The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1917-01-19
WESTMINSTE IL, MD.
FRIDAY AFTERNOON, JAN. 10, 1917
CLOSE ELECTIONS.

of this great nation, as we'll as IN the
nation at large itself. In the latter
class the TiIden-Hayes contest was
the most sensational. In that mem
orable election the result turned up
on the single vote of the fifteenth
member of the electoral commission,
who was chosen by fOur judges of the
supreme court.
Our history aDounds with instances
in which the course OF events has
turned upon single votes, and some of
them may be conveniently selected
from the compilation made by Speak
er Clark for one of his Chautauqua
lectures.
General Jackson was elected major
general of Tennessee militia by one
majority Without that one vote he
could not have fought the battle of
New Orleans, and politics would have
been different for a quarter of a cen
fury.
Martin Van Buren, won the presi-
dency through his defeat by one vote
on the confirmation of his nomination
as minister to England.
John c. Calhoun, as vice president,
cast the deciding vote which gave to
Van Buren, what Calhoun never got
for himself, although his claims were
not inferior.
Edward Everett lost the governor
ship of Massachusetts by one vote,
and that took him out of the list of
availables for the presidency.
Thomas H. Benton was elected to
the senate by a single vote. The loss
Of that one vote not only would have
cost him his career of thirty years,
but would have meant the loss to the
senate of one of its strongest and most
famous members in a most trying era.
One of the great characters Of Ameri-
can history might never have emerged
from obscurity.
Henry Clay cast the deciding vote
in the constitutional convention which
admitted Kentucky to the Union as
slave state. If Kentucky had entered
the Union as a free state it is hardly
doubtful that Missouri would have
done the same, and it is conceivable
that there might have been no Mis-
souri, compromise, and perhaps even
no war between the states.
The Walker tariff passed the senate
by 4 single vote. Taft lost the vote OF
Idaho through a tie in the precinct of
Boise. If one more man had voted for
Taft, Roosevelt would have lost con-
troll of the state.
There is at least one case in which
q single vote was the entire election.
At the primaries for the Prohibition
nomination for Judge in Schuylkill
county, Pa, one vote was cast. There
being no other candidate or voter,
Richard II. kock was unanimously
chosen. \ miss is said to be as good
as a mile. and under some conditions
One vote is as good as a million.
On the other hand, a majority of
100000 may be worthless. a. was &C
tually the case in Indiana. At the
general election in November, 1900,
a proposed amendment that the gen
eral assembly shall by law prescribe
what qualifications shall be necessary
for admission to practice law to all
courts OF Justice" was submitted TO
the electors.
Nearly 10000 more votes were cast
Lor the amendment than against it.
But it did not receive a majority Of
the votes cast for presidential cleo
tors and governor. The supreme
court held that it had not been carried
by the constitutional majority requir-
ed for the ratification Of proposed
amendment That was a case where
an actual majority at the polls lost in
the courts.
There would be no end to the prece-
dents regarding the value of a few
votes if the search were extended to
foreign history. One example will suf-
flee to show that the count of the
votes is as important as the casting
OF them. In 1911 the Monis ministry
fell i'm France because it was thought
to be i'm a minority of fourteen, when
i'm fact it had a majority Of five. Ac-
cording to the contemporary cable
gram:
The crisis arose over an interpret
lation regarding the attitude of the
government as to the chief command
of the army in the event of war, and
the official list showed 23S votes
against the government and pa in
favor.
VI. Monis was still on a sick bed as
the result of an accident and his col
leagues decided on resignation.
The curious fact has now been
brought to light, however, that at the
moment of the fatal division there
was considerable confusion in regard
to the votes for and against.
A number of deputies announced
that their names had appeared on the
wrong division list. An official rec
LITIGATION was made, with the result
that 30 far from having been defeated