The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-06-28
THE WEAK LINK
OF ELECTINC
No Law to Compel Electors to
Choose Candidate Who Is
Successful at Polls.
~O have left the choice of
M chief magistrate to a direct
popular vote over the whole

IbDuluE NOle over lnc WuOle
country would have raised
dangerous excitement and would
have given too much announcement
to candidates of merely popular gifts"
says James Bryce, now British ambas-
sador to the United States, in his
american Commonwealth"
"If ever the tranquility of this ma
ton is TO be disturbed and it's liberties
endangered by n struggle for power It
will be upon this very subject of the
choice of a president" said Chancellor
Kent in his discussion of the method
Df electing the president.
The makers of the constitution, with
full appreciation of the danger of sub
jecting the fortunes of the country to
the caprices of the multitude, after
long and serious consideration reached
the conclusion that it would not be
safe or prudent to refer the election of
president directly and Immediately to
the people and confided this power to
small body Of electors appointed in
each state, under the direction of its
legislature and as a further safeguard
against negotiation, intrigue, and cor
ruption intrusted congress with the
power to determine the time of choos-
ing the electors, the day on which
they should be chosen and that the
day of their election should be the
same in all the states. Each state is
entitled to the same number of presi-
Dental electors as it has senators and
representatives in the federal con
gress. No senator or representative or
other person holding an office of trust
or profit under the United States can
be chosen or appointed presidential
elector. The legislature Of each state
has absolute power to determine how
the electors shall be appointed.
Dougherty's Comment.
"The word appointed says Dough
erty in his admirable work on THE
Electoral System of the United States"
sis highly significant 1t was design
edly employed. 1t is not a democratic
term; there is no indication of pop
ular election in it. The convention
could not have employed a stronger
expression to impart the plenary au-
thority of the state"
"The theory Of the electoral college"
said the senate committee on privi-
leges and elections in 1874, was that
a body Of men should be chosen for
the express purpose of electing a presi-
! dent and vice president who would
be distinguished by their eminent abil-
ity and wisdom, who would not be in
fluenced by tumult, cabal or intrigue,
and that in the choice of the president
they would be left perfectly free to ex-
ercise their judgment in the selection
Of the proper person"
The object of the trainers of the con
stitution was to save the country from
the bhghting effects of party spirit
against which Washington protested
so vigorously in his farewell address,
holding that "the right of the people to
establish government presupposes the
duty of every individual to obey the es-
tablished government" and that "all
distractions to the execution of the
laws, all combinations and associa-
tions under whatever plausible char
acter with the real design to direct,
control, counteract or awe the regular
deliberation and action Of the consti-
tuted authorities, are destructive of
this fundamental principle and of ia
tai tendency. They serve to organize
faction, to give it an artificial and
extraordinary force, to put in the place
, of the delegated will of the nation the
! will Of party, often a small but artful
and enterprising minority of the com
munity, and, according to the alternate
triumphs Of different parties, to make
the public administration the mirror
of the III concerted and incOngruous
projects OF faction rather than the or
gan OF consistent and wholesome plans
digested by common counsels and
modified by mutual interests"
This is Il representative government.
not pure democracy; a government
of checks and balances, of law and
order; a government of Independent
states in which the least has equal rep
resentation with the greatest in the
senate of the country; government OF
the minority equally with the majority.
The Original Procedure.
Under the constitution as originally
adopted the candidates for president
and vice president were voted foc in
the electoral college of each state with
out designating which the elector in
tended for the first and which for the
second office. Lists of these were
transmitted TO the seat of the federal
government, and the candidate having
the greatest number Of majority of
the whole of votes cast became presi-
dent and the one having the next
greatest number Of votes became vice
president. II the two highest candi-
dates received an equal number of
votes the house Of representatives pro
ceeded Immediately to choose by bal
lot ono of them for president, voting
by states, each state having one vote
and majority Of all the states being
necessary to choice. In case Of a
tic on the vice president the senate
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