The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-02-12
SERIOUS OBJECTIONS
TO THE SCHEME

Inc tampa Zines very SenSlDly
says:
The measure of doing away with
the electoral college and causing the
president and vice president to be
chosen by direct vote of the people,
though it has many friends and sup
porters in this section, is fraught
with extreme danger to the influence
and prestige of the South.
Congressman Richmond Pearson
Hobson has introduced in the House
bill providing for the Inauguration
of the new system. How any dem
ocrat, and especially a Southern
democrat, can contemplate the
change from the old system to this
modern innovation with equanimity
passes our comprehension.
Under the present method which
has existed from the foundation of
the government to the present the
strength and influence exerted by a
state in the matter of selecting a
president is in proportion to the total
population of that state regardless
of the number of votes polled. I'm
der present conditions in the South,
which we do not desire changed, the
vote actually cast is comparatively
| small, the negroes almost unani-
mouslX abstaining from voting and
| the white voters, from the fact that
there is practically but one party and
| scarcely any contest over any cleo
ton except in our party primaries,
very largely refrain also from vot-
| ing.
| To offer a concrete illustration:
| Under the present system of voting
! for president the states of Alabama
and California exert the same in
fuence over the result, both having
the same number of electoral votes;
but if the system of direct voting
was substituted California would
have just about three times the
weight of Alabama in determining
the result as the popular vote of the
former state averages about three
times that of the latter. Almost all
of the Southern states compare in
the vote polled in about the same
ratio with the northern and western
states as does Alabama with Cali
fornia. Under the present system
the state of Illinois polls less than
three times as many votes in the
electoral college as does Georgia
under the method of direct voting
she would have greater weight thar
the entire South.
Instead of, as at present, prac
; tically dominating the democratic
party and, under the present admin
istration, the politics of the nation
5 the South would become a politica
( nonentity, absolutely without iniu
ence upon the political life of tn.
: country
If the Hobson bill, or some othe
of like nature, is adopted the onl.
< way in which the South will be abb
2 to retain its present proportional
S influence will be TO remove all of tn,
e impediments and encourage the ne
? groes to full participation in politics
with all that that means. Is tn
r South ready for that? Do We desir
the change?
Another consideration that shout
o be reckoned with in this connection
e is this: Woman suffrage is comm
n within a very few years; sooner i
t the North than in the South Whe
n the Northern and Western women g
! to the polls and the Southern WON
i en- remain away, as they will eve
It if the franchise is extended to them
It the absolute and relative votin
= strength of the Northern and West
: ern states will be doubled
y AS the measure that we are dis
o cussing can only be put in force b
l. means of a constitutional amend
J. ment, and as it requires ratificatio
( by three-fourths of the states afte
/ the amendment is passed by Cor
n gress, the Southern states, if the
h remain united, can defeat the schem
: by Withholding their consent
o It's easier for love to find the va