The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1932. CHOOSING A PRESIDENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 263, 5 November 1932, Page 8

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1932. CHOOSING A PRESIDENT.

P'or ifte cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

Once every four years, in an election that probably causes more disturbance to national economic life than any other contest in the world, the greatest Republic chooses its President. This year, as in 1916 and 1920, the choice is of profound interest to the rest of the "world. In 1916 President Wilson appealed to the people on his record of neutrality in respect to the war, but within a few months had to enter the struggle. In 1920 the Republicans ■« on an enormous victory oil the policy of repudiating Versailles and the League of Nations. This year there is no very clear-cut issue affecting the rest of the world. If Mr. Hoover has talked perilous stuff about high tariffs, Mr. Roosevelt has done the same in respect to war debts. But the crisis with which the world is grappling cannot be overcome without the help of the United States, and other countries have at least this interest in the election, that they are impatient for it to be over so that the American Government may be able to give its attention to international affairs undisturbed by thoughts of local politics.

Mediocre men, able men, and grfeat men have been cbosen to sit in "W*ashington s chair, but the great have been few. The system of party nomination —and no one has a chance outside the ranks of Republicans and Democrats—has often put a seal upon mediocrity. The original idea was that a College of Electors, deliberating freely away from the turmoil of politics, should in their wisdom make an ideal choice. What came about was that the members of the Electoral College were simply delegates, elected by popular vote to support certain candidates. The College still meets,, but it is purely a matter of form; the choice of President is known on the night of election day or the morning after. As the years pass, the weaknesses in the American Constitution become more apparent, and one of them is the uneven operation of the connection between the popular and the Electoral College votes. The method of election is for each State to appoint a number of Electors equal to l the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may bo entitled in Congress. The number of Representatives to which each State is entitled is determined by the decennial census, and under this rule New York State had at last election 45 Electors, as against one for such States as Arizona and Nevada. The party that wins a majority, however small, of popular votes in a State takes all the Electoral College votes in that State, hence the paramount importance of the more populous areas. Correspondence between popular votes and Electoral College votes varies widely. In 1888 Benjamin Harrison was over 98,000 votes behind Cleveland in the national vote, but was 65 ahead of him on the electoral vote, and so was chosen President.

The Democrats have elected but two Presidents in forty years—Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson. They can win the Presidency only by force of exceptional circumstances. They stand traditionally for relatively low tariffs and State rights, but their championing of minorities has become more important. They represent the South against the North, the Western farmer against the Eastern money power, the non-Anglo-Saxon elements in the population against the descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers and of British immigration generally. Their political successes are local rather than national; they have been allied, for example, with Tammany, and through it have ruled New York. In a national election it is difficult to find a platform that will carry comfortably such diverse elements as a Virginian aristocrat, an Italian Catholic and a Texas Baptist. But the party's greatest enemy is prosperity. The Republican Party is the party of prosperity, and it makes a habit of taking all credit to itself for this condition. Now its opponents have such an opportunity as they have not had for years. The nation is stunned by the blows of depression. The Democrats say they can lead the nation out of 'the wilderness; the Republicans can only say that no party could have done better and that things will be worse if Mr. Roosevelt is elected. Mr. Hoover has many personal qualities which recommend him to the electorate. He has cosmopolitan experience, great organising ability and skill in administering difficult affairs. He has faced difficulties instead of running away from them, and he has laboured as hard as any President of the White House since President Polk worked himself to death there in the middle of last century. He is genuinely desirous of the good of the whole people, and has a wide range of sympathies. He has had to grapple with tremendous problems, such as farm relief, the tariff, naval disarmament and prohibition, as well as those brought about by the stock market crash and business depression. His opponent, Governor Roosevelt, has a personality which has been described as magnetic. He is good-natured, some think too amiable, and has a gift of getting along yith people of all ranks and classes. He has a great sense of humour, impresses people with his fundamental sanity, is unostentatious and dislikes all pretence and sham. In addition, he is a persuasive public speaker. His supporters affirm that he has integrity, brains and tact, combined with a wide experience of politics and of public administration. He is definitely a Liberal rather than a Radical, but he is as definitely a Liberal rather than a Conservative. Mr. Hoover, though a Conservative, is no reactionary; and Mr.* Roosevelt, though a true democrat, is no demagogue. The pair are worthily matched, but events rather than personal qualities will decide the issue. The depression is the Republicans' most dangerous enemy.;

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