The National tribune., 1908-11-05
A WEEK OF
DOUBTS AND FEARS.

A WEEK OF
DOUBTS AND FEARS
CONTINUED from page one.)
which the votes are transmitted to the
House become the perquisites of the
Vice President.
There are probably at least score
of families in this country that treas
ure a couple of those boxes as heir
looms. A man who never was Vice
President, but performed the duties
Of that office-Senator William P.
Frye, of Maine-has had four of those
ballot boxes, which are said to be
more than any other man ever had.
That is because he was presiding OFF,
Ger of the Senate during periods that
covered two Presidential elections.
The ritual for the election is quite as
exact as thai of any meeting of secret
society. First, there is chosen in ad-
vance two tellers, one for each party,
In the Senate and in the House. There
is no little pride among Senators and
members in being designated for this
honor. Four years ago Senators julius
Cesar Burrows, of Michigan, and Jo-
seph Weldon Bailey, oe Texas, and
Representatives Joseph II. Gaines, of
Texas, took seats at the long table in
front of the Speakers desk to serve as
tellers Of the vote, which was marked
up on specially prepared broad sheets
of stiff paper.
Great care is exercised about mark
ing up the various States correctly and
sn their alphabetical order, because
the announcement of the vote alone
would suffice to elect the President
and Vice President. When the Senate
returns to its chamber its tellers take
care to report the result, which Is en-
tered IN the Senate Journal and also
printed in the Record. ''The state of
the vote for President and 'the state
Of the vote for Vice President" will be
noted by totals and also in a separate
table.
should There Be No Majority.
At these Presidential elections that
Congress holds the choice must be by
majority over ALL There is no danger
of its being otherwise next February.
But when there are more than two
candidates having votes In the electoral
college and no one has majority
something that has not happened since
the election of John Quincy Adams-it
will take more than 55 minutes to elect
q President and Vice President. For
the very first thing after the big count,
the House would proceed to elect
President, voting for him by States,
each State having but one vote and a
majority of the States being necessary
to elect. But they would have to
choose from the three candidates who
were highest on the electoral list.
Then the Senate would hold an elec-
tion all by itself for Vice President
two-thirds of the whole number being
required to hold such an election, which
must carry by q majority of all the
Senate.
Carefully as the requirements for q
Presidential election have been framed,
q number Of interesting constitutional
points are raised and discussed every
four years, and probably will be raised
again this Winter. The most serious
of these questions is: "What would
happen in case of the death of either
the President-elect or the Vice Presi-
dent-elect between the second WSdnes-
day Of February ana March 4 follow
ing
AS far as known 10 constitutional
ton Satisfactorily.
It costs a lot of money to collect this
vote of the Electoral College, and the
Federal Government has to foot most
OF the bills. Following an old-tine prac-
eice three separate records of the cleo
soral vote in each Of the 46 States are
made. One Is kept by the State Elec-
tors, one Is sent to Washington by regis
tered mail, or express, and still another
copy is taken to washington by mes
senger.
The Messengers.
The designation as messenger is
much sought by electors. Each is
ND n n
amounts to pretty penny. By
the middle of January these mes
sengers will kegin trooping into WASH
tngton. OF course, there will be is OF
them in all. They make straight for the
Vice-Psesident's Office, where they are
generally introduced by Senator'S OF
members, Or both, from their home
States. The trip is availed of by many
Of the messengers TO see the city and
to participate somewhat In the cur.
rent gayeties, or 1t frequently hap
pens that the messenger has never be-
fore been to the Federal Capital.
The Vice-P'esident receives each
State vote as Is brought to him.
and has 1t locked up in the big safe
provided in the office of the Secre-
tary of the Senate. While there t.
little danger Of the vote OF any State
being displaced or lost, so that It could
not be presented in authoritative and
official form, great precautions arc
taken against any such accident. There
Is specific prohibition in the Constitr'
dion against any Senator, member OF
Congress or other Federal official serv.
ing as an elector. and therefore tht
Messengers are often men who arr
utter strangers to political life and Il
most of the public men of Washing
ton. The political parties have to ex
ercise caution in scanning the list.
of electors before every Novembel
election for President, that no per
son holding an office of trust or prof
under the United States" is nominated
That excludes even presidents or di
rectors of national banks. Four year,
ago the Republicans discovered tina
several national bank directors hat
been nominated in different States OF
the electoral tickets. Every man o.
them had to resign.
OF course. 1t is pretty Well under.
stood tnst there are 483 of these elect
ors this year, two at large in every
State and one for each Congressiona
district. The College was never sc
large before. This is due to two
causes. One is, that Congress in.
creased the representation in tht
House under the last census, altht
this increase in representation applied
IN 1904. The other is that Oklahomf
YrH o. n.