Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-01-21


surroundings IN 1872, when the aduators
! of Gen. Grant, from motives of personal
/ endearnents and admiration, streve to
! secure for their hero a third term. a
/ wild and senseless foray was made by the
| embattled hosts of the victor of AppoTnat-
| tox, against q usage which has gained
upon the affections of the people with the
| flight of years, and whose foundation
has strengthened and become as inde-
structibIe rs Gibraltar Beneath their
standard and streaming colors, the re-
doubtable foTloTn hope led by ConkIing,
sank TO rise no more within the shadow of
the ramparts time and patriotism had
deftly woven as d bPeakwater against
the wild surges of inoTdinate am
bitiop. Without essaying TO
treat with exhaustive thorough
ness the subject of the electoral college
system and collateral questions in their
! relation to newborn propositions. will
| drop few hints and suggestions only.
| At the time the convention of 1889 sat,
popular feeling and sentiment was ar
rayed and massed on either side Of two
counter theories of government. Mr..
| Hamilton stood for the extreme views of
| the FederalIsts who, in phalanx-s trong,
! strove to establish a strong central
| government Mr. Madison and his coad-
against the efforts and blows of the ultra
! lists, and sought, as they succeeded IN
/ doing, to impress ineffacably more liberal
notions upon every feature of its frame
work Considerations of state pride and
| state sovereignty animated them to eX-
IRENE caution, lest the autonomy of the
several states should appear more unreal
than real The electoral college would
seem to be the outgrowth of the peculiar
and exploded states rights doctrines of that
era. Besides suffusing national elections
with an added grace, charm and dignity,
! it emphasizes the autonomy of each state
| ana brings into greater relief their sepa-
rate Identities and individualities There
is too much of undignided arm-clutch
fusion of integral parts of q whole, sort
of melting down of old and distinct met
ais into a homogeneous mass III the
method of electing president
! by direct vote of the
| people. The elimination of the
electoral college, would seem if not a
stab outright, at least to be a barbed
| jaYelin hurled in point blank range with
| the sensitive, self conscious individuality
of each state, with marked tendency to :.
degrade and profane the dignity of each.
| But few years ago a presidential sue
cession bill became a law. This clumsy
piece of legislation does not seem to be
in harmony with popular principles. It
smacks too much of heredity with
appointees of the government as bene-
ficiaries in a certain juncture. Would i
not have been more compatible with the
genius of representative government to
have widened the province and utility of
the electoral college and provided as well
for its continuance in unimpaired yigor
and integrity from term to term. Elmer
gencies which might have arose from
sudden vacations of the executive chair,
in the abs0nse of other constitutional ex-
pedients, could have been coun-
tered by RELOCATING the choice of
a chief magistrate to the electors of the
several states, in college assembled.
This method woald have insured a speedy
choice OF a representative statesman of
the same political predictions as the
outgoing official, fresh from the ranks of
the people, and bone of their bone and
flesh of their flesh. The constitutions not
chance-begotten neither is it the bastard
offspring of devil-me care accidents
In the philosophy of its conception and
adaptation to the wants and necessities of
a free people, it is unchallengeably
model and marvel of it's kind. The |
farmer of St. Ives-Old Ironsides-
the hero of Dunbar, when sitting for his
portrait, told the Inner to paint Him as
he was, warts and all. Our Magma
Charta, greater than that the Infatuated
barons wrung from King John
at Runnymede, is far above
the lOfties encomiums. The life
giving waters of our faith as they course
through every artery of our being and
break into eddies and cataracts of enthu-
siasm, will sweep majestically on as we
gaze with rapture upon the heritage be- |
queathed us by our ancestors. One by |
one the old landmarks are fading from |
view, and if innovations continue un- |
checked we may soon have oc- |
casion to pause amid confusion |
and distress and inquire if this |
IS the house our foTefathers built. |
March next, we viii have rounded off a |
full-blown centenary of constitutional |
existence. The event is to be celebrated |
with due solemnity and imposing cere-
mony. There are signs in the political |
zodiac which furnish food for reflection |
The last vestige of Federalism did not |
perish from the face of the earth |
with the West Indian advocate |
In the hot-beds of the east the regation !
OF aristocratic and more uneongenial |
theories of government are yet nur tured |
and fondly cherished. It strikes me |
forcibly that there is a bug under the /
bark of a chip that is creating this stir |
and eagerness about longer presidential |
term. The misbegotten spawn of Repub-
ican methods, the over-fed, devoted, |
yet undevOut and corrupt and corrupting |
corporations and capitalistic combines of |
the country, though profusedly bled /
and heeced by the famous fat
friers in the late campaign, are not |
yet reduced to Il canatose state of sus-
pended animation. Is it matter of |
amazement that longer lease of power
or executive tenure should be desired by
the pimps wards and barnacles of Repub-
lican legislation, when il cost them the
last time near on 10 S. 900 600 TO bid in |
the presidency? This thing is getting to
be little irksome as well as too costly a
luxury. If the interval between perform
ances III thwarting the popular
will is less narrow and contracted
it will require less fat-frying
The triple alliance of greed grit and
gold, to use an iIliteratiye phrase, is
what forced III utter rout and dismay to
the wall, the old party of the constitu-