Ours, chs. iv-v. HART, Actual Government, pp. 261-267. HINSDALE, American Government, chs. xxix-x.x.xi. STANWOOD, History of the Presidency. WOODBURN, The American Republic, pp. 116-136.

=Doc.u.mentary and Ill.u.s.trative Material.=--1. Congressional Directory. 2. Copy of the call for a national convention. 3.

Addresses of the temporary and permanent chairmen of the last national convention. 4. The Democratic and Republican campaign textbooks. 5. Copy of the election returns. 6. Specimen ballots containing the names of candidates for presidential electors.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. How many votes is your state ent.i.tled to in the electoral college?

What proportion of the total electoral vote is that? Can you give the names of any of the presidential electors from your state at the last election?

2. What was the popular vote received by the Republican candidate for President in your state at the last election? By the Democratic candidate?

3. Name the Presidents who received only a minority of the popular vote.

4. Suppose a vacancy should occur in the electoral college of a state by the death of an elector, is there any way by which it could be filled?

5. Suppose the candidate for President should die after the popular election in November and before the meeting of the electors in January, for whom would the electors cast their vote? Have there been any actual instances of this kind?

6. Suppose the President elect should die before the votes are opened and counted by Congress, who would be declared President?

7. Have there been any instances since 1820 in which a presidential elector voted against the candidate of his own party?

8. What would be the princ.i.p.al advantage in extending the term of the President and making him ineligible to succeed himself?

9. Do you think the custom a wise one which prohibits the President from serving more than two terms?

10. What were the controversies at issue in the disputed election of 1876?

11. What were the objections to the method of nomination by congressional caucus? Who was the last candidate to be nominated by this method?

12. Tell something about the first national convention held in the United States for the nomination of candidates for President and Vice President.

13. How many parties nominated candidates for President and Vice President in the last presidential election? Give the popular vote received by each, in your state and in the country as a whole.

14. Read the platforms of each party and contrast their positions on the leading political issues.

15. How many delegates is your state ent.i.tled to in the national convention? Who were the delegates at large from your state in the last Democratic national convention? In the last Republican national convention?

16. Where did the Democratic and Republican parties hold their last national conventions? Who was the permanent chairman of each?

17. What is your opinion of the "unit rule" followed by the Democratic party? Of the "two-thirds" rule?

18. Do you think it would be a wise rule to apportion the delegates from each state to the national convention on the basis of the party strength rather than on the basis of population?

19. Since the people of the territories take no part in national elections, ought they to be allowed to send delegates to the national convention?

20. What is your opinion of the proposal to nominate candidates for President and Vice President by direct primary as state officials are nominated in many states?

21. What is meant by the doctrine of "availability" in choosing candidates for President? What presidential candidates has your state furnished?

22. Is Mr. Bryce's a.s.sertion that great men are rarely elected President true? If so, why?

23. Do you think presidential candidates should make campaign tours and deliver campaign speeches?

CHAPTER XVI

THE PRESIDENCY (CONTINUED): INAUGURATION; POWERS AND DUTIES

=The Inauguration.=--It is no longer the practice to notify the President officially of his election, and so without certificate of election or commission, he presents himself at the national capital on the 4th of March to take the oath of office required by the Const.i.tution and to enter upon the discharge of his duties. Toward noon on that day he proceeds to the White House, as the official residence of the President is styled, where he joins the outgoing President and both are driven to the Capitol, followed by a procession. _The oath of office_ is usually administered by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on a platform erected for the purpose at the east front of the Capitol, and in the presence of a vast throng of spectators from all parts of the country.[74] Following the custom set by the first Chief Executive, the President delivers a short _inaugural address_ in which he foreshadows in a general way his policy as President, after which he returns with the Ex-President to the White House, where he reviews for several hours the procession of visitors.

[74] The oath of office was administered to President Was.h.i.+ngton in New York city, then the temporary seat of government, by Chancellor Livingston of New York state. In 1917, the 4th of March falling on Sunday, President Wilson took the oath of office twice: on Sunday in his office at the Capitol, and on the following day publicly in connection with the inaugural ceremonies.

_Inaugural Pageantry._--The inauguration of the President is made the occasion of a great pageant, to which hundreds of thousands of visitors throng from every part of the Union. In the procession which escorts the President to the Capitol are militia companies, headed by governors of states, and civil organizations of every variety. Owing to the inclemency of the weather which often prevails at this season of the year, it has been proposed to change the date of the inauguration, but since this will involve an amendment to the Const.i.tution if the inauguration is to take place at the beginning of the presidential term, the success of the movement is doubtful.[75]

[75] When Vice Presidents Tyler, Johnson, Arthur, and Roosevelt succeeded to the presidency, Congress was not in session and the oath of office was administered without formalities. Mr. Arthur took the oath in New York city before a local magistrate, and Mr. Roosevelt did the same in Buffalo, where Mr. McKinley died. Vice President Fillmore, however, took the oath of office as President in the presence of both houses of Congress, which happened to be in session at the time of the death of President Taylor.

=Compensation of the President.=--The Const.i.tution declares that the President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensation which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the time for which he has been elected. He is also forbidden to receive any other emolument either from the United States or from any state.

The salary of the President was $25,000 a year until 1873, when it was raised to $50,000. In 1909 it was raised to $75,000. Besides this salary there is an allowance of $25,000 a year for traveling expenses, and allowances for clerks, automobiles, house furnis.h.i.+ngs, fuel, lighting, etc., making in the aggregate some $250,000 a year. In the White House the nation furnishes the President with both a private and an official residence.