Evening star., 1940-12-01

w F. Moore, eTecuttDe chairman, and
-Underpood Photo.
would forfeit almost three-fourths Of its
current weight in national contests. Con-
gress itself has steadily refused to exert
the power vested in it by the 18th
amendment to reapportion representa-
tion in the House against States abridg-
ing the rights of franchise. Such re-
allotment would automatically bring
about a corresponding reduction in the
electoral college
If the electoral vote of New York had
been prorated according to number of
votes cast by each party, Mr.. Roosevelt,
instead of capturing all of its Al ballots,
would have obtained only "a, with %
going to Mr.. Willkie. AS it is, approx
mately 100000 out of more than a.
$4,000 voters supporting the Republican
candidate throughout the country are
diSfranchised in the electoral college.
But this feature enjoys the saving grace
Of being tied up with the two-party sys-
tenn, lauded as the principal stabilizing
factor in the American Government.
A pro rata reform, 1t is argued, would
stimulate the development of numerous
political factions, with the result that
elections would necessarily be thrown
into Congress. In such cases each State,
regardless of size, casts one vote, 50 that
combination Of the Is smallest States.
containing 20 per cent of the total pop-
ulation. would always be able to elect
President.
Elected by Plurality Only.
A point is made that in nine out of
twenty mine national elections since 1882
the winning candidates obtained merely
a plurality, and not a majority, Of the
popular vote, and were enabled to take
ofiice only through the inequalities Of
the electoral college system In the
four-cornered race of 1850. Lincoln had
less than 40 per cent of the popular vote.
Wilson had ~ per cent in 1912. These
minority Presidents" were Polk ls44),
Taylor 1848), Buchanan Q856, Lincoln
us6o), Garfield 1880, Cleveland 1884
and 1892 and Wilson 1s12 and 1870.
1t is significant that bills seeking to
apportion membership in the electoral
college according to votes cast have
generally been stifled in congressional
committees, and have invariably been
saluted with screams of protest from
Republican and Democratic leaders
alike. Neither of the major parties, it
seems. would consent to renounce the
possibility of gaining all the electoral
votes of such States as New York, Penn
sylvania, Ohio and California, by means
Of pluralities of few hundred ballots
There have been only two important
changes in the electoral college system
throughout its history of a century and
a half. The 18th amendment Q804)
put an end to the original constitutional
arrangement under which-as actually
happened in l796-the President and
Vice President might be selected from
opposite political parties. BY 1928 all
the States had virtually completed q
process by which the choice of presi-
Dental electors was transferred from
their Legislatures to popular suffrage.
Job for ELITE"
The idea underlying the electoral COL
lege was that the selection Of President
and Vice President was so momentous 1t
could not safely be confided to the people,
but only to few of the "elite" in each
State. As Alexander Hamilton frankly
put 1t in the Federalist, the immediate
election should be made by men most
capable of analyzing the qualities adapt
ed to the station" and "a small number
of persons, selected by their fellow citi-
zens from the general mass, will be most
likely to possess the information and
discernment requisite to so complicated
an investigation"
Hamilton's plan was disrupted only six
years after its adoption. The nomina-
ton of presidential candidates by politi.
cal parties, functioning wholly outside
the Constitution, began in 17o6. when .
Federalist caucus agreed upon John
Adams as the party's candidate for
President, and q conference of Republic
cans chose Jefferson. The Sage Of Mon
ticello declared for the abolition of the
Electoral College after its operation
nearly cost him the Presidency in 1900.
So did Andrew jackson, in consequence
of the 1924 campaign. in which he OBJ
tanned 80 electoral votes to "a for John
Quincy Adams, but was counted out in
the House Of Representatives. In seven
annual messages to Congress, jackson
urged an amendment to remove all in
termediate agencies ip the election Of
President and Vice President" but
wanted to preserve ito each state It's
present relative weight in the election.
The end which jackson sought to
achieve by constitutional amendment
would appear on the surface to have
been accomplished by such States -
have suppressed the names Of electors
on the ballot and substituted those Of
o. KEoXoaAL colLEo1 - CD