The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-01-26
senator Morton's Proposed Amendment
10 the Consultation.

| minute uiScuSslOn OF MI. MORTON s scueine
tor changing the method and machinery OF
electing the President and Vice President,
because we are convinced, quite aside from Its
Intrinsic merits dement's, that 1t has no
chance OF success. 1t would be futile TO dis
cuss the details of a proposed measure which
is certain to be rejected on it's main features.
Mr.. Morton's plan contemplates the election
OF the President by direct vote of the people
without the intervention of Presidential
electors. This might be very well if all the
voters of the country could be regarded as one
electoral body and the actual votes OF the
whole people were to be counted as they
are counted in electing the Governor of
State. But this is not the plan. Instead
of the simplicity of direct popular
vote, to be counted as votes are in State
election, Mr.. Morton advocates method
which would be even more complex and
cumbrous than the one 1t aims to supplant.
This scheme is very much like proposal to
elect the Governor of New York by making
each Assembly district q separate political
unit and giving its whole vote to the candi-
date who might happen to have plurality in
that district, the successful candidate being
the one who carried majority OF the dis
! tricts Such mode Of electing State
| Governor would be secuted as preposterous,
| and yet it would be close parallel to Mr..
| Morton's plan for electing a President.
| What he proposes is that the citizens OF each
Congressional district shall vote directly for
President and Vice President, but that the
,o, III, in, oh
shall be entitled to it's whole vote, which is
Just equivalent in effect to permitting each
Congressional district to choose one Presi-
dental elector under the present system
Instead of the two additional Presidential
electors to which each State is entitled by its
Senators Mr. Morton proposes that the people
of the State vote at large for Presidential can
| didates, and that the candidate receiving
plurality is to have two votes in addition to the
number Of Congressional districts which make
| him their choice Instead of simplifying our
| present system, this scheme would make it
more clumsy. 1t really retains the electoral
| votes while abolishing the Presidential cleo
| tors, and resorts to roundabout methods to get
their function performed AS the Presiden-
| tial electors are mere passive instruments, hav-
ing no will OF their own, and as they are not OBJ
| jectionable in point of expense, the substance
| OF Mr. Morton's amendment could be more
simply and intelligibly reached by permitting
each Congressional district to choose one Presi-
dental elector and each State to choose two
such electors at large. This is what MIR. Nor
! tons plan amounts to, except that it abolishes
the Presidential electors and substitutes a
more complex machinery.
This being the substance of the proposed
| amendment, it is easy to understand why it is
impracticable. 1t would diminish the demo-
cratic strength in the Presidential election Of
1876, and the democratic party will not con-
, sent to such dimInution. An amendment to
the constitution requires the ratification of
three-iourths of the State Legislatures; but
as majority of the State Legislatures are
democratic, it is clsar that no constitutional
amendment can be ratified which the demo-
cratic party does not approve. Certain it is
that the democratic party will not accept a
constitutional amendment which would de-
prive it of sixty or seventy electoral votes in
the next Presidential election. The demo-
Gratis will regard Mr.. Mortons plan as an in
sidious attempt to deprive them of a legiti-
mate advantage. Let us take the State of
New York as an illustration. Under the
present system of electing the President the
whole thirty-five Presidential electors to which
the State is entitled would be given to the
democratic candidate. But, according to Mr.
Morton's scheme, the State would be about
equally divided between the two politi-
cal parties. CHASING the liberal re-
publcans democrats New York,
III its recent election, chose seventeen
democratic and sixteen republican members
Of Congress. IF 1874 had been Presidential
year, and If Mr.. Morton plan had been in
I operation, the republicans would have had
what is equivalent to sixteen Presidential
electors, Whereas under the present system,
they would not have had single electoral
vote in the whole State. At present the Pres
idential electors in each State are elected on
general ticket and are all given to one party.
But MI Mortons scheme would give what is
equivalent to one electoral vote to the repub-
ican candidate in every Congressional district
which elects republican member 1t is
preposterous TO expect the democratic Legis-
lature of New York to ratify an amend
ment to the constitution which would
give sixteen electoral votes to the next
republican candidate for the Presidency.
when, under the constitution as it stands
the whole weight of the State would be
put into the democratic scale The same
reasoning will apply to Ohio, where the dem
ocrats elected twelve and the republicans
eight of the members of the next Congress
Why should the Ohio democrats surrender
those electoral votes in the Presidential cleo
ton The democratic party having secured
| ite ascendancv in most of the great States II