Evening star., 1901-02-13
THE ELECTORAL VOTE
1t is Formally Counted by Both
Branches of Congress.
RESULT MADE OF RECORD
Mckinley and Roosevelt Officially
Declared.
G A L L E ERIES GROW DED

Tor President and Vice President was for
| mally canvassed by the Senate and House
| of Representatives, the tally being kept by
| two senators and two representatives. and
| the election of Mckinley and Roosevelt as
! President and Vice President respectively,
| ascertained and made of record.
| The ceremony of the electoral is per-
| functory and usually uninteresting. II
| is extremely simple, but there is a digni-
fed formaity about it which is still i'm
| pressve. The certificates of the several
| states are In the custody of the presiding
| officer of the Senate until they are laid be-
| fore the joint session of Congress for the
| count. The greatest care is taken to pre-
serve them from being tampered with. A
safe, small but strong and fireproof is used
| for their safe-keeping. Between elections
| this safe is put away in the vaults of the
| Capitol, entirely out of use
On the arrival OF the first batch of GER
tiicates this safe is taken to the Vice Pres
| ident's room and placed in remote corner
| back of the presiding officers desk, where
| it is carefully guarded all the certificates
! being securely locked in it until the hour
arrives for them 70 be taken to the House
| of Representatives for count. They are
| then placed in two boxes. being in dupli-
| cate, the boxes being especially prepared
| for the purpose, securely locked and strong
! ly bound
A new set Of boxes is made on each
casion. Those in use today are made OF
solid mahogany about two feet and a half
| long by eighteen inches deep. highly pol
! shed and bound at the corners with hand
somely designed braces of gold. These box
es will go to the presiding officer of the
Senate after their purpose is served.
Constructively the President of the SEN
ate himself bears these boxes from the Sem
ate to the House, though they are actually
carried by his deputies.
Galleries of the Favored Few.
The poor public have little show when
any unusual ceremonies are on hand in the
House of Representatives. In all there are
four private galleries, two for the exclusive
use of members of the House and their
friends when provided with cards, one of
these being known as the Speakers gal
lery; gallery for the executive and one
for the diplomatic corps. The remaining
galleries are supposed to be for the benefit
of the public who may have interest enough
in Congress to sit there and listen to the
| usual duAness. Two of these public GAL
lerieS are known as ladies' galleries and
two are for men. This arrangement is sup
posed to afford ample facility for such of
the great sovereign people who are not re-
lated TO a member of the House by ties of
b.ood or intimacy to enjoy a sight Of the
elected servants of the people while they
are at work.
These galleries are by fiction supposed
| TO belong to the public by a vested right,
based on the assumption that members
swelled by their stationery allowance, mile
age allowance. clerk hire allowance, free
postage privileges, document allowance and
| the privilege of two specially reserved gal
leries, where they and their families or
specially favored personal friends may be
kept from contact with the common herd.
OF late years, however, the habit has
grown up in the House of taking posses
| sion of the public galleries on special occa-
sions by adopting a resolution excluding
| the public from them for the time being
and dividing them up by ticket. During
the electoral count today three Of the four
public galleries were thus reserved. and
but about 200 of the $50 seats We're left
open to the public. The other seats the
/ statesmen divided among themselves, two
to each senator and two to each member
of the House The senators and represen-
tatives themselves had seats upon the floor,
and the tickets were for the purpose OF
distinguishing their families and their spe-
cial friends from the rest of the public, so
| that they might enjoy the special prlVl-
lege.
The Formal Count.
Shortly before / o'clock today the process
sion was formed by the Senate, President
Pro Tenn Frye and Sergeant-at-Arms
Ransdell at the head, attended by the bear
ers Of the boxes, and the members of the
Senate following. With no further cere-
mony the certificates of electoral votes
were borne to the House. the president pro
the Speaker of the House and presiding
| over the ceremony the tellers taking their
places at the clerks desk and the assem-
bled senator's and representatives nlllng
the hall of the House.
Senator Frye raped loudly for order
when all were seated. 1.-The Senate and the
House of Representatives of the United
States" he announced, 'are in joint session
pursuant to the Constitution and laws of the
United States for opening the certificates
| and counting the votes of electors for Pres
inent ana Vice President of the United
States If there is no objection the formal
portions of the certificates will be omitted.
The certificate of the state of Alabama will
| be read bv the tellers who will make list
Chandler read in eXtenso the certificate Of
the vote of Alabama, giving eleven votes
for William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska
for President and eleven votes for Adlai r.
Stevenson of Illinois for Vice President.
When Senator Caffery was about to read
the certificate of the state of Arkansas Sem
ator Cockrell of Missouri addressed the
chair.
Can we not dispense with the reading of
these certificates" he asked, "and have
simply the result announced? I think we
can trust the telers.'' This remark created
a general laugh.
Lapsus Linguae.
Senator Frye said consent already had
been given to dispense with the formal
reading of the certificates, but that he
| thought it might be necessary to read the
certificate of Arkansas, owing to a slight
irregularity. This showed that one of the
electors had been absent and that the gov
ernor had appointed substitute. The GER
| tfficate was not challenged however, and
the tellers proceeded to announce the re-
suit in each state A lapsus linguae by
| Gen. Grosvenor when he announced the
! vote of Colorado created general outburst
| Of merriment. He announced that Colorado
has cast four. votes for William Jennings
Bryan of Nebraska for President and four
| for Theodore Roosevelt of New York for
| Vice President "Oh. nor shouted Mr.
Richardson, one of the democratic tellers
while the members of the Senate and House
on the floor and the spectators In the gal
leries joined in the laughter which followed.
Mr.. Gresvenor corrected the error and the
announcement of the vote of the several
states then proceeded in alphabetical order.
! The certificates were not uniform, and
the operation of opening the bulky pack
ages and seeking out the result In each
case was attended with many delays. When
Marylands eight votes were announced for
Mckinley and Roosevelt there was slight
ripple of applause.
| Another ripple Of applause followed the
announcement by Gen. Grosvenor OF Me-