OCR Text |
Show ELECTION OF FRE3IDENT. j In the United States senate, yesterday, yester-day, the discussion broken into by the adjournment of congress last summer, of the bill to amend the laws relating , to the election of president aud vice president, was resumed, the originator ol the bill (Edmunds) making an argument in its favor. Tbe chief purpose of the senate bill is to take, tbe buaioc3a of electing out of the houso of representatives. It, therefore, there-fore, Bhould not pass, us in case of a failuro to choose on tbe part of the people, their next repreaeutitivei ougnt to ue entrusted wun iue i militant mili-tant duty. Several billa besides Edmunds', Ed-munds', relating to Ik'u matter, are pending in each branch of congress, and it is probable that a good deal of time will be tpent in their respective advocacy during the remainder re-mainder of the present, and the first session of the next congress. Tho beat of these billo is the one reported by the house committee appointed last Bession for tho special purpose of devising new machinery for the eleo tion of thoso officers. Tho bill contemplates con-templates an election by a direct vote of the people, and is the only truly republican way of making tho selection. selec-tion. The last eleolion presented tbe undemocratio Bpectacle ol a minority candidate beiDg seated in the office, even admiting that Hayes was honestly entitled to tho electoral votes of Louisiana, Florida and South Carolina. The law Bhould be eo framed that Ibis could not occur, and the only way to prevent pre-vent it, is to permit the people to make the choico, and let the ma-jotity ma-jotity rule. The sub-committee reporting re-porting the bill presented an able argumentative ar-gumentative report.in which, after re ferring to the condition of affairs that makes the proposed legislation necessary, neces-sary, they say of the present electoral eyatem that it has failed to accomplish accom-plish its purpose: Every reason oripriually alltgod fir it has boon refuted by experience. Its operation ia inequable, and cannot bo otherwise. It aristocratic in its notions of government. It was founded in distrust dis-trust of tho people and intended as a check upon tho popular will. It is peculiarly pe-culiarly open to treachery and fraud, and it has brought the country to tbe verge of revolution and anarchy ro- Deaiedly. Its main design-was to secure a body of men eminent for wisdom and impartiality, able and willing to exorcise judgment and choico, The result i, that electors are pledged to Ihi ir party, morally bund not lo exorcise judgment or choice. Their vo'.o is a naked party vote, aud oven when honest it is but an indirect expression of tho popular will, where no indirection is necosmtry or useful. use-ful. Our ancestors, distrusting tho people, peo-ple, interposed electors between tho people peo-ple and the presidency, but tho pooplo are- wiser than the politicians- They say that small olectorial bodies aro dangerous. danger-ous. They know that pledged electors are lesa likely to be corrupted, and by requiring 8Qch pledge they take away tho life of tho electoral system. The report further refers to the theory that the equality of the states is preserved by the electoral system, and that the doctrine of states rights will be infringed upon by any change, continuing: It i3 tho people of the stato who croato all the machinery of tho ttato government govern-ment aud chooso its officers. Tbe people aro tbe stato. If a stato has the iwo: votes, tho same as all tbe others, in that; respect she is the peer of the others, and it make3 no difference as to state rights whether tho two votes are dotertuiuea hy tbe people directly or by the people indirectly in-directly through, officers representing them in their corporate capacity. Even in theory, Ihoreforo, it is not iho electoral eystcm that tends to preserve tho equality of tho statoi, hut it is the giving each stato tho two votes that does it, and whether iho oxerciao of these votes ia by the people directly or by tho people iodircctlj' through electors, tbe power of Iho state ia precisely the same. In practice the electoral pyslem has no tendency to preserve the relative powers of Iho smaller states. It has iinppcned already that the vote of New York cast solid by general ticket has decided the election by a faw thousand majority, and haa not only settled the question for the million votor3 of Iho United States. Tho practical effect of the electoral system lias been to incroase tho relatiyo importance nod power ot tbo large stales, and tho practico of voting tbe gancral ticket was introduced by the Iftrga states for that purpose, ar.d where introduced all wero compelled t ) fellow it. Of the election by direct vote of the people, instead of indirectly through electors, the committee Bay: ' It has been approved by great pal ideal id-eal leadera of both parties at critical periods of the republic. Its advanteg s are many. It would enable every vo er to voto for the man of bia choice, with tin-absolute tin-absolute certainty that lie, aod lb "se win voted with him, would receive tlu-ir proper portion of tho electoral vo. A man now can voto for such candidal only as havo clec'ors in hi a own sti'.a. No EOUthern man could havo voted for Fremont and Dayton in lSofi, becaiio they had no electoral ticket. McOlcllati, wita 41 per cunt, of tho popular voto, obtained only 9 per cont. oftno electoral vote. Douglas, with 29 percent of th. popular vole, bad but 2 per cent, of llw electoral vote. (Jlay, with 42 per c-.'iit. of the popular voto in 1832, bad but 17 per cent, of tho electoral voto. Such a ttate of things is unreasonable, and nothing can bo said fairly in defence of it. |