Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-03

were chosen Presidential electors At the
first election Washington was made Presi-
dent by the general wish of the people. The
electors simply registered the public WILL
They exercised their own preference in re-
gard to Vice President and chose John
Adams. AT the next election the electors
again registered the popular will by voting
for Washington as President but in regard
to Vice President the failure of the cleo
toral system even at that early day was ap-
parent. Party lines were drawn, lmper-
tectly but still distinctly. The Federallst
electors voted for Adams and the antl.Fed-
eralists for Clinton. The power OF choice
had practically gone from the electors even
then.
The equal vote for Jefferson and Burr in
$500, and the struggle threatening civil war
which followed, led to an amendment DONG
away with the provision giving the Presl-
dency to the person having the highest
number of electoral votes, and the Vice
Presidency to the person having the next
highest. The twelfth amendment to the
Constitution provides that the electors shall
name In their ballots the person voted for as
Vice President. This change made repetl-
tlon OF the danger of 1901 impossible
The Plan Adopted by Michigan.
This has been the only constitutional
President established by the Constitution.
In each State we vote every four years for
electors to select President and Vice Pres
ldent These electors can be chosen in any
manner the Legislature of the State may
direct, either at large, by districts, or in the
Legislature itself All methods have been
used, but the country has finally settled
down to the uniform practice of choosing
the electors at large for each State.
Lately Michigan has returned to the dis
trict system in order that a gerrymander to
secure Congressman unduly might also Sc
cure electors for the party making the
gerrymander 1t NAV be doubted, how
ever, if this return to an old system, al
though for new objects, will be generally
accepted, as the good sense of the country
has decided in practice that the vote of
each Electoral college ought to represent
the majority vote of each State. The
elec' ors are named in each State by the
different parties and are voted for in block.
The electors chosen meet in their respective
States on given day and vote. Their vote
is duly recorded and sent not only by mail,
but also, in accordance with the old form,
by special messenger to Congress, where
the votes are opened, counted and declared
by the two Houses.
The Old Forms With Meaning Gone.
Thus the old forms survive unchanged,
but all the meaning except in one point has
departed. Party conventions now select
our Presidents and Vice Presidents and the
electors for whom we vote are merely ma
chimes to register the expressed will of the
party which nominates and elects them
The electors have no power. As they are
in honor bound to do, they simply register
in constitutional forms the will of the popu-
lar majority which has selected them.
The system which showed so quickly that
it would not work in the manner intended
by those who devised it seems to-day
cumbrous as well as meaningless. But it is
well to remember that although it has failed
of its original purpose, it has worked per-
fectly well for century and has proved en-
tirely harmless.
In enc important point, moreover, the
Electoral College has real and vital mean
ing. The people ought to vote as they
always have for President and Vice Presi-
dent, by States. This is an important and
necessary application of the Federal princi-
pie, and it is preserved by the electoral col
leges. At the same time the direct vote of
the people for the Chief Magistrate is ob-
tanned as well as it could be in any arrange
ment, for the electors long since ceased to
come between the people and the Presi-
dency, and they really register the popular
will as directly as if the votes were given
for President and Vice President without
any intervention.
HENRY CABOT LODGE.