PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION ACT 4813 



PRESSBURG 



Powers and Privileges of the President. The 

 President's duty is to preserve, defend and pro- 

 tect the Constitution. In so doing he manages 

 the foreign relations of the United States; he 

 may call Congress in special session to consider 

 any measures he believes vital to the welfare 

 of the country; he may address Congress in 

 person or in writing for the purpose of outlining 

 his policies or urging legislation; he may veto 

 lative acts of Congress; he appoints offi- 

 cers of the United States; may grant pardons 

 and reprieves to offenders against Federal laws, 

 and may personally assume command of the 

 army and navy, of both of which the Consti- 

 tution makes him commander-in-chief . In prac- 

 tice he delegates many of these powers to oth- 

 ers, but he alone is directly responsible to the 

 people. The President's right to resign is recog- 

 nized by the Constitution. For any of his acts 

 he is not liable to an ordinary court or magis- 

 trate; but he may be impeached by the House 

 of Representatives and tried by the Senate. 

 If he is convicted and removed from office, he 

 may then be tried as a private citizen in or- 

 dinary courts. 



The President receives a salary of $75,000 a 

 year, which compensation may not be increased 

 or lessened during his term. He also has the 

 free use of the Executive Mansion, or White 

 House, together with its furnishings and equip- 

 ment and an allowance for their maintenance, 

 which may vary from year to year. He is also 

 allowed $25,000 a year for the expenses of 

 travel, but he is prohibited by the Constitution 

 from receiving any compensation or emolument 

 from any foreign country or ruler. 



Consult Cleveland's Independence of the Execu- 

 tive; Bryce's American Commonwealth. 



Related Subject*. The reader is referred to 



the following articles in these volumes : 



Electoral College Presidential Succession 



ichment Act 

 Political Parties 



PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION, prezidcn' 



shal suksesh'un, ACT. Every American 



knows that if the President of the United 



States does not complete his term of office he 



is succeeded by the Vicc-President, but how 



many know what would happen if the Vice- 



Prcsidcnt should resign or should die? During 



first decade of the Union no one knew, for 



on said nothing about it, and no 



laws had been passed to provide for such an 



rgency. In 1792 Congress ruled that the 



;>orary President of the Senate and 



ker of the House of Representatives should 



be next in succession to the Vice-President, but 

 nearly a century later the law was changed so 

 that a President's temporary successors would 

 be those more fitted to carry out his policies. 

 Under this law of 1886 the succession is in the 

 following order: 



Secretary of State 

 Secretary of the Treasury 

 Secretary of War 

 Attorney-General 

 Postmaster-General 

 Secretary of the Navy 

 Secretary of the Interior 



The offices of Secretary of Agriculture, Secre- 

 tary of Commerce and Secretary of Labor did 

 not exist in 1886, so the holders of them are not 

 in the list of possible Presidents by succession. 

 Whichever of the Cabinet members does as- 

 sume the executive office must, if Congress is 

 not in session, summon it to meet within 

 twenty days to provide for a Presidential elec- 

 tion. No member of the Cabinet who is in the 

 succession named above may succeed to the 

 Presidency under the act of 1886 if he is not 

 a natural-born citizen of the United States. In 

 such dilemma the choice would pass to the next 

 eligible Cabinet member. 



PRESS, LIBERTY OF THE. In times of peace 

 all liberal governments give their citizens the 

 right to publish anything they choose, making 

 them responsible under the law of libel for 

 false statements. This privilege, known as ft'6- 

 crty of the press, is one of the fundamental 

 rights of the people of democratic nations, and 

 it has been won, like other common rights, 

 after centuries of struggle. For the protec- 

 tion of society, certain laws restricting the lib- 

 erty of the press are necessary. It is cus- 

 tomary, for example, to forbid the publishing 

 of libelous and obscene matter, and in some 

 countries the right to criticize the policies of 

 the government or of high officials is greatly 

 curtailed, even in time of peace. This is true 

 especially in Germany and Spain. Probably 

 tlio prrutt >t liberty in this matter is found in 

 the English-speaking countries England and 

 its colonies and the United States. The first 

 amendment to the American Constitution de- 

 clares that Congress shall pass no law abridging 

 freedom of the press. A determined effort 

 was made by the administration to have Con- 

 gress pass a censorship bill curtailing the power 

 <>f the press after America's entrance into the 

 of til-- Nations. The effort was unsuc- 

 cessful. See LIBEL. 



PRESSBURG, prea'boorK, the former capi- 

 tal of Hungary, and present capital of tin 



