Evening star., 1924-09-14

shown in the third election when
John Adams was elected President,
and Jefferson, the leader in opposi-
| tion to every policy President Adams
| stood for, was elected Vice President
Here was danger not taken into ac-
count by the fathers. II Adams had
| died during his term of office, Jeffer-
son. the head of & minority party,
would have come into control.
In the next election Jefferson and
Aaron Burr had the same number of
electoral votes. but not a majority of
all. and in consequence the election
was thrown into the House Of Repre-
sentatives. bitter struggle ensued.
Sick members were brought in on
cots to vote. The House balloted Ss
times. and finally Jefferson was
elected President by one vote. and
Burr became Vice President This
brought about the twelfth amend
ment, whereby the President and
Vice President are to be voted for
separately.
The second time the election was
thrown into the House was in the
tenth elections. Adams was elected,
although Gen. jackson received the
largest number both of electoral and
popular votes.
But. although the spirit Of the in.
letter is binding and all-pewerful.
Else Abraham Lincoln and Woodrow
Wilson, not to mention others, would
never have been elected President.
| for they received no majority Of the
votes of the people.
Mast Follow Precedent.
The electors meet In each State
| capital. The governor. through the
ca tor nf ofof rrsu
| tificate showing that they have been
appointed" electors. Usually the
governor is present in person. The
electors name some one Of their num-
Der to act as Chairman, and then an
| embarrassed clerk hauls out the pro-
| ceedings Of the electors Of four years
bers what to do and how to do it
Finally all the presidents are OBJ
| served and the votes are cast.
Then three lists Of the votes are
| made and each list is signed by all
| the electors. The electors then ma
| a special messenger to take the bal
| lots to the President Of the Senate,
and adjourn without delay, their
| function Of acting and not thinking
| having been performed.
The electors of each State. meeting
| together, form an electoral COLLEGE, -
| Thus there are now 48 electoral col
| leges in a presidential election. This
name has no legal sanction, but was
used in the first election and has be-
| come general by custom. In those
days tho word college" was much
| more used in its general sense Of a
collection or body Of persons gath
cred for q common purpose than in
| it's more specific sense of q faculty
| of teachers. Now that the word rs
seldom so used, erroneous reference
| is sometimes made to the whole body
| of electors as the electoral college. u
One of the three lists of votes made
| out and signed by the electors in each
State is sent to the President of the
Senate by the special messenger, one
is sent to the same officer by mail
and the third is deposited with the
Federal Judge of the district in which
the electors meet. If by the fourth
Monday in January, that IL, in two
| weeks time, the President of the
Senate has not received the vote from
any State, then he requests the Sec-
retAfy Of State Of the United States
| to send a special messenger to the
district Judge In whose keeping the
triplfcate list hiss been left, and upon
this request tho Secretary of State
| must send the messenger and the
Judge must forthwith transmit the
| triplicate list of the votes given.
| And 1t is these votes in scaled
| packages that the President Of the
Senate brings with him to the House
Of Representatives every four years
! on the second WednSadAy IN Fabru-
ary at O'Clock IN the afternoon.
Go Be concluded tomono0.l