The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1892-11-04
AN ARMY OF VOTERS.
ABOUT THIRTEEN MILLION OF ClTl-
zENS WILL VOTE FOR PRESIDENT.

some Curious Facts In Connection With
Our System Of Elections The Electoral
College as Now Constituted-The Sue
cessful Candidate Must Have .e3 Votes.
Especial Correspondence.l
WASHINGTON, Oct. I.-Two weeks hence
we VIII DE sitting up late at night and
getting up early in the morning to get re-
turns from the presidential election. Prob
ably there Ii nothing else in the world thai
corresponds exactly with one of these great
quadrennial contests of ours. Only an
American can appreciate the excitement
and anticipation, the hope and fear, the
JOY and the torment attendant upon the
choosing by public ballot of Il new ruler OF
the land.
There is nothing else in this or in any
other country that 50 completely stirs up a
people; nothing else that incites them to
so much activity and effort altogether.
nm of the %stupenlous fact that bet ween
sunrise and sunset of Nov. s bet ween
l2,WO,OOO and 10000 0 Of American citi-
Zens will walk 10 the ballot boxes and de
post their votes for president of the United
States.
Reflect for II moment upon the %insignifi-
canoe of these stupendous figures. II il
were possible for all these voters to be
marshalcd in one army, and they were Ia
march in grand review, twenty-five men in
a line, and 80 closely massed that the men
Of one rank could almost touch the
shoulders of the men Immediately in
front of them. and Ill moving at the rapid
rate of three miles IN hour, the procession
would be 500 miles long and seven laws
would bc required for it to pass a given
point.
Estimating each of the ballots east as
containing 80 square inciIes-and under
the new ballot laws adopted in u majority
OF the states the average size will probably
he greater than this-the white snnwstorm
of l2,,00,00 0 bp.,pls will weigh about2.5O0
tons, or enough 20 load five freight trains
OF twenty-five o..as each.
How do | know that Il, l0D.0O ballots
will he deposited Nov. s? BY the law
of averages -ornr newspapers are offering
prizes to Their readers for the closest guess
on the total vote iur president. | do not
care to win any Of these prizes, but those
of you who do me the honor to read this
letter are welcome to the pointer that the
total vote next mOnth will not he far from
2,G9l 600
At the presidential election of 1888 there
were, as nearly as can he estimated, one
vote to five and Il quarter PERSONS through
out the country. The same ratio applied
10 the estimatcd population of the country
IN $50! gives approximately the uumbcr of
votes stated above. The grand total is
not likely to drop rs low as l2.500,O 600,
nor is it likely TO 20 higher than r. $685. 600.
Somewhere wcen these W estimates.
| venture 10 say, you will find the grand
total when the votes are ali counted.
Compare this magnificent aggregate with
the total popular vote of fifty. sixty OF
seventy years ago, and you will have some
Interesting results. For instance. in 1874,
when .AnGrew jackson first ran for prrsi-
dent, the total popular vote was only 3, 1000,
abOut the same number That TIE state If
Wisconsin will cast two weeks hence. Ia
those days not as much interest was taken
by the masses of the people in presidential
elections as in our time. In 1874 the pOpu-
latiOn Oi the country was about 49, COG,
showing that only one person in twenty
eight exercised the right of suffrage. 1t
is believed, however, that "A greater num-
Der of votes We're cast, but We're not Of
hcially returned, owing to the fact that
the new system of choosing Il president
had been but recently instituted. Still
aS late rs l%:;2 there We're only lUI votes 10
each 1000 OF the population.
In 1910 occurred the first campaign with
such vigOr and enthusiasm in il that tie
popular heart was fired aud II large vote
brought or. That was the famous log
cabin and hard cider campaign, and a pop
ulation of 5000, 600 cast 2,tl0,O 600 votes, or
$50 to | 600 population. This continued To
be approximately the ratio of votes to pop
ulation till 1876, when the number Of
votes in 1000 population was raised 10
| about 10. In 1850 the number became still
greater, or lSj, and in 1855 is believed L.
have reached 100. With dininutiOn of i'm
migration, ard more general iaturaliXI-
ton of foreign born citizens, the ratio may
ultimately reach one in five, though it i.
not likely ,odo sOiu this campaign. There
| are states, however, which have already
exceeded this ratio. Indiana, for instance,
had in June, 1880, IA population Of l,J,S,oNO,
and in November ol that year cast 4iD.Ut
votcs-a ratio. making allowance fer in
crease of population between census tax,
ing and election day, Of 80 voters TO each
1000 Of the population.
The vote of the country has increased
much more rapidly than its population.
Here are some rather interesting figures
which | havec complied from official sources:
approximate