The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1916-11-23
REVISION OF SYSTEM
FOR ELECTING PRESIDENT

So many years have elapsed since
the result of a presidential election
threatened to turn on less than half
a dozen electoral college votes that
the present generation has forgotten
the weaknesses our system developed
years ago. Nothing has been done to
remedy defects which might have
plunged the country into civil war
had it not been for the self-denying
patriotism of Samuel J. Tilden in
1876. Those who framed the con-
stitution of the United States intend
ed that the electoral college should
choose the President and that the
people should choose good and true
men to discharge this important duty
as members of the electoral college.
The electoral college very quickly
ceased to be a deliberative body and
thereafter confined itself to recording
the choice of the people, and thus it
became an archaic go-between per
forming no useful function other
than to comply with the letter of the
law as set forth in the constitution of
he United States.
1t is possible that splits in some
state delegations to the electoral
college may change the results of this
election. There are always a few
cranks who vote against a president
ial elector whom they do not like,
and. when the vote in state is close,
the will of the people may be defeat
ed. If the electors were chosen for
their fitness to select president,
such splitting of the ballot would be
commendable, but in practice it has
become a dangerous nuisance.
1t would be simple to record the
vote of each state in proportion to
it's population without the useless in
tervcntion of a shadowy electoral
college. AS long as the various states
of the Union have diverse qualitica-
tions for voters it will be impossible
to elect the President of the United
States by the popular vote of the
country. States which have given
women the franchise would outvote
more populous states having manhood
franchise only or other restrictions.
1t will be many years before the
qualifications of voters become uni
form in all the states, and it would
be inadvisable to force them to adopt
a uniform standard.
Congress will be asked to take
steps to amend the constitution for
the purpose of improving the system
of electing a President and will not
find the task easy if those who favoE
the direct vote of the yawning, deep
breathing, expansion and stretching.
But men rarely take such exercises.
As a matter of fact, man possibly
takes more time, whines more and
does less than any other animal be-
tween the moment of awaking and
standing erect.
Although the stretch has been
carefully explained by science, few
know the real meaning. The stretch
extends the body so that the veins,
where congestion is most liable to
take place, and where pressure of
b. cd is weakest, are so. elongated
that the blood flows more easily from
the arteries, where the pressure is
strongest, through the veins back to
tn heart, and circulation is equalized
and stimulated.
The yawn is similar to the stretch
The yawn is a stretch of the lungs,
while the stretch is a yawn of the
muscles, and both express a hunger
for oxygen. The half hour between
waking and rising should be freshen-
ed by thoughts of joyous things
chuckling, laughing, stretching and
yawning,-New York Sun.