The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1889-01-11
A Direct Vote for President.

The failure of the recent choice of
prs sldentiai electors TO reflect c0rrec
tly the will of the N m-jOrity OF the the
voters has had the effect of calling at
tention TO the faults of the electoral
system OF choosing president The
press without distinction Of party has
Commented very freely on The iDcongru-
ity presented IN the result o. the late
election, of a majority of the electoral
vote for q candidate who received a
smaller number OF votes at the polls
tIan one of his competitors. Tais
same subject has attracted the attention
OF congress and representative Spring
er of Illinois has given notice of an
amendment to ths federal constitution
be intends 70 propose which would
abolish the electoral college aud give 10
each State the number OF presidential
vo.ss to which it would be entitled un
der the electoral sySsem. but would sub
stitDts direct vote for presidential
candidates for the present indirect vote
through electors. Mr.. Spriuger's pro
position further contemplsteS a pro-
portIonal vote for president in each
State by dividing the whole number
OF votes cast by the number OF pIesiden-
tial votes 10 which the State is entitled,
thus dndIng the ratio for 4 presidential
vote and giving each candidate as many
votes as the ratio would be contained
In the number of votes cast for him at
the polls, the candidate having the
largest fraction of ratio IS a remain
der to be entitled 10 any additional
presidential vote that must be deter
mined by the consideration of fractions
or remainders.
The proposition of Representative
So -,
tectly fair 10 every candidate and parry.
Uuder this plan of choosing President
the people could vote di-ecfly for-Ih
candidate and every vote, whefh cast
in Vermont or Texas, would couut. 1t
would wipe out sectioualism as ppliti-
cal factor, break the solid S1uth as we'll
as the solid North. A Republican can
didate for President would have his
vote counted 70: him in every Southern
State and the Democratic candidate
would get his proportional return in
every Northern State. Under this plan
there could be no "piyotas State, -
therefore the expenditure OF Immense
sums OF money to carry any particular
STATE would be useless end the corTup-
tion OF elections would be checked 20
hat extent. Thers is really no good
resson why this proposition should not
be incorporated in the federal constitu-
tion in lieu OF the present elec oral plan.
1t !s pity, though, that Mr.. Spring
er has tackled on To his proposed amend
ment provision extending the presi-
Dental term to six years. He should
make haste 70 seperate the two. The
present term or the presidency is long
srough. As already demonstrated In
these columns 10 extend the presidential
term is a step toward Casarism. Either
the powers OF the executive must be
greatly diminished or no attempt should
bs made to prolong the time for his
accounting TO the p-ople for his steward
ship. Lst Mr.. Springer stick to his
electoral proposition and try his other
idea by the test of true Democracy be-
fore he insists upon coupling the two
in the same constitutional amendment.
-HarriSburQ Patriot.