The Indianapolis Journal

Senator Edmunds stated both the law and the practice and the common sense of this question when he said the other day that a senator designated in this way to preside could never claim to be in the line of presidential succession, for the reason that such a designated senator has never exercised any of the important functions of the President pro tem. He has never, so far as the records of the Senate show, signed a bill or a joint resolution, or done anything more than to act as a stop-gap in the chair. This is the practice, and the law and common sense coincide with it. The real President pro tem. is the man whom the Senate elects to that place, and it is only reasonable to suppose that he continues to hold the place so long as he is able or willing to do so, or until the Senate chooses his successor.—New York Tribune.