Evening star., 1928-10-22
The History of Presidential Elections
XXIT-Recent Elections.
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.
Author of THE American Government"

divided-so closely that the insurgent
Republicans could have deadlocked 1t
on a presidential ballot. 1t was this
possibility which gave rise to the slo-
gan Coolidge or Chaos"
Democrats in Long Deadlock.
The Democrats had repeated their
1920 experience. with double emphasis,
balloting for more than two weeks at
their New York convention in the
longest deadlock ever recorded in
party convention. The final choice of
John w. Davis was not made until
McAdoo and Smith had fought each
other to a standstill and split the party
beyond hope of immediate unity or
success. Democracy's last tribute to
the marvellous power Of William Jen-
nlngs Bryan was the nomination OF
his brother. Charles W. Bryan, for
Vice President 1t was an eleventh.
hour effort, to keep Bryan in line. BY
that time. almost every one else was
out of lie. and nothing came of 1t.
The Greft iCommoner had the salts
faction of dominating his party to the
end. for he was to pass on before
another national convention met, this
time entirely in the hands of his life
long party enemies. No man since
Henry Clay had swayed party destinics
for so many years, or with such uni
form lack of success.
The steady decline of strength IN
the third party movement eliminated
the chance of throwing the election
into Congress. The failure of long
and strenuous personal tours by candl-
dates was given another notable dem
onStration. That system Of personal
speech-making campaigns had found
a popularity never wholly justified by
results, and for 80 years and more had
proved total failure, yet it has never,
until the present campaign, been en-
tirely abandoned Bryan always fol-
lowed it. striving with his great ora
torical powers to sway millions of
voters Mckinley beat him with a
front-porch campaign, remaining at
his home in small Ohio city and let
ting groups of people come to visit him
and hear his occasional speeches.
The election of officers will be Wednes-
Radio as Campaign Aid.
Roosevelt did some speaking al
though more of it in 1912, when he
lost than in 1904, when he won. Will
son spoke little in 1912 in the field,
and in 1915 remained at home. while
Hughes swung around the circle. Cox
made the grand tour in 1920, to no
avail Davis travelled widely, and SO
did La Toilette when his health per-
mtted, while Coolidge remained al
most a passive observer, making few
carefully prepared speeches. The
spread of campaign arguments by
newspapers and more recently also by
radio has proved far more effective
than efforts at personal persuasion
through oratory.
In 1920 Cox brought strongly into
public view the question: of campaign
expenses, charging the Republicans
with having vast fund and buying
the election. Subsequent revelations
of contributions from one millionaire
oil operator who later secured great
Government oil fields have justified
some of these charges. The public has
come to scrutinize campaign expendi-
lures more closely. yet both parties
this year are frankly seeking and
spending all they can honestly get.
1t seems true that in 1920 and 1924
the winning party had from two to
four times the campaign funds OF the
losers, but the public is not at all
CCLLdllI bAldbs VtlAS 1dNetAiIo6C oAOAAC SNS-
tied the result.
Many Citizens Neglect to Vote.
Even more attention has been given
to the fact that only a little more
than half the eligible citizens actually
vote at Presidential elections. The pro-
portion has been much reduced since
suffrage was extended to women in
1920. The stay-at home vote is obvi-
ously great enough in almost every
State to change the result.
No definite general plans are now
considered for changing the electoral
college method of choosing President.
nor the methods of nomination through
party conventions. A constitutional
amendment has several times passed
the Senate providing that newly
elected Presidents take Office in jan
uary instead of in March and that
the new Congress come in at the same
time instead of a year after the cleo
ton. The uncertainties of the cleo
toral plan, however, cast some doubt
on the wisdom of too hastily changing
If a. quicker change
is desired, more certain decision by
the November elections should prob
ably be provided
Tomorrow: What of Today?