The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-10-24
Presidential Elections.

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The bill introduced into the Senate by Mr..
Edmunds of Vermont, regulating the electo-
raj count and providing for the determination
of lawfully-chosen electors calls the attention
Of the people anew to the danger which, un-
der the present lax and ill-defned system,
attends presidential election. There was
time in the history of this country when
TO doubt OF the perfect wisdom of the fathers
OF the republic or of the Justice of every
provision of the constitution which they
framed would have been esteemed treason
but shade less black than armed rebellion
itself. That day has gone by. We have
come to see that the men of the Revolution
were much like the men OF to-day, guided
by self-induence, misled by prejudices, given
to mistakes in policy, but, under the COM
manding power of great enthusiasm, capa-
bic of heroic deeds. We perceive that they
had little idea of the vast development of
the material resources of the country which
this century has witnessed, and that they
planned for commonwealth quite differ
ent from the United States of to-day. Still
they builded better than they knew,
and the scheme of government which they
contrived for small territory and sparse
population has worked well in country con-
tinental in breadth, and peopled by oae of
the great nations of the earth. Actual trial
has, as was to be expected, brought to light
some defects, but it has also demonstrated
that in the main our modification of the
ancient forms of government is wise one.
SO the lesson which experience teaches is
that we should remedy the proved defects
while carefully abstaining from altering the
general plan, and while avoiding hazardous
experiments.
The most notorious of these defects, and
one which continually menaces our tranquil
ty, is the manner of determining the presi-
Dental vote. The alarming experience un-
dergone by the country last winter empha-
sizes the peril to which we are subject. But
though every one acknowledges the danger
we have escaped, the sanguine American ma
ture leads the most of us on in the old way,
confident that good luck will extricate us
from every difficulty. Some of our best
minds, however, are alive to the necessity of
remedying dangerous defect in our legisla-
tion, and the question of the presidential vote
will be made a prominent one. The measure
suggested by Senator Edmunds looks to the
consideration of the plan suggested by him
in the current number of the Law Review.
He rejects as unworthy of discussion all the
modes of election proposed save the present
and the one proposed by Senate committee
in 1874. This latter plan proposed the choice
of President by the people voting in districts,
the plurality of votes in each district to count
one vote for President. Under this system
Mr.. Edmunds says the choice of the Execu-
tive would be purely national, as much
so practically as If the States were obliterat-
ed. He argues that, after all, this plan o.
election meets no objection to the present
system. He argues in favor of preserving
the autonomy of the States, each acting for
itself in the choice of the Exec utive, as the
best possible check to the dangers which
threaten unified republics in such cases. He
insists that the necessary and logical conse-
| quences of electing the P resident by the peo-
pie, as distinguished from an election by the
States, is to put the whole administration oi
elections, from the registration of voters and
the appointment of officers of election, to the
repression by army force of any tumult, real
or pretended, into the hands of the general
government, and so, really, into the hands oi
the Executive himself, while all this power
| Iow rests wholly with the States. "The eff
/ feet of such powers upon civil liberty and fail
| elections has been, to certain degree, hith-
| erto seen in some of the States, under cir
| cumstances exceptionally in favor of theil
exercise, and is at the present moment pain
| fully visible to all the world in France. The
lessons of experience, as well as the philoso.
ply of government, seem to demonstrate
| that such methods, however valuable they
may be for truth and justice. on rare and
| particular occasions, are, oD the whole, de-
structive of free institutions" The election
| by districts would not remove the probability
| OF disputes. While at present there may be
thirty eight contested returns, under the dis
trict system there may be 300. He thinks the
L PASoSho oJo otOh1 VI OlOStiOh 10 UOttOl Vhnh eAJ
that has been proposed.
| Conceding that it is the right and duty o.
Congress, as the legislative power, to provide
by law for deciding what are electoral votes
when they are opened by the President o.
the Senate, and how and by whom they shall
be counted and declared, the question re-
mains, How far can Congress, under the
constitution, authorize any federal tribunal
be it the Houses of Congress, a board, or q
court, to go in determining the validity of an
an electoral vote? After statingsthe whole
question in all its forms, he reaches the con
| clusion that it would be safer for the peace,
| order and justice of the republic, in the long
run. to have such disputes settled by honest
| judicial means in the States in which they
occur. This could be accomplished without
any change in the constitution, if the State
| elections were held on the 1st of September
and the electors met on the 1st of January
| each State to provide for an immediate decis-
ion by its highest court of all contests touch.
| ing the choice Of electors. Congress should
l provide that such decision should govern in
| the counting required by the constitution.
Four months time would admit of this de-
| cision before the meeting and voting of the
| Electoral College.
Full discussion will bring to light the faults.
| if any there be, of this scheme and empha-
size its merits. 1t is certainly desirable that
this or some other good plan should be adopt
| ed before the next presidential election.
A CHEERING augury may be drawn from
/ the ctafap1apfc nOptoipo1 in tto ronOrt rp.