The sudden death of the Hon. William Windom, Secretary of the Treasury,
in New York, on the evening of the 29th instant, has directed my
attention to the present state of the law as to the filling of a vacancy
occasioned by the death of the head of a Department.

I transmit herewith an opinion of the Attorney-General, from which
it will be seen that under the statutes in force no officer in the
Treasury Department or other person designated by me can exercise the
duties of Secretary of the Treasury for a longer period than ten days.
This limitation is, I am sure, unwise, and necessarily involves in
such a case as that now presented undue haste and even indelicacy.
The President should not be required to take up the question of the
selection of a successor before the last offices of affection and
respect have been paid to the dead. If the proprieties of an occasion as
sad as that which now overshadows us are observed, possibly one-half of
the brief time allowed is gone before, with due regard to the decencies
of life, the President and those with whom he should advise can take up
the consideration of the grave duty of selecting a head for one of the
greatest Departments of the Government.

Hasty action by the Senate is also necessarily involved, and
geographical limitations are practically imposed by the necessity of
selecting some one who can reach the capital and take the necessary oath
of office before the expiration of the ten days.

It may be a very proper restriction of the power of the President in
this connection that he shall not designate for any great length of time
a person to discharge these important duties who has not been confirmed
by the Senate, but there would seem to be no reason why one of the
assistant secretaries of the Department wherein the vacancy exists might
not discharge the duties of Secretary until a successor is selected,
confirmed, and qualified. The inconvenience of this limitation was made
apparent at the time of the death of Secretary Folger. President Arthur
in that case allowed one of the assistant secretaries, who had been
designated to act in the absence of the Secretary, to continue in the
discharge of such duties for ten days, then designated the same person
to discharge the duties for a further term of ten days, and then made a
temporary appointment as Secretary, in order to secure the consideration
that he needed in filling this important place.

I recommend such a modifica