The Alaska daily empire., 1917-01-08
ALWAYS VOTE REGULARLY

While Presidential electors. legally speaking are chosen to elect whom they will for President, and under lawful obligation vote for the candi- dates nominated by party conventions there have been but four occasions in the history of the country when any of the thousands who have served Presi. den,aI electors failed to vote the people had indicated their desire that they vote. So unanimously has this rule been observed that it has been taken for granted by the American people that Pres dent Wilson was reelected last November Yet. if twelve of the Democratic electors should vote for Mr. Hughes today. and if he should receive the votes of all the Republican electors, only thing earth could prevent Mr. Hughes from being inaugurated as President in March t he should live until that time. and that would be for him to refuse the office.
 However. if we are to judge from the past there ls absolute certainty tlat President Wilson will today receive the of 277 electors and the election On none Of the four occasions when electors have voted otherwise than for the nominees of their party was there attempt to thwart the will Of the people The first occasion was in 1920. when President Monroe carried every State and won every eect9r in his candidacy for reelection. One eiectOr from New Hampshire declared that the honor Of a unanimous election to the Presidency that Of right be- onged to Washington alone. and he cast his vote for John Quincey Adams, MOnrocs Secretary of State. Monroe received all of the other votes.
 In 1872. Horace Greedy, the Democratic nominee, died in December after the election e. the electors
 
 Gran, had swept the election H November and there was no general interest in what the Democratic elec- tors did with their votes. They scattered them be- tween B. Gra,z Brown. the candidate for Vce-Presi- dent on the ticket with Greedy, Senator Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana. and others.
 In 1892 the Democrats withdrew their electoral tickets in several States where Democrats few and Popul:sts many and Democrats were urged to vote for Popusc electors hoping to give Gen. Weaver the Populist Presidential nominee enough votes to prevent President Harrison from receiving majority Of the electoral votes should Cleveland not win the election That would throw the election into Congress- and the Democrats had enough votes there to choose the President. North Dakota was one of the States in which this was done. The result of the Democratic action there gave the Popusts the best of very close result Two O. their electors and one Republican was successful. One of the POpuisr electors contending that the Democratic support gave them the State yot ed for Cleveland. Thus Cleveland. Harrison and Weaver each got one vote from that State.
 The fourth occasion was in 1912, and resembled the situation of 1872 except that it involved the Vice Presidency. Vce-Pre5ideat James S. sherman, Repub- cau nominee for reelection the ticket with Presi- dent Taft. died few days before the election. The! eight Republican electors from Utah and Vermont cast their votes for Nicholas M Butler President of Columbia University.