The Savannah morning news., 1901-01-20
THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.
TIE REAL ELECTION ONLY TOOK
PLACE MONDAY.


And Very Little Was Said About 1t.
No Provision for Notifying the Sue
cessful Candidates - They Get
Their Information From the News
pnpers-The Statute for Counting
the Votes, However, Goes Very
Much Into DetaIl-Ihe Rivalry OF
the Senate and HOuse-UnIeSs the
Latter Is Recognized in the Tnau-
guration Ceremony 1t VIII Not
Pass the Bill for the Expenses of
the Occasion.
Washington, Jan. 1s.-Although there
was considerable voting early in Novem-
Der and many people then thought that
Mckinley and Roosevelt were elected, the
fact of the matter is their election did
not take place until Monday of this
week. Although everyone knows that they
were really chosen for the high offices
they are to fill after March 4, neither
gentleman has any official knowledge
upon that subject. The law of the subject
of presidential elections is one of the most
peculiar pieces of legislation that was
ever enacted.
There are thousands of words in the
statute describing how the fact that some
one has been elected shall be ascertained,
but there isn't a lire indicating how the
successful candidates shall be notified OF
their election. Senator Edmunds is the
author of the law which prescribes with
such minuteness how the counting shall
be done, but which is so singular in that
IL fails to provide a way for notifying the
successful candidates. When asked how
they were to discover that they had been
elected, the former Senator looked OH
surprised, and then Yankee fashion an
swered the question by asking another;
They can read the newspapers can
they?"
When the Senator was In more serious
mood he discussed the omission, II such
it can be called, from legal point OF
view. He holds that such a public act as
the election of two men for the highest
offices in the gift of the republic neNns
no more announcement than is mace
when a bill becomes law. Everybody Is
supposed to know when a law mas Deen
enacted, and if he doesn't, there Is no
way for him to discover that he has Vlo-
lated it until he is published for ms trans
erosion. Mckinley and Roosevelt VIII
have official notice of their election ca
the second Wednesday of February AT
which time the two Houses of Congress
will meet in joint session for the slhs.e
purpose of cenvassing the returns maze
by the various state elections =.
The statute providing for this counting
is ore of the most exclusive laws to be
found in the book, and is a monument
to the literary ability of Senator hoar
and former Senator Edmunds' II pes!ilS
with a sentence declaring that CONGRESS
shall be in session on the second Weo-
nesdav of February succeeding every meet
inc Of the electors. Then it directs that
the two houses shall meet in the nan Oh
the House of Representatives at / O'CLOCK
and that the Preside Mt of the Senate shal
preside There is nothing left to the as
erection of either house or TO the JOINT
session Before the two bodies meet as
one. two tellers shall have been appointed
by each body and to these shaH De manu-
ed ali cei tificates and papers purporlhg
IN he certificates of election votes, which
certificates and papers shall be opened
presented and acted on in the a,phabeti-
cal order of the states, beginning with
the letter A, land said tellers, having been
reached the same in the presence ana
hearing of the two houses, shall take a
list of the votes as they shall appear from
said certificates and the votes having been
ascertained and certified in the manner
and according to the rules in this act pro-
vided, the result shall be delivered TO the
President of the Senate, who shall there
upon announce the state of the VOTE
which announcement shall be deemed
sufficient declaration of the persons, II
any. elected President and Vice Presl-
dent of the United States and together
with a list of the votes, be entered on the
Journals of the two houses. That at such
Joint meeting of the two houses, seats
shall be provided as follows: For the
President of the Senate, the Speaker
chair; for the Speaker a chair upon his
right"
This law was enacted for the purpose
of preventing, If possible, such another
state of affairs as existed at the time Of
the disputed election of 1876. 1t describes
with the utmost minutiae how everything
shall be done. 1t designates the p. aces
where the tellers shall sit, where the
clerks of the two houses shall be station
ed, and what portion of the hall shall be
set aside for the use of the senators and
what portion for the representatives. 1t
also provides the machinery and deslg-
mates the manner for the settling of any
disputes that may arise concerning the
authenticity of any certificate. This law
is the only one which places a limit upon
the amount of Ia king the senators may
do. Should there be any dispute or OBJ