The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1896-11-05
POLITICAL RALLIES.
POPULAR METHOD OF BOOM
ING CANDIDATES.
RccollcctiOns of the Days When Pc.
litical Feeling Ran High
as a Means of Acquiring Votes
"Ship of State in the Parade.
Cam paiSns of Old Times.

The evolution Of the presidential
election as we know 1t and the changes
in what one may call It's peculiar sur
face aspects from one Quadrennial
period to another afford some oddly in
teresting themes for reflection, more es-
pecially If one can look back in his own
memory over several of these periods
distinguish some of the Characters
tic features of each.
Probably comparatively few among
the masses Of our people know that it
was never intended by the trainers of
the Constitution of the republic that
they, the people, should eve knowing
ly vote for any individual for President
of the United States. 1t was the IN
doubted purpose of the trainers of the
Constitution that the Electoral College
should use all its supposed superiority
of learning. capacity and high charac-
ter in the choice of a President. and
should be absolutely free to vote for
Whomsoeyer their several. individual
judgments held to be the best fitted for
the executive office.
The earlier elections were conducted
on this theory, but. as should have been
foreSeen, the practice could not con
finue. The party convention system
was devised, the convention declared
for whom their Electors, if chosen by
the people. should vote, and the Elec-
toral College vas driven at a blow to
being only a recording board of the
will Of a convention.
AS a matter of fact. the Electors are
still Independent. They have the legal
right and power to vote for any eligible
man they please, whether his name
was ever heard in the conventions Of
the parties or not. Nothing but their
implied pledges in accepting party cali
didacy for their positions-their word
OF honor" in e~ifect-binds the Elec-
tors chosen TO vote for the nominees.
They may, if they choose. wholly ig-
more the candidates and proceed to elect
any other eligible man they choose, and
the nation would be legally bound to
accept their choice. But if they should
try any such legal antic as this it would
be we'll for them to make their wills in
advance.
1t was not until Jackson's time that
the partisan convention secured a firm
fOothold, and by 1910 the election had
taken on the openly popular character
istics which have been popular ever
since. The campaign of that year was
unique and exciting. and General Will
lam FL. Harrison, with the glamour of
military glory, his vivacious motto of
1.-TWO dollars a day and roast beef
and his log cabin representations, kept
the country ablaze from one end to the
other. "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too.'
was the rallying cry of the Wings: bar
becues and oratory were the stronghold
of the Van Buren, party: and prob
ably never before nor since was so
much genuine enthusiasm infused
into a campaign. 1t was a great
whirl of excitement - PROFESSIONS,
Hastings, grove picnics, in which
nearly every voter took part. It,
however, reached the high-water mark
of purely physical excitement, for BY
1914 the aspect was changed. Bands
and the organizing power Of machine
politics took the place Of realism, and
the campaign four years later had
nothing Of the old fire, and all efforts
to revive old methods failed in 1856. In
1860 the emotional came in again but
it was not undirected and cratic as it
had been twenty years earlier. More
and more since then, political cam