Section 1, Clause 5. In case of the 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, and the Congress may, by law, provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inability both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

Presidential Succession.—­In 1886 Congress provided that in case of the death, resignation, or disability[41] of both President and Vice-President, the succession should be 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 Secretary of Agriculture was added in 1889.

[Footnote 41:  What constitutes disability has not been settled.  President Garfield performed only the single executive act of signing an extradition paper from July 2 to September 19, 1881.  The fact of his inability to discharge the duties of President was not formally established.  Nor was there declared disability in the case of President McKinley, between September 6 and the day of his death, September 14, 1901.]

Salary of the President.—­Section I, Clause 6. The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he may have been elected, and he shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the United States or any of them.

In 1909 the salary of the President was changed from $50,000 to $75,000 a year.  The custom has been established that no President shall receive a gift from any civil body, such as a city council, a State legislature, or a foreign state.  In addition to his salary, the President is provided with an “executive mansion,” the “White House,” which is furnished at the expense of the government.  The Vice-President receives $12,000 annually.

Salaries of Foreign Rulers.—­The salary paid our President is small when we compare it with the grants made to European rulers.  In 1901 the English government voted some $4,000,000 for the annual use of the royal household.  The Czar of Russia receives $6,500,000 annually, in addition to revenues derived from 1,000,000 square miles of crown domains.  The President of France receives $231,600 annually.

Inauguration Day.—­One of the most notable of our civic festivals occurs on the fourth of March[42] after the Presidential election.  Then thousands of people go to Washington to witness the inaugural exercises, by which the President and Vice-President are formally invested with their offices.  The Constitution provides that the President shall take the following oath of office before entering on his duties:—­