The Critic and record., 1891-05-11

On q division by States on any Ques-
ton, therefore, the Democrats would
carry the vote by 80 to II, or a majority
of Is.
1t is not out of the range of the possible
that such question may arise in the
next House. That question would be the
most important in the history of this
country. 1t would be the question of the
next President of the United States. 1t
seems almost certain that the Farmers
Alliance will place a candidate for the
Presidency in the field. Who that man
may be no one can guess. 1t certainly
can be Senator Stanford of California if
he wants it. With the present strength
of the Alliance and Senator Stanfords
enormous abilities for an energetic cam
paign, it is not impossible that the ALI
ance may win electoral votes enough
not to elect Senator Stanford-but to pre-
vent either the Democratic or Republican
candidates from obtaining the majority
of the Electoral College, necessary for
election. In that case the Constitution,
by article -, provides that the election
shall be thrown into the House of Repre-
sentatives then sitting. That would
mean the Fiftysecond Congress.
The full importance of the fact that
the Democrats control 80 delegations out
of the A. is seen when ii is remembered
that the Constitution provides that the
vote shall be taken by States, and each
State, no matter how great or how small
its delegation, shall have one vote. So
that If the Alliance should elect so many
electors that neither the Republicans nor
the Democrats could cast a majority vote
of the entire college, the next PRESIDENT
would be q Democrat. On this vote all
the States would meet on a common
level, and the $4,000 whites, blacks, half
breeds, mongrels, Chinese and Indians of
the Nevada Mining Camp would be as
powerful in electing q President as the in
telligent residents of the State of New
York, and Mr.. Bartine would be as big
man as Mr.. Flower. So big is the Demo-
cratic majority, even on the unit vote by
States, that they could elect the President,
even if not a single Republican was pres
ent.
The Constitution provides that there
| shall be present quorum consisting of a
member or members from two thirds of
| the States, so that with their thirty States
| the Democrats could legitimately elect the
| President without the attendance of a
single Republican. The deep interest
which both the Democratic and Republi-
| can parties take in the Alliances entrance
| into the field of national politics can
therefore, be very readily understood.
Stlu another feature presents itself IN
| case the Alliance throws the vote into the
| House. There would then probably be q
| Democratic President and Republican
| Vice President. For the same article Of
| the Constitution which makes the House
elect the President, throws the election Of
the Vice President in the Senate. But
| here there is a difference, In the first
! place the list of eligibles for the Vice
Presidency is confined to the two names
having received the highest numbers of
votes cast in the Electoral College, instead
of three, as in the case with the Presi-
dency.
Hence in the next Senate Mr., PETER,
the Alliance Senator from Kansas, will be
compelled 10 vote for either the Republi-
can or Democratic candidate. and il is
| quite likely he will prefer the Republican
| Indeed il is the general belief that after
the first years service in the Senate has
worn the exceedingly new varnish off Mr..
| PETER, he will settle down i'm the Repub-
| lican ranks on all questions. How the
! Rev Mr.. Kyle, the "lndocratn from South
| Dakota would vote in such an emergency
| might be matter OF interest TO himself,
| but is Of no importance to any one else.
| Mr.. lrby, of South Carolina, is a Demo.
| crat he says, and will always be found
consorting with those people.