The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1916-12-01
ELECTORAL COLLEGE SYSTEM
OF CHOOSING PRESIDENT
IS UNDER FIRE ONCE MORE
NEW York TimeS.)

NEW York Times)
we're our aristocratic forefathers
who drafted the federal constitution
= to be put on trial to-day for thelI
electoral college whereby the people
are prevented from making d1rect
choice of the chief executive tne1r
main defense would probably be that
even in the present form of elecuon'
as modified by the twelfth amend
ment Ca change in routine and not IN
fundamental principle) the methoo
has worked well and has not failed
seriously to register the popular will.
Yet 1t has come SO near thWartlnS
that will several times, notably in the
recent election, that possible changes
to eliminate the chances Of such an
outcome are matter Of live interest.
The admission must be made. how
ever, that no plan has been put for
ward in the past that even mildly
threatened the existence of the pres
emit device, cumbTous, slow-m owing
and wearisome as it is by general con-
sent
It is one of the signs of the COM
plexities that have been wrought in
American political life by a century
and a quarter of development, and the
recent, swift changes. that the one
obvious substitute for the electoral
college as a means Of registering the
desire of American voters has been
made impossible of speedy adoption.
That is a direct vote Of all the peo-
ple for candidates f. head of the ma
ton.
Twenty or thirty or forty years ago
there. could be presented no very Sc
rious objection to this change ex-
cept such as might be inspired, per-
haps, by the wish to retain a shadow
of the state sovereignty idea in this
polling or the dread Of the prolonged
waiting involved in the gathering of
returns for millions Of votes. The
first objection is largely academic; the
second is severely practical. for If
there is severely practical, for If there
is anything the great American voter
does not want and will not have, it is
excessive delay in ascertaining the re-
sit. The effect on business from
days Of suspense is also not to be re-
garded lightly.
In some Of our elections, however,
this suspense would have lasted not
days merely If it all depended on the
popular VOTE Beginning with 1880
three quadrennial contests between
the Republican and Democratic par
ties were exceedingly close, measured
by the popular vote. 4 Garfield in 1880
led Hancock by only 7,018 votes, hav-
ing 4.449,O53 votes to his competi-
tors 4,442, 035. Cleveland had the
popular verdict in 1884, but by only
63,O16 over Blaine. At the next
election Cleveland was ahead Of Har
rison 95,713 on the popular vote. but
did not win in the electoral c. Hege. In
each Of these po1lings the margin was
SO close, between the candidates that
it would have taken weeks to deter
mine for a certainty who was the real
victor.
But even without this vital consid-
Grafton Of quick decision of the results,
the modern problem Of woman suf-
frage now stands in the way of direct
vote for president It is not likely
that states which have not yet grant
ed the ballot to women will be swift
to agree to a constitutional amend
ment that will decrease their own rel
ative Importance in the presidential
election by giving the woman, suffrage
states double power. as it were i
In the recent election, to give a tan
gible illustration, California cen and
women voters cast a total Of over $685.
600 ballots. New Jersey, which in
1910 had population very slightly
above that Of the Golden state, polled
only about half that number. WASH
fngton, which in the same census year
had about half as many people Iowa,
put in The ballot boxes on November
z about Sc per cent more votes than
did the men OF the middle west state
Illinois cast the largest vote of any
state, her combined, Wilson Hughes
total of 1.913,7e0 exceeding that of
New York by 27o.872.
Moreover, It Is evident that with the
increase OF equal suffrage states and
the larger participation of women in
election the time might well come
when states, comprising "a per cent.
of the population Of the Unit d States,
which had accepted woman suffrage
could outvote in q direct test the re-
manning states which had Sc per cent.
of the population. 1t is such prac-
teal considerations that are likely to
make abortive for some time any at
tempt to establish system Of di-
rect and nationwide voting for pres
ident.'
Incidentally. it should be said that
in addition to this 1888 instance, when
! Cleveland would have been reelected
at the end Of his first term, the pop
ular vote system would have elected
lTilden in 1876. over Hayes, who was
! 100000 votes behind his opponent.
Another idea. aiming like the last
to get rid of the bailoting for eleetor
groups. but retaining the principle of
state sovereignty On which many ZEAL
| Gus constitution makers laid such
stress in the early debates, is to have
the president elected by the states vot-
ing as units, making adequate pro- :
vision for settling tie when the num-
Der Of states is even, as at present.
Each state would vote for the candi-
date favored by the largest numbe
of its voters.
AS practical proposition, such a |
method Of election would have work.
ed out in virtually the same way as
the electoral college did in the past.
In 1875, when an electoral commits
sion was set up to settle the Tilden-
Hayes controversy, each candidate had
seventeen uncontested states. and four
were claimed by both. All four were |
awarded by the commission to Htyes,