removal of the President from office, or of his death,
resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of
the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President."
What is the practical significance of the term "inability"? If it
should be accepted in its ordinary meaning, a prostrating illness
would be regarded as sufficient reason for allowing the
Vice-President to assume presidential responsibility. Though
there was much quiet discussion of the problem, no attempt was
made to press a decision. After Garfield died, President Arthur,
on succeeding to the office, took up the matter in his first
annual message, putting a number of queries as to the actual
significance of the language of the Constitution--queries which
have yet to be answered. The rights and duties of the
Vice-President in this particular are dangerously vague. The
situation is complicated by a peculiarity of the electoral
system. In theory, by electing a President the nation expresses
its will respecting public policy; but in practice the candidate
for President may be an exponent of one school of opinion and the
candidate for Vice-President may represent another view. It is
impossible for a voter to discriminate between the two; he cannot
vote for the candidate for President without voting for the
candidate for Vice-President, since he does not vote directly for
the candidates themselves but for the party electors who are
pledged to the entire party ticket. Party conventions take
advantage of this disability on the part of the voter to work an
electioneering device known as a "straddle," the aim of which is
to please opposite interests by giving each a place on the
ticket. After Garfield was nominated, the attempt was made to
placate the defeated faction by nominating one of its adherents
for Vice-President, and now that nominee unexpectedly became the