The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1892-06-28
increase In THE VOTE.
How Pres DENTAL Election Fig.
ureS Have SwelIed Since 1924
Cost Also Rising.
PhIaiel hi Pfess.

he Campaign that IS sb III 10 be-
gin for The control of the national
government promises t. be one 1T the
niost int resting Of the twenty SIKH
presidentia! campaigns the c,untrt
has seen. 1t may be lacking in the
dramatic su prises that have marked
$ me Of them, and there may lie less
excitement than sdme C Ose contests in
the past have arOu>eh, hut there wall
be enough Interesting features 10 make
it worthy OF stuiy aud attention. Uu-
pleasant as the C ,mmo:iDn aroused by
one Of tn, Sc great national ruggI-s
msy b. to come, il Is certain that they
are great p':.uisr ,uca:ors and worth
to the people all the time, MOI ey and
effort that they qliireun ally cost.
One Of the MIST interesting features
Of these Contests is the steady iucr:use
IN The popular vote. The record III
tie first nine elections is, tosever, de-
frctive. When Washington w.s
elected to the PRESIDENCY the electoral
Vote was cast BY The state legislatures,
rs the constitution permits it to lie.
r"i- method continued in use in Sont,
Carolina until 1861, but the popular
vote method Was Ia u-e in some st.es
as early MS 1900 No complete vo:e
of the country rs presidential cleo
i'm, however, Is accessible previous
to Tie ell &C ion OF 1924. Ia that cleo
ion 3d., 062 votes wer. Cast, but there
mustIisve been large incr, ase IL
the numb r OF iegalrolefs during the
next four wears, as the eiec;iun vi
1882 showed t9tal popular vote u
,156 32S.
From that time on the sail is
steady, o. ~ one election proving an
yxc-piion, that OF 1864. when smal
er vote was cast than IN 1860. OWING
To the fact that eleven states were in
rebellion and did not participate. The
riecti.n u; 1910 saw the poll m Ike
one o. the longest strides, the swe-p
and popular enthusiasm which car
RED William Henry Harrison into the
presidential chair adding almost l.
900, 900, votes to the total, 2, 4lO. 772
votes having been cast against ,49S
sos, in 1926. In. 5, 100000. was
not passed until le52, when 142.
81, votes were po,led, and tour years
later 1852 1861, dropped iu'o III.
boxes, Ii was twelve years later, OF
IN 1868, when another nume-al vas
added to the front Fl cure, aud > 624,
624. vo.es were p"l;ed. Each quad
--nnial cont-st s;nce then has seen
from 7O0, 900, 10 l, 300 600. votes adj
edd to total poll, until 1888. the poll
reached II 1854 9S7. Next November
ALL d .ubiless see II. 500 600, votes
cast.
Another inte.t sting feature is the
rApi lily Increasing cost OF e:ecting n
president. 1t is no exrggera,Iou 10
say, probably, that every vo,e cast
next November will cost 81. This in
cludes the expense Of printing the
ia lots aud receiving and counting
them. This year the cust will be
larger than ever before ON acc 'unt Cf
the great number Of votes t. he Cas-,
and the adoption OF the Austr III N
-yslem in many states. The cost al
the great nominating convent n.
held every :our years is enormous, but
il N only be co,jectured. II u it
ar. added the cost OF the ward, d s.
trict, unity and state conventions,
which lead up to the natl nal CONVEX
tion, the statement that the cost of
nominating presidential candidate is
$4,000. 900 may not be much Of an
exaggeration. When this sum Is
added to money spent during the
camp,ign in organizing the party. o.
street parades, in holdiag meetii g,
ont the vote and other necessary
things, It will be seen that We pay a
pretty high price tor our p"lisics.
Does It pay? IL is " large sum of
moaey, and a super fetal observer
would say tina, it is thrown away But
= different ver.iict will be given by
those who 10 K more clos ly. There
is no better p,puiar edic tor tn n
Ihe,e presidential csnvasses. They
arouse attention, force people to ihi1K
aud create sD interest IN the govern
isent and country which could be &C.