, 1874-12-16
THE SIXTEENTH AMENDMENT,

tho recorded votes Of tho party.
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THE SIXTEENTH AMENDMENT.
Senator Morton proposed at the lost ses-
sion of Congress constitutional amendment
changing tho method Of clecting the Preai-
dent Of the United States. We hops he will
push it at this session Until Congress acts
upon it and submits it to tho Stnto Lcgisla-
turea for ratification or rejection. II is
worthy to bo tho Sixteenth Amendment to
the Magma Charta Of Amoriea. Senator Nor
roS's plan is, in brief, this: Each State
is to bo divided into as many electoral
districts as it has Representatives i'll
Congress- Tho vote OF each district
would be certified to the proper authorities,
and would DO counted as ono vote for tho
Presidential candidate who received ma
iority Of tho ballots cast in TINT district. Tho
candidate carrying 4 minority Of tile aggro-
gnte vote Of any State is to be credited with
two votes from the State at large. The cer~
tlidnto who has majority or plurality Of all
tho Presidential votes is to be President. Tie
Vice President is to be elected in the same
Why. The electoral districts nre to be formed
by tho Legislatures Of the respec tive Statas,
but Congross is to have power to rearrange
tho diatricts, il it wishes, aud 10 establish tri-
bunals for the decision Of contested elections.
This plan hns several decided advantages
What they are will DO best seen by o state
mont Of the defects in the two other plans
now before tho public.
Tile first of these is the one ow in uso.
It is open to four objections. :First, the nil
nority, however large, is deprived Of its just
weight, aud indeed Of any weight. If the
total vote Of New York, footing up 100000,
shows bnro minority Of hundred or two
votes for oneparty, the Presidential nominee Of
that party will receive the S3 electoral votes
Of tho State. A minority that needed only
200 or 1000 votes more to give its party
nominee these 33 electoral votes can now give
him none. Hero is change Of &C electoral
votes depending, porhaps, upon &C individual
votes in corrupt ward OF New York City |
Tho last sentence suggests the second dan
| ger. A. premium is put on corruption.
Fraudulent votes in fow precincts lnny
carry the whole State. AL tho 1argo
States, Now York, Massachusetts, Penn
sylyania, Ohio, Indiana. and Illinois, con-
| tain large cities; md ba1lot-box stuf.
lng is one Of the tricks In trade
Of the city politicians Of the bnsez
sort. It has been proved that $4,000 fraudu-
lont naturalization papcrs woro issued, used
and voted upon in Now York City at the
election Of 1868. These, in tho hands Of
$4,000 ropoaters, carried tho city overwholm-
ingly against GRANT and tho Republicans.
The city carried the State. Thus fraud in
ono locnlity diminished CHANTS honest u,a
iority of the electoral votes by sixty-six. Il
took tllirty-thrce votes from him and gave
them to SEYMOUR, who had received mi
nority Of tho legal votes. As 1t happened, Iii
majority Of tho other States was SO great that
ho could stnnd this loss Of New York b.
frand. But If lie had needed the real VOTE
New York gave him, and had then beer
cheated out Of it, would tho Republican party
havo submitted to the glaring outrago? II i
Ind not, civil wnr would have beer
. inevitable. For-and this is is th'
third objection to the present plan
, thoro ia no appeal from the ropor
!, or certificate OF election officers no matte
how false its verdict may bo. Nobody can &
] behind the returns (uuloss, indeed, Congress
/ has this dubious powor). CAoating could no
, be mado moro easy aud safe. If the falls
! ballots once got iuto tho box, no tribunal ca1
reject them, though tho roguc's hand b
seized rs tho fraudulent votes fall from II
4 Fourth, when no candidate receives an abso
| luto majority of all tho electoral votes, til
? ohoco doyolvos upon the House, which m,1a
Y yoto on the three highest candidates. III
u delegation from each State casts ono vott
This makos Nevada equal to New York. all
n Delaware equal to Illinois. If delegation
# equally divided, its state loses hor vote
IS There is eudlcss opportunity for iro,pullint
ID bargaining, chicsuery, aua corruption.
II 1900, when JrrgEnsoA and Bum llal til
0 vote, the struggle in Congress- botwcon tho1
II shook tho whole country. The bitter feolin
J. ongondared by it porhRps led to DuNn'a hal
It treasonablo soheino Of Southwestern Tn
o pire in which AARON I. should roign. In I'll
,r acHsior Of 1s28-0, tho Houao elected Jon
J. QUINCY ADAMS over JAoHaoN ut n great CO.
% Of strife and bud blood which laate.l who
d generation. Ihut quarrel cont HKaax Gu