PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 21, 19 October 1944, Page 6

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

A Correction (To the Editor). Sir,— Reluctantly, I am compelled to correct the report of my address to the Rotary Club yesterday which appeared in your issue this morning. As a rule. New Zealand reporters have been very reliable in their reports. In this instance, however, the very purpose for making the process of our elections the subject of my talk would 'be completely nullified if I did not state it more correctly than reported. It was because the technical process is so involved that I undertook, by special request, to explain it. That the reporter misunderstood me so thoroughly is an indication, perhaps, of the great need of such a talk. I am not at all surprised that he was so confused. But I feel that it must not be left as stated in your paper. I shall take up the report point by point. 1. I did not say “if a Gallup poll were taken.’’ I said the professor reported that a Gallup poll had been taken which revealed a lack of knowledge on the part of the average American as to what the Constitution provided and what were his rights under the Bill of Rights. _ This, I said, had been interpreted' as evidence of ignorance. But, I added, though the American might not be able to interpret the Constitution or list the Rights, let anyone dare take away one of these rights and you would quickly learn that he knew only too well what his rights were. 2. “True, there were revolutionary changes of Government from time to time.” I did not say exactly that. I said that an election in America is such a vital arid important matter that it could quietly effect changes in Government which in many other lands could be achieved only by revolution. 3. “He explained, however, that it was possible for States with a comparatively small population to swing an election.” .From here on down, the report is garbled. I hardly blame the reporter. Yet I had tried to state the technical process of an election so simply and concisely that I. am astonished that it was not more clearly grasped. So let me state the facts. I began by saying that the President of the United .States is one ot the most powerful rulers on earth. He is the Chief Executive, compelled to carry out the laws of the land. He is the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy. He appoints all the members of his Cabinet as his own personal ministers, responsible to him alone, and carrying out his policies. They are not members of our Congress. The President is not responsible to Congress, but only to the people. He is peculiarly powerful in relation to the people because he is the leader of public opinion. As such, it is his duty to propose legislation and keep Congress informed of the state of the nation. He is also the only direct representative of the people to foreign nations. Ambassadors and ministers aro responsible to him. The only serious checks on his powers are that the House ot Representatives alone can vote him funds, and the Senate alone must ratify Now, I said, how is this potentate elected? Here the complications arise for any foreigner. Originally the constitution provided that the several State legislatures shall appoint electors who shall in turn elect the President. These electors were In number equal to the number of senators constitutionally allowed to each State (that is, two) and the number of representatives who were apportioned according to population. The original intention was that the electors should be free to choose a President to their own liking. The man getting the greatest votes should be President; the one getting the next number should be vice-president. This scheme did not work from the very beginning. So, with the rise of the two-party system, the parties began to nominate their own candidates for President and vicepresident. The system of electors appointed by the State legislatures was retained, but they were deprived of their freedom to choose the President. On election day the people cast their votes for one of the rival candidates for the presi'dcncy. After the popular voting is over, the electors in each State are compelled to give their entire voles to the man who has received tile popular majority in that .State. The number of electors in each Stale still equals the number of senators (2), plus the number of representatives according to the population. In that way, ri State like New York, with a population of 14 million, has 47 electors (two for the senators and 45 for the congressional districts), while a State like Maine, with a populationof only SOO,OOO, has five electors (two for Its two senators and three for its three congressional districts). Were the electors in proportion to the total population, New York would have 75 electors. But many of New York's congressional districts aro very densely settled. A congressman in one district represents 800,000 people, and in another only 80.000. Now. when you take a number of smaller Stales, each witli two senators, and with large but. sparsely settled congressional districts, and pool their voles, they might together swiug an election, even though they have a minority of the popular votes. This provides cheeks, and balances against the control of the entire country by certain densely populated areas. I want to correct another specific error. I had referred not to 87,iX)U,(X)0 ''electors,” as the reporter states, but 87,000,000 citizens with a right Io vole. I didn't say that the women’s vote would be 50 per cent, greater, but that owing to the absence of men in the army the vote of women would probably be over 50 per cent, of the vote. I did not say that America might “go back on the British Empire and her other allies”—l said that Wlllkie and Sewall were quite sure that the Republicans would not go back on post-war cooperation with the United Nations. T did not refer tq the President as an “administrator.” He is a ruler of the first magnitude, our Chief Executive. May T further add that I am not "cousultant,” but my title is .Special Assistant Io the American Minister ami head representative of the U.S. ollie,, of War information in New Zealand.—-I am, etc.. SYDNEY GREENBIE. American Legation. Wellington, October 18.