OCR Text |
Show NATIONAL CAPI1MJ 1 B AFFAIRS H One-Day President Put It in Biography WASHINGTON. "President for a day" Is found in the biography of a member of the L'nlted Stales senate who served in that body over 80 years ago. David R. Atchison, famous cltl-sen cltl-sen of Missouri, and for whom the city of Atchison, Kan., Is named, was president pro tempore of the senate when Zachary Taylor was to have been I Inaugurate on the fourth of March, I 1840. The day coming on Sunday the old rough and ready Whig President refused re-fused to huve the ceremony on Sunday and neglected to take the oath of otHce prior to the noon hour 'of March 6 when President Taylor was sworn In through the regulur ceremony on the 1 east front of the cnpltol. As Senator Atchlaon was president pro tempore of the senate, and constitutional consti-tutional provision had been In force After years of doubtful constitutionality constitution-ality and dangers congress in 1886 repealed re-pealed the old ucts of Kiecutlve vacancies, va-cancies, and provided that In suca cases the succession of the Presidency should next pass to the secretary of state and on to the other members of the cabinet. President Taylor, It seems, did not give so much attention to the matter as did the Missouri senator, who was careful to have the fact that he was "President for a day" recorded in bis biography. Atchison wus a native of Kentucky and figured conspicuously In the Missouri-Kansas troubles Just prior to the Civil war. There have been other inauguration days that fell on Sunday, but the precaution pre-caution has been tuken to administer the oath before tho actual lnaugura- since 1703 for thut officer to assume the Presidency in case there was a vacancy for any reason In the office of President and vice president. Senator Sen-ator Atchison being President pro tempore tem-pore always Insisted that the failure of General Taylor to take the oath left a vacancy in tho Presidential succession succes-sion after the hour of noon on Murch 4. 1840. to 12 o'clock a. m, March 6, 1840, thus making the presiding officer offi-cer of the senate technically President of the United States fur 24 hours. Under the constitutional authority congress in 1703 provided, In case of vacancy In the office of President and vice president for any reason, the presiding pre-siding officer of the senate or the speaker of the house should succeed to the Presidency. tlon ceremony, so that March 8 would be the public swearing in and but a formality, repeated for the benefit of the thousands who come to Washington Washing-ton at our quadrennial occasion of Executive Ex-ecutive chunge or succession at the head of the government. On account of the rumors that Samuel Sam-uel J. Tilden would take the oath for the Presidency ou the 3d of March, 1877 (the 4th being on Sunday), President Presi-dent Hayes, It Is said, took the oath of office on Saturday, the 3d, and repeated re-peated the same on the 5th, at the east front of the cspitol. The 4th of March came on Sunday at the beginning of President Wilson's Wil-son's second term. He took the oath of office on Sunday the 4th, and again in front of the cnpltol on the 5th. Embassies Moving Into New Quarters of the crarlst regime. A number of new legislative buildings build-ings which have brought with them new faces have come since the war by the partition of the old European Btates. Among these are the legations of Czecho slovakia, Egypt, Esthonla, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Jugoslavia. Jugo-slavia. Social gatherings find the former for-mer enemies generally on speaking terms. The German embassy still occupies the site it did when Count Von Bern-storfT Bern-storfT presided, and his successors have occupied It. If it could be said that any diplomat In Washington hns hard sledding socially, it probably Is the representative of Germany. Other historic landmarks which have THE diplomatic landmarks of old Washington are passing. Recently the announcement was made that the old British embassy on lower Connecticut avenue was being abandoned for a more modern mod-ern and fashionable locution. The great Victorian building which has housed the British embassy so many years Is to be converted for business purposes. The new embassy will be located near the naval observatory. The building that was the Austro-Hunguriun Austro-Hunguriun embassy In the old days has been remodeled aud now Is used as a cleaning and dyeing shop. The former Mexican embassy, In the heart of the uptown business section, now is a real estate office, while the embassy occupies a palace In embussy row ou upper Sixteenth street. The Italian embassy soon Is to move Into a million-dollar palace across the way. The Russluii embussy bus stood closed and boarded up for several years. Built by Mrs. George M. Pullman Pull-man of Chicago as her home, she sold It to John Hays Hammond, the