The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-04-07
ELECTION OF SENATORS
It Should Be by Direct Vote of
the People.
POPULAR WILL is IGNORED
Tho Whole Design of the Constitution Is
Thwarted by the Present System.
Montana and Delaware as
Examples of Evil.


Under the present system senator's
are possible who, if voted for by the
people, couldn't run for dog catcher
The above truthful comment by
| Homer Davenport appears in the Sun
day New York Journal in connection
| with one of his familiar caricatures of
Mark Hanna, used to illustrate a time
ly article by ex-United States Senator
John j. ingalls, in favor of the election
| of United States senators by the people.
Senator ingalls, article contains such
| a truthful picture of the situation in
| Montana that it is worth reprinting.
| He writes as follows:
THE fathers and founders of the re
public and the trainers of the constitu-
| ton have been apotheosiZed as the Gre
ators of new system of political lib
erty and popular self government. No
| doubt they deserve reverence and eu-
logy. Among the builders of nations
they stand pre-eminent; but the fact
remains that they We're monarchists
and aristocrats at heart, and had little
| faith either in the intelligence of the
common people or their capacity to
! govern themselves. They believed that
wealth, education and brains, rather
than numbers and majorities should
select the rulers and direct the energies
| of the nation, and so they committed
| the choice of president and vice presi-
dent to college of electors, to be APP
pointed by the states, and provided
that senators should be chosen by thu
| legislatures rather than directly by the
people.
In theory the electoral college was
| to assemble on a given cay at the diff
fnY no tl1 lie n
choose a president and vice president,
as the conclave of cardinals selects a
| pope. The people were to be entirely
| excluded. They were t. have no part,
nor lot nor voice in the matter. This
| was the consent of the governed. The
electorate We're to have nothing more
| to do with the election IF the chief mag
istrate Tran the laitv Of The Roman
Catholic church in the choice of their
supreme pontiff.
But democracy soon demolished this
| clumsy device, and since 1925 it has
| been obsolete. Through the successive
| stages of a private caucus, a legislative
caucus, a congressional caucus, and the
perfected organization of township,
county, state and national nominating
| conventions the people have abolished
the electoral college. The machinery
| remains but the electors are the serv-
| ants and not the masters. They meet
d
diverting anachronism. The elector
| who should now do what the trainers
of the constitution intended he should
| do-exercise his own judgment-and in
so doing vote for any other man than
the candidate named by the party of
which he is a member, would outclass
Judas Iscariot in the eXecration of
mankind. Had Bryan elector cast
his vote for Mckinley, or a Mckinley
elector cast his vote for Richard
| Croker as each had the constitutional.
clear right to do, it is difficult to esti-
| mate the measure of the penalty which
popular indignation would have in
flicted.
This is one of the many unWritten
amendments to the constitution. which
| have so changed that venerable instru
ment that George Washington and the
other deputies would with difficulty rec
ognize their work.
1.-THE senate is undoubtedly the most
impressive and dignified body in our
| political system. Sharing executive
power in the ratification of treaties and
the confirmation of the appointments
of ambassadors. judges and other Off
GERS, it has gradually encroa ched upon
the prerogatives of the president and
dictates the policy of administrations
In our dual scheme the senate repre-
sents the states as political entities,
and as the states have increased n
/ population. wealth and power, the SEN
ate has assumed a supremacy end pre-
eminence not contemplate by its in
Ventors.
1.-THE length of the term and the con-
ditons of service have made its mem
bership the object of supreme desire,
and as it is easier to manipulate leg
islature than to convince cCns'itu-
ency, the tendency to bribery, Corrup-
tion intrigue, plots and r0nspira ci 2s
has increased, till senatorial elections
have become the scandal and reprCa. Il
Of republican government The whole
purpose and design of the constitution
is thwarted. The popular will is dis
regarded. States are misrapresanteI Ct
deprived of their lawful representation
by loathsome and disgusting struggle S
that lack the dignity of a dog light N
the gutter, and are surpassed in i'm
morality only by the contests Ct Monte
Carlo. Delaware presents a typical
illustration of these malign and ins;lp-
portable evils. The Legislature for a
few years past has been republican,.
The state has many eminent citizens
of that political faith, qualified by at
tainments, experience and service fer
the senate. but j. Edward Addicks has
for the third time deadlocked the legis-
lature. The first time he prevented an
election. The second time he caused
a democrat to be elected and now he
has deprived the state of republican
successor to Gray, and announces that
two years hence he will be candidate
again.
"'J. Edward Addicks, Phoebus, what
namei
To fill the speaking trump of future
fame'
"Is a citizen of Delaware for political
purposes only. He has made his money
and won his previous triumphs else
where. He is peripatetic statesman
who has hitherto operated in gas stocks
in Philadelphia. Having bought fran
chises and corraled aldermen, his fancy
took a broader flight and he concluded
to purchase a senatorship in Delaware.
So he contributed to the campaign fund
and announced his purpose. Does any
| one SuppoSe that J. Edward AddickS