| Show a THE GUi COLLEGE I How Cleveland and Stevenson S Will be Elected by It5 Whoa and How the Electoral Body Proceeds With Its Work Its PerquiEltes and Patronage Correspondence of THE HERALD NETT YOKE Nov EOLVhe president and 0 vicepresident of the United States are elocted on the second Tuesday in January Toe formal declaration of the election is made by the vicepresident of the United States or if there bo none by the president presi-dent of tho Senate in the presence of Congress Con-gress Once in four years the Senate abandons its chamber enters the House of Representatives in a body sits with that body thus constituting tho Congress and in its presence tellers who are members of the Congress count the vote delivered in the electoral college report the count to the vicepresident who declares it and on tho returns mates the announcement of tile election of the president Under tho original clause of tho constitution consti-tution there came trouble very early in the election of 1800 Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr were found to have received an equal vote in tho combined electoral college If Jefferson had received ono more vote ho would have been declared elected president while Burr would have beeu chosen vicepresident for in the criRihal constitution it was simply provided pro-vided that tile man who received the largest number of electoral votes should be certified to Congress as having been chosen president and the man who re eCIcd the next largest vicepresident it was scan that this provision was going to maize trouble It would bo sure to result some time in the election of a vice president of different political faith from the presidentelect and it also made a constant peril that there would be no choice in the electoral college so that Congress would be constantly required re-quired to choose the president and vice president Jefferson was chosen by the House and twentyfour years later John QUincy Adams was also so chosen but in his case It was because no one had received a majority in the electoral college In each of these elections there were charges which amounted almost scandalous scandal-ous accusations that tho friends of the successful candidates nad made bargains Ttere was passion as great as any that has occurred in subsequent elections when the accusation was mane by Mr Burrs friends S that through a bargain with Alexander Hamilton the creator of the Federalist party Mr Jefferson the creator of tho DemocraticRepublican party was chosen president by the House over Mr Burr In 124 it was the scandal of the day although al-though many believed it to Do an unfounded un-founded one that Mr Adams friends had bargained with those of Henry Clay the terms of the bargain being that they should elect Adams president and that he should appoint Mr Clay socrotary of state Tho accusation was widely believed andS and-S contemporaneous politicians of Clays lifetime always believed that it cost him tile presidency and students of political history are inclined to that opinion now No serious disturbance so far as the machinery of presidential elections Is concerned con-cerned occurred until lb7G and 1877 Then a dangerous crisis owing to a dispute over the choice of electors in several states was developed It was claimed by the Democracy Democ-racy that a sufficient number of of electors had been fairly chosen to give Samual J Tiiden a majority in the electoral college It was adversly claimed by the opposing party that the electors representing it in these disputed states had been chosen but B single vote was really in dispute that is to say the contest WAS so close that the claims of the victorious side could only be established by a majority of one electoral vote It was decided by a piece of machinery conceived in tho spirit of compromise and with something like an idea of arbitration at the bottom of it It was admittedly an ultraconstitutional body to which the decision de-cision was left but tho ablest lawyers united In agreeing that it was not unconstitutional uncon-stitutional since all the forms of the constitution con-stitution were recognized in the formal declaration of the count It was called the electoral commission consisting of mem bers of each house of Congress and a delegation dele-gation from the supreme court Its decision S deci-sion by one vote was in favor of the claim of tho Republicans and tho Democratic I house of Congress formally accepted the decision although by resolution resolu-tion declaring still its belief that Mr Tilden was fairly elected The men who arc to elect the next president presi-dent and vicopresidest of the United States wcro themselves elected on Tuesday Tues-day November 8 and it may be of interest to know exactly what these men do when they gather as oa electoral college By the constitution of the United States they are Ell required to meet upon the same day that doubtless being regarded as necessary neces-sary to prevent any possible combinationS combination-S which might negative the will of the people peo-ple They meet by law on the second Tuesday in January and the manner of meeting is prescribed by tho statutes In the various states The law in New York state Is practically what it is In every other state Here the electors having been notified by the proper tate officers S of their election and having received certificates cer-tificates for the same are required to meet in the state Capitol In the afternoon of the day preceding tho day upon which they areS are-S to vote Upon organization the first step is to see whether every elector is present who has been chosen If there are any vacancies caused either by death refusal to serve or even neglect to attend these ore Immediately filled by a plurality vote of those who are present Having thus S filled the electoral college a president is chosen and r secretary who must be