mining changed Include the house where Mrs. Surrutt lived when she participated In the conspiracy thut culminated In the assassination of Lincoln, which is now a radio shop; Daniel Webster's house und thut of Slldell, one of the Confederate Confed-erate commissioners, which gave way for the new home of the Chamber of Commerce of the United Stutes, and the old home of John Hay, recently sold and probubly soon to be used for business. engineer, who in turn disposed of it to the Russians Just before the collapse I Dawes Secretary Won His Spurs Early ciency and Judgment, and because of these attributes General Dawes muds his selection. Mr. Bart ley went Into newspaper work immediately upon leaving college, col-lege, and he has been at it ever since. He was born in Brookston, Ind., in 1802. After a public school education he attended Indiana university. Hs EROSS BARTLEY. White House correspondent of the Assocl- ated Press, has been chosen by Vice President Dawes to be bis secretary. Mr. Bartley and General Dawes became be-came acquainted when the latter was In Washington as director of the budget. bud-get. General Dawes wus a close personal per-sonal friend of President Harding, and his visits to the White House were most frequent. It wus during these calls that Mr. Hartley and the budget head became well acquainted. It probably prob-ably was not until the recent national campaign, when Mr. Bartley was assigned as-signed to "cover" General Dawes' activities activ-ities throughout the campaign, that the latter had an opportunity to form a real estimation of his newspaper associate. as-sociate. With the election over and confronted con-fronted with the task of selecting un assistant when he assumed the role of vice president, he thought at once of Mr. Bartley. General Duwes wanted more than Just an ordinary secretary. He has had a wide experience In picking pick-ing men for Important work. lie remembered re-membered the work of Mr. Bartley during dur-ing the campaign trip. He had been greatly Impressed with his energy, effi- entered newspaper work as a reporter on the Wilmington (Ind.) Journal In 1015. Within the next 12 months he worked as a reporter for the United Press in Indianapolis and In New York und the Ohio State Journal In Columbus. Co-lumbus. In 1016 he Joined the staff of the Associated Press, serving first in Pittsburgh. Pitts-burgh. He came to the Washington bureau of this organization in 1018, serving as assistant night editor, night editor, assistant day editor and day editor, In the order named. He then covered the senate during two sessions of congress and two years ago was assigned to cover the President. Except for the time he was traveling travel-ing with General Dawes during the campaign, Mr. Rartley accompanied the President everywhere he went, and he whs with the Harding party on the Ill-fated Alaskan trip In 1023.' New Geographical Areas in Cabinef PRESIDENT (XMU.IDCK. like his Immediate predecessors, lias introduced in-troduced new gfographicul areas j Into the cabinet group in two in- ! stances. The secretary of state lir.ngs ! Minnesota for the first lime into the i list of such oMclals. though the stale - was before represented among the secretaries sec-retaries of tbe treasury In William ! Wlndom under President Garfield, and i In the war portfolio In Alexander Riun- ay under President Hayes. But Doctor Doc-tor Jurdlne. Incoming secretary of ug- rlculture, Introduces Kansas for the Brst time as bolder of a portfolio. It 8 phenomenal how closely cnhlnel otli-:lals otli-:lals were selected from the statesmen it the 13 orlj;Iiiul states. New York seems to be the source of supply for premiers, for out of the total of 43 holders of this portfolio 11 were sons of the great stute. Including the first, John Juy. In 1S2T, President John Qulncy Adams made Henry Clay of Kentucky bead of the caMuet, but Ken-I Ken-I lucky was territory of Virginia during the Revolution and at that time was not considered "new country." in 1881, President Jackson asked Edward Llv Ingston of Louisiana to be his premier, hut this statesman came of dlsiln-i dlsiln-i gnlshed New York parentage and was only politically of the Pelican state Then there Is s lapse until Hot, when I President Buchanan asked Lewis Cuss of Michigan to become secretary of state. General Grant had Ellhu Wash-burne Wash-burne f Illinois; James Gille.pl Blaine of Maine served Garfield and Benjamin Harrison, and John W. !'... ter of Indiana was for a few mouths secretary of stale under the second Harrison. Walter Q. Gresham of Ili. nols served President Cleveland and there were three Ohloaus, John Slier-mun. Slier-mun. William R. Day and Join, Hay. under McKlnley and Roosevelt. With these 12 exceptions, all of the 45 men who have been seeretaries of state have come frou. the common-wealths common-wealths whose representative, , ..npJ the Declaration In 1771. |