The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-15

5, not fewer than 15,O00000 votes will be cast Not more than one voter in 1000, however, understands how Presidents are elected
 In the constitution of the United States there is no provision for a direct vote of the people for the election of President. It was the intent of the framers of the constitution that there should not be a direct vote of the people for the election of a chief executive of the nation; but in the absence of specific provisions to the contrary system has been developed since 1892, by methods of practical politics, under which the voters do elect Presi- dents, not directly, but acting under precedents that have been binding as the Fundamental law of the country.
 It was by act of Congress that the Tuesday after the first Monday of No vember was fixed as the day of national elections. This date was fixed after most of the states had ceased to elect presi- dential electors through their legisla- lures and provided for direct voting by the people for such electors. Many great lawyers and politicians have held that the language of the second paragraph of article II of the constitution clearly in- dicates that the framers of the consti- tuition did not intend that the Presidents of the United States should be elected by popular vote. That section says:
 Each state shall appoint. In such man. ner as the legislature thereof may di- rect, a number of electors etc.
 In the early days of the republic a majority of the states chose electors through the medium of their legislatures, and as late as lS2 eight of the "A states followed that custom. South Carolina continued to choose electors through it's legislature as late as 1860
 Historians and students of American political history are generally agreed that it was the intent of the franers of the constitution that the election Of q President should be, so far as pos sible removed from popular .clamor and prejudice. that electors should be chosen by the states and that they should then meet free of political influence and ballot for the man they deemed best fitted to i'll the office of head of the nation. There were no organized political partis in the early days of the republic and no party national convention was held until 1SS2. There was regular form of nominating candidates for the office of President in the early days. States legislatures rec omended candidates by resolutions. but the race for the office was an open one and presidential electors were free to vote as they pleased
 Contrary to popular blief George Wash ington was not the unanimous choice of his countrymen for President, either for his first or second term. He was in both cases a plurality success in the electoral college.
 With the adoption of the system of national conventions and the formal nom- ination of candidates for President and Vice President by all political parties, the intent of the constitution in respect tO the election of the chief officers or the country has been nullfied. While there is absolutely nothing in the con stituton of the United States or the laws of the states requiring presidential eiec- tors to vote for the nominees of their parties, political customs and precedents are now so binding that for any elector to break away and vote according to his personal convictions would be un- pardonable. The voters, without knowing the details of the cumbersome mechan- ism of our political system, vote the ticket of presidential electors in perfect confidence that they are voting directly for the election of a President.
 New York must get along without cir GUS freaks. say the new. owners of tho Barnum & Bailey show, which will open soon in Madison Square Garden The small towns will be more fortunate for they will still marvel over the fire-eater the sword -swallower and the man whose diet consists of steel needles.
 The first man to see possibilities in the exhibition of freaks was P. T. Bar mum. Before the Civil War he had them in his Ann Street Museum--that famous repository of the real and unreal. His most conspicuous prodigy was Tom Thumb, who was an unqualified sue cess both hero end abroad Annie Swan