Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-01-01

from all other republics ever known, and
to this is due its permanence and stability.
The people are sovereign. So are the
States. But the government is partner
ship, a union or fusion of the two sover-
eighties into one government, wherein
both are equal and both are sovereign.
In all other republics one or the other OBJ
tanned the upper hand. When the people
succeeded, it resulted in mob rule. When
the State succeeded, it resulted in mon
archy. A permanent and stable anarchy
government without king) can only
exist where the perfect balance is main
tanned.
This perfect balance of power met with
a problem in regard to the election of the
the Executive. If chosen by the States,
he would become the creature of the
States. If chosen by the people, he would
become the puppet of the people. The
balance of power would be destroyed, and
the government would contain the seeds of
its disruption.
The same principle upon which every
other division of power was based was APP
piled to this. Each State was given two
votes, and the people of each Congressional
district one vote, the State casting all. At
the coming election for President, next
month, the States will cast rs votes for
themselves and 325 for the people The
President then 10 be elected will be chosen
by both combined. He will have no
reason to favor measure that will inure
to the particular benefit of either. When
an act comes to him approved by both
States and people, his approval or rejection
will not represent leaning to the inter-
ests of either. When one is proposed, his
influence will not be cast for or against its
passage by any reason connected with his
election.
Mr.. Cleveland was defeated fairly under
this theory of the Government. Had such
an issue as this provides against been
raised, and had he received every popu-
lar vote, he would have been entitled only
to 325 electoral votes, and the rs votes of
the States might have been cast against
him. But he received only plurality of
81. 95S in total of 100000. This dis
tributed the electoral vote belonging to
the people as follows:
Harrison...
But Harrison received the vote of
twenty States and Cleveland the vote of
only eighteen States The election, there
fore, in theory, resulted as follows:
Cleveland. Harrison.
Peoples electoral vote.-...... 16i ISL
States electoral yote........... Sc 40
Total ........................ 200 2l1
The people elected Cleveland, the States
elected Harrison, and in joint Convention
the two elected or will elect, Harrison.
The twill of the people" is not defeated
by the election of Harrison any more than
it is defeated in the election of Senator
when the two Houses disagree and the
election is decided in Joint Convention, or
any more than it is defeated every time
the Senate (the States fails to pass a bill
sent to it by the House of Representatives.
The will of the people" is expressed in
two ways in this Government-directly by
ballot and indirectly by State Government,
and the "will Of the people fairly ex-
pressed in these two ways gave Harrison
the majority of the electoral votes.
If the President should be elected by
the popular vote, and not by the combined
votes Of the States and the people of the
States, then the Senate should be abol-
ished; State lines should be obiiterated !;
the unit for local self-government should
be made the Congressional District, ten or
more districts forming a Territory; and
our present well-balanced and stable Fed
eral Government should be changed to re-
semble for the brief period it would exist
the absurd caricatures on popular sover-
eighty which the history of dead republics
furnish.
But this is not saying that our present
method of electing President is perfect,
for it is not 1t needs amendment, and
needs it badly. But in such amendment
the greatest care must be exercised not to
deal a deadly blow at the dual principle of
government, which is the vital principle
of our Federal Union. Amendments must
be well considered, and none must be seri.
with it, or that will open the way to ra-
dical changes in its character.
Each State shall appoint, in such man
ner as the Legislature thereof may direct,
a number of electors equal to the whole
number of Senators and Representatives
to which the State may be entitled in the
Congress"
How these electors may be appointed in
any one State is a matter which under our
present laws concerns only the people of
that particular State. 1t is nobody's BUSH
ness outside of that State whethei they are
appointed for life, or by the Governor every
four years, or by the people. Nor is it any
ones business outside the State whether
they purchase their appointment or have
it given to them. If the Legislature of
Rhode Island should pass law making it
a felony to vote for a Democratic elector it
would be no ones business outside of
Rhode Island, and comment would be as
much out of place as if the Legislature of
Queensland had passed the BILL This is
all wrong, but it is fact to which we can
not shut our eyes.
For the first thirty-six years, until 1924,
these electors (who are State officers, the
same as Judges, Commissioners, or any
others appointed or elected) were APP
pointed by the Legislatures. Then some
States preferred to have their electors APP
pointed by the people. Other States fol-
lowed their example. But up to the open
ing of the civil war all the States did not
elect their electors. In 1876, the first full
and free election after reconstruction, all
the States did not appoint their electors by
ballot The State elections of 1880 were
the first in the historyo of the United States
where all the States submitted the appoint
ment of the electors to the unbiased vote
of their people. But any State may at its
pleasure change the present method of APP
pointment to any other method its Legis-
latme may direct, exactly as it changed
from the old manner of appointment to
this; and under the present system it is
nobody's business outside of the State what
that manner of appointment may be. By
amendment, whenever at
any general election for electors of State
there shall be an abridgement of the right
Of suffrage, the State must submit to a
abrids ment in its represen-