The Saint Paul globe., 1896-12-20
SNAP FOR SOME ONE
THE MINNESOTA ELECTOR WHO
WILL CARRY THE RETURNS TO
WASHINGTON
WILL DRAW OVER $500 FOR 1T.
PROCESS by WHICH THE RESULT
OF THE LAST ELECTION BE-
COMES KNOWN.
IN THE LOCAL POLITICAL FIELD.
e. NJ. johnson Doesn't Want the OIL
InspectOrship, But Report Says
Eli Warner Does.

ate at w dSn1nSJOn. InlS messenger
will have quite a happy service to per-
form, including nice trip to the ma
tional CAPITOL which will pay him
$313.50, or enough to pay his necessary
expenses and some more.
The messengers from California and
Oregon will receive $780,
The electors meet in each state the
second Monday in January, but must
report at the capitol to the governor,
the day previous, that they are there
and ready to perform the service re-
quired of them.
AT this meeting the electors will give
their votes for Mckinley or Bryan-no
other of the candidates having. received
enough votes in any state to entitle
them to consideration. The result of
the vote will then be made out in trip
licate. One copy will be sent to the
president CT the senate by mail; one
copy will be sent to him by messenger,
and one copy will be delivered to a
judge of the district in which the elect
ors assemble. To these copies will be
annexed lists of the electors prepared
by the executive of each state, accord
ing to the official returns
The reason for taking three copies of
the vote of the electors is the possibility
that one or two may go astray, and
the precaution has been found wise in
more than one instance At the time
of Mr. .Harrisons election it was nee
essary to send to the district judge to
obtain the vote of one of the states,
the messenger having gone astray
somewhere, and the vote by mail hav-
ing been lost in transit
The messengers have one month in
which to reach the capitol. If the re-
turn has not been received by that
time, the president of the senate sends
a special messenger to get the returns
from the district judge
For performing the service of carry
ing the returns safely to Washington
the messengers are allowed by law
. cents for each mile 'of the estimated
distance by the most usual road" The
distance from Annapolis is short, and
the messenger of Maryland will not be
overpaid for his labor But the dis
tance from San Francisco, by the way
OF Omaha and Chicago, is 1927 miles,
and the California messenger, therefore
will receive more than $500 for. his
journey. The distance from Portland.
Or, is 1910 miles, and the messenger
from Oregon will receive about $40 more
than the messenger from California.
The messenger from Minnesota will re-
ceive pay for 1,254 miles, $313.50. He
can perform the service in three or
four days at the most so he is not ILL
paid.
The messenger from Illinois will re-
ceive more than 5000. When these mes
sengers reach Washington they will
call on the president cf the senate and
deliver the returns to him in person.
If one of them arrives on day when
the vice president is not at the capitol
he will have to wait. If the vice pres
Ident is presiding over the senate when
the messenger arrives he will be called
out. The vice president will receive
each of the returns sealed, and will
give a receipt for it. Then he will
place the envelope, still sealed, in q
little iron safe which stands in one
corner Of the vice presidents room.
1t has stood there for a great MANY
years, and is not a very modern safe,
but there is no inducement for any
one to break into it. If the original
returns should be stolen it would be
easy enough to obtain the duplicates.
There is a reverse side to the ioyful
occupation Of electoral messenger. The
messenger who fails to perform the
duty for which he has been chosen and
does not deliver the vote intrusted TO
him shall forfeit the sum of 81. 900 !"
according to the statute. He is not to
pay fine in a, sum mot to. exceed
$1,0O0," but it is imperative that he be
fined the whole amount
There is a provision to protect the
messengers in case the vice president
should be absent from Washington. In
that event the messenger may deliver
the vote to the secretary Of state. who
will give a receipt for it.
The house and senate will canvass
the votes of the electors the first
Wednesday in February. The senate
will go over to the hall Of the house of
representatives in a body, headed by
Vice President Stevenson and Secre-
tary Cox, followed by Chief Page Stew
art, over whose shoulders will be hung
by strap two wooden boxes contain
ing the precious votes. The members
of the house will rise as the senators
enter, two and two. The vice president
will mount the roStrum and take a seat
at the right of Speaker Reed.
The two tellers for the senate (Mr.
Hale and Mr.. Blackburn officiated four
years ago. will sit at the desk below;
and below them will sit the two house
tellers. The vice presidentrNill then
/ take the envelopes handed Ito him by
Stewart in their alphabetical order In
the first count the states were taken
according to geographical location, be-
ginning with Maine, but since 1875
they have taken alphabetically. Each
certificate as 1t is taken from its en-
velope he will hand to the tellers and
they will read them In turn. the senate
tellers reading the first two and the
house tellers the next two. The vote
Of Alabama will be read in full and
then unanimous consent will be asked
and granted that the remaining GER
tificates be summarized A double tally
of the votes will be kept. That will
be a comparatively simple matter this
time, because it is known now what
the vote of each state will be, and
even if some constitutional objection
was raised to the counting of the vote
of one of the states, it would not in
Nolve enough votes to affect the result
of the election.
When the votes have been counted
and the totals have been announced
for each candidate, the vice president
will announce that William Mckinley,
of Ohio, having received a majority of
all the votes cast for president, has
been elected president of the United
States, and that Garret A. Hobart. of
New Jersey, having received a majority
of the votes cast for vice president
is elected vice president of the United
States. He will then adjourn the joint
session OF the house and senate and
the senators will return to their own
hall or senate chamber. If, after the
canvaSsing of the electoral vote, the
pTesident-elect should die before the
day fixed for his inauguration, the vice
president would become president.
E. M. Johnson, of Minneapolis, de-
nies that he is q candidate for Hy