Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1921-01-09
ny DONALD McGREGoR.

SO, upon the eve of his departure, be-
fore the actual packing of his trunk
begins. 1 sought his opinions as those
of a man who asks nothing in politics,
and who. for the snod it will do US in
these days of natSnal discomfort. is
willing to pass along the results OF
his broad experience.
found Mr.. Marshall behind his desk
in the Senate office building. man
alert, full to the brim with native
Hoosier wit, forceful and worth hear
ing In the hour we had together, Mr..
Marshall talked of number of things,
all pertaining to government. And so,
as he spoke to me, set it down for
you:
been most pleasant" Mr. Marshall be-
gan, "and, o fcourse. I do not wish to
be critical. At the same time 1T Is OBJ
vious that many things are wrong
with our system of government which
am old-fashioned in many ways. and
it may be my opinions will not strike
a popular chord.
ITO begin with. we have gotten
away entirely from our original idea
Of representative government. It new
er was intended that this should be
pure democracy. The fathers who es-
tablished the system believed 1t best
to delegate the power of the govern
ment to those who. were best lifted TO
exercise it.
III you have something wrong in.
side Of you you send for doctor, not
a plumber; il you want TO ouaid
house you hire an architect. There
are in this country unaue ssn9 ably
governmental affairs than others; this
fact should be accepted.
ENGLAND. I believe. has the ideal
form of government 1t IS system oy
which the very best minus are at
ment. One of the features Of the
English system would be of advantage
in the United States-it Is dream;
perhaps, and would have to be worked
out carefully in relation to the system
now in force-and that Is the oc-
casional vote Of confidence IN the gov
Our present system Of electing the
President and ugpan tes v tSst orisinaily
intended. 1t was the way Washing
ton and others of our early PRESIDENTS
were named. The presidential pri.
maries we have noT mean nothing nhea az
our national political conventions;
there is much evil In the customary
presidential campaigns al we nave
established them.
what this country ought 70 90
men as electors. following out the sys-
tenn which now is IN force. and then
send them to Washington to choose
the President. These men. chosen
special fitness for the duty and In
respect to the parties and policies
for which they stood, could be relied
upon to vote for the best qualified
men to head the government.
~ *h*
GIT may not be generally realised.
l but the truth Is that with the
present method there is nothing to
prevent a duly chosen elector from
voting for anybody he chooses for
President. We say that Senator Hard
ing has been elected President. All
right. When 1t cores to the Electoral
college there wousd be nothing In the
world to prevent one OF the electors
from voting for some other man. or
all Of them, for that matter. They
could NAME for instance, Gen. Wood.
and the people could do nothing about
it except swear at the electors.
II have serious doubt IL more than
a handful Of people in the United
states have read the platforms of the
two chief political parties adopted at
their national conventions. They were
long and tedious and devised to get
votes 1t took me two and three
quarter hours to read the democratic
platform at San Francisco. The plat
forms mean nothing, and the nomi-
nation of a candidate as the party
leader merely tends to bring person.
alities into the campaign.
'.This nation is breaking down It's
Presidents 1t will continue to break
them down as long as the present sys-
tenn exists. The fault IN with the de-
mand that the President be the leader
of the party as well as the cniet
executive of the country. Every time
somebody or some group wants some
49, he or they wire or write to
hr;r9 pressure to bear. and then II II
dossn,t materialize the President ID
81 NV Judgment there should be
single term for Presidents. say six
Years. which would fit In better win
our scheme of elections. rather IMAM
seven-year term. AS advocated oy
$50 presidents, after all. are hui
,n.n and while / could not truthfully
sav that even believed that any
,,ras;dential action had been innu-
erced by politics. it Ii only fair that
that confederation be removed. II
would, i feel. make n President al
least feel freer in the performance Vi
his duty.
are concerned. it seems TO me that
length of service is an asset 10 the
country Men who devote themselves
over a long period Of legislative serv-
ice 10 a study OF governmental AFFAIRS
naturally are superior to those with
less experience
There is much fault In the pri,
mary system have been opposed
TO il for a long time on the grouna
that IT opened the way Tor puoiic
ONCE 10 only two groups OF men.
First. those who were suiHciehtIy
rich 10 make the race on their own
account, and, second. those VINO dia
not have the means themselves. ou.
the friends who did. and VINO were
willing to put up the money required
for such a campaign. In either case.
of course, II restricts the group when
is available for public office: In the
case of men whose friends supply the
necessary money for an expensive
campaign they naturally are under
obligations to those friends. thihs
, not good for government"
Would you" I asked. "abolish the
primary system?
CT WOULD .-.u-~~"an intermediate
system" replied Mr.. Marshall.
"one which would do away with the
often unjust clamor about the po-
liticsl boss II could be accomplished
by holding AN optional primary. to be
kA nR