New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-03-19
A NEW ELECTORAL SYSTEM.


TO the Editor Of The Tribune.
SIR: The serious danger of anarchy and conse-
ouent civil war by which the country has been so
recently threatened, and from which it has made so
narrow an escape. has turned universal attention
toward tbe defects of our National Constitution in
its provisions for the election of a President ana
yicePresiden of the United States, and for asccr-
tanning the result of such an election when made III
is felt 10 be impossible that we should allow our
selves 10 drift on into the midst OF another
SO exciting struggle, without having previously
provided electual safeguards against the recurrence
of hazard 20 formidable as that through which
we have Just passed At present the public mind
aDpaars to be very much unsettled as to what those
safeguards ought to be- Ii is agreed on all hands
that the electoral system, in the form which 1t has
actually taken. is useless if not pernicous piece
of machinery which ought to be abandoned. In ITS
theory as il was designed by the trainers of the
Constitution it was a beautiful system. Ii con-
tempated the selection of limited number OF cli-
gems the wiscst and best i'll the community, chosen
as a Jury is chosen for their presumed upright
ness and freedom from bias TO choose IN
turn in the exercise of their wholly
untraInmelcd Judgment the man best entitled for
his ability, his personal worth and his public ser
vices TO be the chief ruler of the nation. There is
something SO Utopian about this scheme that we
find if difficult to understand how it cOuld ever have
found favor among practical statesmen Ike the
fathers of our Republic. 1t was failure from the
very beginning; and so completely for the last nan
century have the members of the Electoral College
been Invested of their freedom of choice and action
and reduced to the discharge of functions purely
ministerial, as to throw over such performances as
those of Grover in Oregon. and those of the House
of Representatives in the case of the challenged
votes in Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wisconsin, an
aSnact cIoealv rcsernhliup he ludicrOuS
Several substitutes for the electoral system have
been suggested One Of these is to elect the Presi-
dent by direct vote of the people. 10 TINS there
are several objections The first as that the perlodi-
cally recurring and always protractcd popular eX-
elements attending the Presidential canvass, which
il was the design of the electoral system to prevent
but which il has unfortunately failed OF preventing
would by the adoption of such plan, be MADE per-
petual A second and even more serious objection IS
that under this PLAN the evil and the same IN
iustice would be liable tn be felt i'll the nation
which has so long been suffered in the state OF
New-YOrk where the general voice has been stlhed
for a long succession of years by an umnteillgedt
local majority. 1t is true. believe, that II, from
the popular vote Of this State in November
1876, there should be deducted the votes cast IN
about ten of the wards Of this city most remarkable
for he prevalence IN them of Ignorance and vice.
the 80 electoral votes of the State would be trans
fpIrcQ from llIlth ana iitlNAiiNhH W nays anu
Wheeler. In like manner a few such abnormal ma
iortes NJ the 60 coo Of Mississippi and the $4,000
of Georgia ght swamp the smaller opposing major
ies Of all the other States and give purely see
tioual administration. The third objection 10 tins
plan is that Il obterae, The hnes of the States ana
thus dmini,hcs the relative gt Of the vote which
the smaller States are now entitled to gave We
have had recent and too signal evidence OF the I'M
poramce of preserving to the several States all their
Il. Al.
A second plan proposed for ellccting the election
Of a President, the design of which is TO avert the
evil of sectional rule above referred to as liable TO
result from the excessive pIcpOndermce Of local ma
jolites has been to allow each state to cast aS many
electoral votes as present, hut to distribute these
among the competing candidates IN the proportion
OF the numbers Of suiiTa gcs which each such can
didato has received in the popular election The
vote Of New-York, for example distributed on this
principle in the election of November last, would
have given Is TO Mr.. Tilden and II To dr, Hayes
This is better than the first plan mentioned but IT
does not provide against the popular agitation and
excitement which have grown to be so serious
detTimcnt to the business of the country and which
the trainers of the Constitution designed 10 pre-
vent
third plan suggested has been to commit to each
Congressional district the choice OF a single cect0r
leaving the two State or Senatorial electors TO be
chosen by general tickets. OF the three plans thus
far considered this is certainly the best, since by
means OF it an electoral college is secured in which
the country is geographically represented as UNI
fOrmly as possible.
But better than all these as it seems to me- is
which now venture to propose for the first time
Ia regard to the geographical distribution OF votes
il cnbodes tue p1ncIple of that last mentioned, bat
IL PROPOSES 10 dispense with the necessity OF popu
lar canvass by substituting legislative election OF
electors to be conducted by giving to the delegation
in the Lower House of the Legislature from each
Congressional district Of each state the right to
elect one elector, and 70 the Senate the right to
eject the two electors who represent the state Tins
plan is analogous to that which, under the pro-
visions of the Constitution, the House Of Repre-
sentaves of Congress required TO proceed to the
choice of President ii of failure by the peo
pie to elect only that in this latter case. the deega-
ton of each State casts but one vote, while Oh the
plan proposed the delegation in the State Legislature
from each Congressional district casts one vote.
This plan secures, as nearly possible a true ex-
preston of the voice of the people, and it avoids the
agitati0ns, the eXcitements, the abandonment OF
business 10 engage in professions, attend mass meet
ng canvass voters and pull political wires OF every
kind, which at present occupy with so many OF our
citizens SO large "A portion of the Summer aud Au-
tumn of every Presidential year Nor Is II a trlting
consideration that the plan, if adopted. would pre-
vent the expenditure of the incredible sums OF
money which, in the progress of every canvass, are
inevitably sauandered sometimes for legitimate OBJ
jects but quite as often for purposes of corruption
and always to the detriment of both individuals and
OF the pubic.
The plan does not make an electoral college indls-
pensable Instead of electing electors, each district
delegation might, through one OF their number, pub