El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-10-12
PIONEERS FEARED
TO TRUST PEOPLE
jContinued from preceding DaEel

ident Taft's term expires. he would be
succeeded under the law OF 1887 by
the secretary of state, since cabinet
officers terms do not expire by hmita-
ton but are continued until their sue
cessOrs are named. But a cabinet Of
ficer thus succeeding would be only
acting president and he would be re-
uuired under the law to call an eX-
traOrdinary session of congress to
make arrangements for another cleo
ton for president.
History Of Electoral System.
1t is the purpose of this series II
articles to tell the story OF the Amer1-
can electoral system from the begin
ming, showing how 1t was established,
how it has been changed, and telling
those striking incidents in the history
OF presidential elections which reveal
its Weaknesses as well as its merits.
Everybody knows that the fathers
thought the people were not fit to
choose their chleI magistrate, anu
they never intended that the people
should have that right, any more than
the people now intend to give it up.
They never thought that electors
would become mere puppets" to regis
ter instructed votes, or "mariOnettes
in a Punch and judy show" as John
J. Ingalls, once called them, any more
than they intended to turn the country
over to England the next day.
Benjamin Harrison himself once
erected ana once oeleeleu N lhe
electoral colleges, declared that
he did not know of sin
gle instance in which an elector had
assumed to register his own Will, or
views other than those he was dele
gated to register. He expressed the
opinion that an electOr who would be
guilty of such bad faith in times Of
great excitement might be in danger
Of lynch law
Justice Story, in a carefully pre-
pared paper on the Hayes-Tilden cGn-
test declared that in a search covering
a period Of 19 presidential elections,
Is years in all, he had failed to find
a single instance Of an electors eX-
ercising a discretionary rather than
ministerial power in casting his vote.
During that time nearly 1000 electors
had voted
The statement Of justice Story may
or may not be true, but many authori-
ties believe there have been few ex-
ceptions. Off instance, the New
Hampshire eIectOr who voted for John
Quincy Adams in 1920 is cited as one
electOr who voted his own Will, being
impelled to his action by an unwil-
Hngness to have James Monroe stand
with George Washington as the only
man who had been unanimously chosen
president
The 1924 TangIe.
In the election of 1924 the Jackson
Adams Crawford-C Clay free for all
race, the New York electors were ap-
pointed. Three of them who were ex-
pected to vote for Clay switched over
to the other candidates, one to Jack
son, one to Crawford. one to Adams
Had they voted for Clay according to
their instructions Clay and Crawford
would have tied for third place and a
most interesting constitutional cues
tion would have arisen when the cleo
ton reached the house as to whether
both Clay ana Crawford should be in
Guided in the three highest names to
be chosen from, or whether the choice
would have been limited to Jackson
and Adams. Since Mr.. Clay was him
self speaker Of the house the question
might have come up to him for de-
cision. But as it was Clay was the
fourth man, his name did not go into
the house, and Adams was elected
There were several other similar in