electors elec-tors Upon the next day the electors meet at the caphol and there vote first by ballot for candidates for president and then they voteTor the candidates for vicepresi dent and there Is but one restriction upon this vote that one at least of the men for whom they vote must not be a resident of the same state with themselves This is an operation which usually takes S not more than from ten to fifteen minutes and it require usually much more time to make out tho formal lists than it does to rote for the candidates The secretary S prepares a list of ail persons voted for for president and the number of votes cast It very seldom happens that In an electoral college there are votes cast for mora than one person for president The samo thing is done with the vote for vicepresident The electors sign and certify the two lists isndthey add to them their own certificates of election ae electors certified by tao sec rotary of state There are throe of these lists made one of them is forwarded under seal to the president of the Senate of the United States another is delivered to tho United States judge of the district In which the state capital ia situated a third is committed to a special messenger who is elected by tho electoral college and commissioned to carry to Washington and deliver to the secretary of stato of tho United States this certified list and to receive re-ceive a receipt therefor For this service the electors receive such mileage and pay for attendance as 1 IB allowed j al-lowed by law to members of the legislature f cr their attendance and travel There has never been a casa when a presidential elector has been tempted to betray his party It was said in 1876 that attempts were made or the suggestion was S made that some one or two electors be offered of-fered large sume of money to vote either a blank ballot In the electoral college or to vote for tho candidate of the opposition It n is doubtful whether such suggestion would have ever been attempted for no elector would dare at that time however great the temptation to Bell his vote It would have made an outcast of him ahd his name would have gone into tradition alongside that of Benedict Arnold There was ia 1876 however another proposition pro-position made in good faith and one which many believed might be accepted It was = suggested that as many Republicans believed be-lieved that Mr Tilden had received a majority c ma-jority of the popular vote some anD an-D elector would ward off this by voting for him and great eiciteraect was occasioned i by the announcement that Mr James > RUEseli Lowell of Massachusetts was considering con-sidering such a step It Mr Lowell or 0 any other Republican elector had voted forMr Tildon In the electoral college it would have given him an undisputed ma jorityof one vote Mr Lowell however while inoliaed to believe that Mr lilt el was elected declared that the question was one with which he as an eleotor had nothing todo It was his duty to vote ia accordance with the wishes of that party which had chosen him as an elector and bo did so In looking back over the tables of the electoral vote it is noticed that sometimes the vote of a stats has been divided although al-though this la comparatively rare occurrence occur-rence in recent years In 1860 the vote of New Jersey was divided In 1SSO a remarkable re-markable return was made by the California Califor-nia electoral college In the campaign a forged letter had been circulated which gave the impression tlat General Garfield was friendly to Chinese immicratlOn Tho forgery was discovered and Its ill effects negatived in the east but the damage had been done in California and to that letter was attributed thi fact that General Garfield Gar-field lost the electoral vote of that state He received however one vote Ono of the Domosratio electors was Judge Terry who was a few years ago shot by a United Statos marshal and who had himself killed United States Senator Broderick in a duel Terry was so unpopular unpop-ular that a sufficient number of men refused re-fused to vote for him to elect one Garfield elector and that accounts for that singular singu-lar and single electoral vote from California Cali-fornia in 18SO In the electoral college which meets to declare the result of the November election there will bo a division divi-sion of the electoral votes in some of the states in Michigan because the electors are there chosen by congress districts and in some other states because by agreement there was fusion resulting in the election of some Democratic and some Weaver electors elec-tors The electoral tables show ono curious thing which to many of the present gen ration r-ation seems very remarkable and that is that although Mr Greeloy was the candidate candi-date of one party in 1872 yet he received no electoral votes This was duo to tho fact that Mr Greeley died within two weeks after election Had his party won I at tho November election a very serious question would have arisen The electoral college would have had the power in fact I tbe duty to select from some liberal Republican Re-publican the man who should take the dead I candidates place and it has often been a matter of speculative comment what the electoral colleges would do in case this duty van upon thorn The electoral cellegos have only ono perquisite per-quisite or piece of patronage they are able to appoint tho messengers who take the lists to the secretary of state and this is an eagerly sought honor It is usually given to a man who carries for no other office He is paid a mileage and allowed a sum sufficient to pay his expenses It is looked upon as furnishing the occasion for a free and officially important trip to Washington Those messengers who I come from tho Pacific slope make a little something besides since tho mileage is a good deal more than the railroad freE I fre-E JAY EDWARDS |
