Evening star., 1924-07-07

One OF the most dramatic moments In
| the Democratic convention was that in
which the former Secretary of War.
! Newton d. Baker, in his eloquence por-
| trayed the spirit Of the departed Presi-
dent Woodrow Wilson as standing be-
! side him to plead for recognition Of the
| league of nations. He might also have
| summoned up the spirit Of the late Presi-
dent in denouncing the continuation Of
national conventions to nominate Presi-
| dents and Vice Presidents. with so little
| part in the choice by the people them
| selves. Has there ever been a more
striking verification of Mr. Wilson'S
| judgment of the failure Of such con-
ventions than is the present instance?
How much influence of the people is
there exercised?
* 4
Less than half the legal voters take
any part in elections. Less than l
per cent have any voice-even nom
| inally-in selecting candidates of
either party, for whom all are in
vited to vote. 1t has become trite to
| characterize party platforms as
meaningless straddles of the issues,
| compiled to mean all things to all men,
but little binding upon the elect.
President Wilson almost immedi-
! ately after his own election, in his
| first message to Congress, urged the
need Of legislation to restore TO the
asses more power in direct express
| sion Of popular choice Of administra-
| tors of national laws and policies In
place of national conventions TO
choose candidates-which have never
been sanctioned, much less regulated
and safeguarded. by law-it was pro-
posed to have primary elections OF
| candidates. with the elimination of
these who failed to receive majority
| OF votes within their parties.
The candidates who were thus
chosen by the voice Of the people
would then stand for election to the
| Offices, as do the party candidates to-
fore, would succeed the present sys-
TEN OF two conventions and one gen
eral election.
| + + X
Several bills were introduced in
Congress for this reform, but it was
discovered that there is no authority
in the Constitution giving power to
Congress TO legisiate upon the sub
ject. The Constitution provides that
Congress may control regulations for
the election OF members of Congress,
but each state shall appoint in such
a manner as the legislature thereof
may direct a number of electors" TO
| the electoral college. II was the
| theory of our Constitution makers
| that the electoral college would it
| self be a deliberative body, wherein
| the needs of the country would be
discussed, and the two highest Of
I hcers-Presidcnt and Vice President
4 ~. -tv,ev
the most votes in the electoral col
| lege would become President and the
one having the next highest votes the
Vice President.
Under this plan the people had no
| direct voice in a presidential cleo
ton. The people chose their state
| legislatures. upon state issues; the
| legislatures chose the electoral col
| lege and the college canvassed the
situation and chose the President,
without reference to the voice Of the
twice-removed people. Later the
vote in the college was taken sep
arately for President and for Vice
| President, so that the candidate de-
| feated for President did not auto
matically become Vice President. But
even that was without reference back
either to the legislatures or to the
people. Hence. our forefathers little
| dreamed OF Lincoln's ideal that this
should be-what it really never has
been--"a government of the people,
| for the people and by the people"
Gradually the evolution Of politics
sought to take away some of the
powers vested in the legislatures and
lodge them with the people gathered
in conventions Of popular representa-
tives chosen for specific purposes
and more amenable to popular will
at least. in theory. But it came to
be recognized that these conventions