Show ELECTION is that then over now dawes wheeler suppose a u p p what wha 0 hai had ocen ceen eliminated by b the electoral vote vot and the contest contes ws wits between b e t w e e i VA dawes and brynn bryan 13 La lafollette Folletto and lili ills group apparently could deadlock tin tile senate u antl n t I 1 I 1 march 4 ns suming I 1 that naldo fron from ills following the th ml A republicans a anc n d 1 I ak democrats a t 0 a 0 d i pat or notte j F apparently fleet either cither dawes could or dryan by corn all baning with their A respective parti anns of course S oven even a partial mm eom bining of henna and demo 4 brats could nt at nay any A time little break the deadlock and elect I 1 A elther dawes or 01 ilayan A As a to insa W Cf fARLEy VA abd IF nj ARE deadlocked arace ajohn y JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN ARTY managers are promising political excitement galore this fall they have programmed a bitter presidential campaign a tremendous vote a coolidge and dawes avalanche a davis and bryan landslide and a lafollette and wheeler up hearal but bat suppose there any ava ache or any landslide and the up baval up heaves just enough to pre ent a choice in the electoral college nd ad throw the election into congress hen hea there will be something exciting for it la Is then quite within the pos bili ties that both the house and the cenate te should be deadlocked over the lection ecklon and that tor for the first time ince ice april 80 30 1789 there should be 0 president elect or vice president elect lect to take the oath of office march 1925 this la Is not a political poll tidal screed but a uzzle story here are the facts 16 the thing out in your own way there are votes in the electoral bollog and aro are necessary for a holce suppose for tile sake sak e of ar piment ment that lafollette carries at least east live five states with 39 electoral rotes otes and that the remaining votes w so evenly divided between cool dge and davis that neither has then hen under the constitution the election of it a president goes to the house mi and the election of a vice president i oes to the senate that to la the suppo case in a nutshell and poetics being far from an exact set mca there la Is nothing unreasonable about out it I opponents in both of ie major parties concede him the athance e of 0 f I 1 carrying wisconsin 13 minnesota e ot 12 north dakota 5 south dakota 5 and montana 4 total 39 electoral votes coolidge lg Is generally conceded 15 ote altes with electoral votes anis Is generally conceded the zoild south of 12 states with pectoral toral votes it Is more or less as lulled ned that davis will carry west finla enla 8 and that bryan will carry aroska 8 total w the result in tile the remaining 14 states slates edth their lo 10 electoral votes include ll 11 vtha the big ones es like illinois 20 29 in 14 15 missouri 18 new york ro 15 and ohio 24 la Is on the knees ot the flie gods it lafollette gets enough electoral to block election in the elecio electoral ral ollega W the hou house so will proceed to lo bal aspz president lent ferrul february ary 11 1025 88 twelfth amendment to the conati avo tsoo a provides that each ea al state slate shall u ode vote a majora majority ty of the delen 1404 dete determining ing that vote vot c A ka warn consists of a member or mem from two thirds of the states and writy of all the fieg stales tes 25 Is ry tor for a choice tho 0 present nt ai V house Is so made up 4 ta ilk padlock deadlock Is not nt at all ail there re are 23 republican dele and 20 democratic VIVO five jele Os aft ose of maryland Mon montana tima I 1 W new ew and new are evenly divided d and there 7 A j 0 roberr IT lq foro fore presumably unable to vote wisconsin nominally one of the 23 republican states would presumably vote for La lafollette Pollette so to win cool idge would have to got get three of the deadlocked states and davis would have to get all of the five incidentally here Is evidence that the La lafollette managers have long been preparing for this situation in june the house settled a seat contest between two claimants from new york bloom democrat and chandler the contest committee had found for chandler the ln la folletto follette group voted with the demo brats to seat bloom why because chandlers chandless Chand lers vote would have put ne new w york in the coolidge cooledge column blooms vote puts new york in the davis column let us assume that there Is a deadlock in the house and that it continues to march 4 next on that date the term of president lt coolidge expires and on that date ills his successor should be sworn in the house having failed of election that successor would be the vice president elected since february 11 by the senate but suppose the senate has bas been unable to elect a n vice president since february 11 let us its take a look at the conditions in the upper house in respect to this election the senate under the constitution Is restricted to voting for the two candidates receiving the largest and next largest vote in tile the electoral college that would eliminate either dawes dawesjr sor or bryan or wheeler take your choice and work out the answer in your own way A quorum for the purpose of this election consists of two thirds 04 64 of the whole number of senators do 00 and a majority 49 of the whole number Is necessary for a choice now in the present senate there are 51 poi nominal ninal 43 democrats and two farmer labovites laborites and johnson of minnesota lafollette himself Is one of tiles these e nominal republicans brookhart of iowa and frazier and ladd of north dakota are listed as republicans so are several other senators who vile have been tagged jagged by the regulars as radical and insurgent it Is therefore evident that lafollette with very little help would hold the balance of PO power in the election of vice president by the senate keeping in mind that this la Is a ale article and not a political screed that dawes I 1 has haa been let us assume eliminated by the vote of the electoral college how would lafollette and ills his following maneuver to bring about the election of wheeler over bryan been allm eliminated now suppose bryan had by the electoral college and la Fol lettes job wits was to elect wheeler all R 1 whether the lafollette Follette Ln group would favor dawes or bryan make your own guess having gone so far for the sake of argument let us keep on and assume that both chambers have remained in deadlock from february al 11 to march 4 and have failed I 1 to 0 elect either a president or vice president there Is therefore no president to swear in as successor to president coolidge when his term expires there Is no vice president to be sworn in and automatically become president the new house Is seated that day thirty senatorial seats are filled but with no president and no vice president to inaugurate what happens Is the united states for the first time since april 30 1789 1780 without a president or does secretary of state charles charle a evans automatically become president hughes II the constitution pr provides aVides tant the congress may by law provide for the case of removal death res resignation ignati on or inability both of the president presided and aind vice president declaring what balleer officer shall then act na as president and such officer shall act accordingly until the disability be removed or a president shall be elected the presidential succession act approved january 19 1880 provides that the succession shall pass to the members of tile the cabinet in the following order secretaries of state treasury and war attorney general postmaster general secretary of the navy in the event of secretary hughes II becoming president would he serve t the lie full term of four years or has congress the power to order a special presidential election and lo in case either chamber were ite publican by a decisive majority would congress order 0 such an election this Is a puzzle story not a political al screed but would it not be interesting it if charles harles E Hu Ilu glies who alio resigned from the he supreme co court urt only to bo be defeated for president in 1010 1910 should thus thua achieve it ills ambition would not the well known irony of fate be aptly al aly illustrated if charles IV bryan should thus attain to the place three times refused lils his more illustrious 0 us brother william jennings brynn bryan |