The Washington herald., 1912-11-03
BY ELECTORAL COLLEGE

needed no nomination. and several othe
| Statesmen stood forth % distingutahe(
by great services that the inevitablenes
OF contemporary selections obscured tn
fact that the nrst step In the process-
the agreement upon . person on whom
eject an election-would be the primt
dimcuity Of All. Also. the COMMITTEES ol
correspondence was . familiar agency
Of that time. Through committees ol
correspondence. worked up BY the Revo-
| lutionary patriots In the New England
towns and In the counties Of the Middle
and Southern colonies. public sentiment
had been reused and united: aSreemeui
on policies and concert OF action brought
about. BY their means. conventions had
been called and the colonial assemblies
had been influenced to send delegates te
the Continental Congress: all the ma.
chinery which carried through the wal
for Independence and the formation OF
the Constitution had been created. The
expedient Of correspondents among the
electors might be used to effect Q unity
Of choice. But II this was regarded a
the appropriate means. II was speedily
nullified. not only by other influences.
but by legislation which required the
electors to give and certify their votes
one month after their own election, al
lowing no sufiicient time for correspon-
dence. (The issue was extended by IN
act OF 1887 to. the second Monday in
january e. .
However this may be. As soon As 1t
agree upon . choice. the electors found
themselves powerless to do 30. They
therefore accepted such advice as was
rendered or forced upon them from with
out. In the early years Of the republic
the needed advice was supplied by vari-
GUS self-constituted caucuses or commit
tees. which, In turn. assumed the func-
ton. until finally. with the stronger or
ganization OF political parties the ma
tional nominating convention became an
established Institution. Now the choice
is actually made by a voluntary extra
legal and irresponsible convention. or
some clique within such q convention.
1t is accomplished. not through wise de-
but through every art Of po-
litical strategy. accompanied with ex.
citement and uproar. The reality Of
this extra-legal choice Is not affected by
the custom that two or more conven-
tions present rival candidates. from
whom the people indirectly select one.
The fact remains that one Of these con-
ventions chooses the President in the
first instance. and thus usurps the power
Of constitutional body elected by the
people. In 30 doins, II usurps the rights
OF the people themselves.
That the people are aware OF and
deeply dissatisfied with this usurpation
Of their rights by irresponsible conven
tions is evidenced by the rapid spread Of
the system Of primary elections. the en-
actments OF several States. and the
numerous bills in State Legislatures and
In Congress proposing to elect delegates
TO party conventions by popular vote
and to instruct them as to candidates
by party primaries. This paper endeav-
ors to show that such. bills as to Presi-
1ential elections are framed an erroneous
principles.
Hard to Devise Plan.
In the first place. the law ought not
70 attempt to control politics. In his
politics and religion the citizen is free.
Il has ever been our theory that the