The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-12-01

sweep. or landslide. 1t might easily
have been a complete sweep. A
shift of less than three.duarters Of
a million votes, properly allocated
IN the Davis States and WISCONSIN
would have given Mr.. Coolidge every
vote in the Electoral College.
Conversely, a shift Of less than q
quarter Of a million votes in the
States OF idaho, Iowa, Minnesota
Montana. Nevada, North Dakota
South Dakota, Washington and
Wyoming, and of another quarter
million in the States OF Ari
zona, Delaware, Indiana, Ken
lucky, Maryland, Missouri, Ne.
braska, New Hampshire, New Mex
leo and West Virginia would have
given La Toilette and Davis, re
spectively, 20 and 223 votes in the
Electoral College and reduced the
Coolidge quota to 23s, forcing a
deadlock and throwing the election
into the Congress.
Menace Increasing.
None Of this is entirely new, OF
course. In the three-cornered race
Of 1912, a switch of less than a
million votes would have dead.
locked the election. But Wilson,
as it happened. was a minority
candidate, winning to office with
nearly a million votes short OF a
majority. The loss Of another mil.
lion would have placed him SC
near on a parity with his tive
chief rivals that he would have
suffered no great injustice had he
been compelled to fight It out with
them in the Congress. In the pres
ent case, the shift of only a hall
million votes could have defeated
Mr.. Coolidge, though his popular
majority still would have been well
above a million over all candi.
dates.
It seems strange. in view OF
these conditions, increasingly mani
fest, that the proposal for direct
election of the President should be
most opposed by Republican con.
servatives who apparently would
benefit most by it. Proponents OF
direct election claim that the meas.
ure would bring out a much larger
proportion Of the potential vote
than does the present electoral sys.
tenn. Maybe, but that, like most
other theories as to what will or
will not interest the. American
electorate, is but a guess.
Waste Is Enormous.
The waste Of votes, under the
present system. is enormous. Mr..
Davis might have dispensed with
a million Of the 1897 900 votes cast
In twelve States for his 136 cleo
tors chosen November 4, and stlll
defeated his nearest rival handily.
The six Inillion-odd votes cast FOR
him in thirty-six other States count
ed for nothing. Counting hts vote
as a whole, each elector cost him
10000 popular votes. Actually IT,.
600 votes per elector were needed
to turn the trick. and 1000 votes
per elector could have turned it.
LaFOllette's case seems even
worse. Taking the country as a
whole, each Of his thirteen electors
cost $4,000 popular votes; actually
they were elected by $4,000 votes
each. The vote averaged 50, 1000 &
piece, the country over, for Cool
idge electors, and proper distribu.
ton could have cut this by nearly
one-half.
Foolish! OF course; and that goes
two. ways.
Anyone can see the idiocy in
hoping to iron out such -ineqIities,
as long as the present electoral sys.
tenn and indifference Of the cleo
torate continues.
Many Seek Remedy.
Many are seeing the folly and
danger inherent in such continu-
ance, and are devisinS and pro.
posing remedies, direct election Of
the Executive, as heretofore noted,
proportional representation in the
Congress, the initiative and refer.
endum, and such like" And
they are trying these out in the
smaller political units OF the coun-
try here and there, municipalities.
counties, and even in entire States.
Whether or not any or all Of
these combined would prove eff.
fective remedies for the electoral
Ills OF the country, this much is
certain, that politicians--Repub
ans, Democrats, and Progressiyes--
as this writer meets them. all are
showing increased interest RECENTLY
in the discovery Of something, be
1t tonic Alternative, purge, or
emetic, that shall serve in future
ito get out the vote"
Copyright, 1924 by The wasblnrton
Tines Corr ran,. "SesS ""