HOW IT IS DONE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 93, 17 October 1944, Page 6

HOW IT IS DONE

AMERICAN ELECTIONS

CHOOSING THE PRESIDENT "Every four years, in war or in peace, come wind or,high weather, the American people pass through the throes of an election which might well be revolutionary in all its implications. Yet Americans accept the verdict of the people and proceed with the job in hand as if nothing had happened. During three serious wars, the United States has submitted to this ordeal. In- the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln appealed to the people not to swap horses while crossing the stream, yet he went through all the processes of a re-election, in a v> country rent and divided. During the first World War, Wilson was reelected on a promise to keep us out -, of war, yet when he took us right into it, the people abided by his de- / cision. And so, today, Roosevelt is submitting to the same tests in a far more serious crisis," said Mr. Sydney Greenbie, special assistant to the Ameri- c can Minister and head representative ' of the United States Office of War Information, whenjheVgave to Welling- c ton Rotarians today a brief description of the methods of electing the President of the United States and the powers which the President exercises. Mr, Greenbie went orf -to give examples of the power of American public opinion and to show that while ' it may be difficult to many people to describe «£he Constitution and to tell exactly how a president is elected, nevertheless, "let any dare to challenge any one of these rights, and every American will know how to defend them and why." "These rights are most clearly defined' in the method of electing a president," he said, "for . the President of the United States is not, as under the' British system, a member of the legislative body and responsible tto it. He is an independent representative of the people, separate and apart from Congress. As such he has greater powers than any dictator, yet he exercises them only according- to established la\y.:/ • POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT. "There . are many powers, but'thev can be classified as three great powers: He has the power to appoint all the policy-making officials who are responsible to him, personally. The : members of his Cabinet are not re- ' sponsible to Congress, but to him J Secondly he is the ■ Comamnder-in- 1 L-lnef of the Army and Navy, and dur- ' ing an emergency he can appoint any- ' one to .carry out any programme he : finds necessary. Thirdly, he is the re- ' presentative of hi s nation to foreign ] Governments. But foremost he is the '< leader of public opinion. The one : check on his power is that he is de- ; pendent upon the House of Repre- : sentatives for the funds with which to : carry out his policies. . "How is this president elected 9 The Wfl, intention was not that he S ld w be elected by direct popular : vote He was to be chosen by a body of electors appointed by the State I Legislatures. These velectors were free !Lff *«? .President and a vice-presi-Swt°h .*r ?^ vn choi t CG> but wi*h the f rS\ °* ■ the arty system in America it immediately became the to Xct°l^ h °f th6-i W? bi^ Partie* to select both a president and vicepresident; and for the electors to carry out the will of the voters. SYSTEM OF VOTING. T^ c electors still nominally elect the President, but they must vote as a unit in each State. Each State has electors equal to the number of representatives in both houses of Congress, i^ach elector has one vote. All the electoral votes of the State go to the Presidential candidate who has the majority vote in that State. That majority may be a small one. But the whole, weight of the population of that State is thrown in one direction or another. "One peculiarity of this system is that occasionally a President may be elected even though he has only a minority of the popular vote. One .reason for this is that a congressman ™^LJ c Present a district containing 800.000 people and another only 80.D00 people, but each represents only one electoral vote. Another reason is that each State has two senators regardless of its size, and each repre- ; sents an electoral vote." , He gave as an illustration of how this works, Maine and New York. Maine has 800,000 people, and five : electoral votes. New York has . 14,000,000 people and 47 electoral votes. . Were the electoral votes based on [ population alone, New York should : have 75 electoral votes as against , Maine's 5. But the practical effect is .to give to the States with a small i population a certain equality in power , with the States with a large popula- > tion, making for checks and balances ' in the national situation. i Mr. Greenbie, saying that he spoke : only as an individual, expressed the ) conviction that regardless of the election America will not modify its war ! effort by one tittle. He told of his t conversation with Wendell Willkle J just before leaving New York ?.nd 1 with Republican governors, and /they , expressed the conviction that America - would never go back to the peculiar - kind of isolationism in which it found 2 itself before the war. i ~, - . r___. 2 . KEEPING PRICES DOWN. No increase has taken place in the price of 7|d for Eveready Standard I Refill, Torch Batteries. They are now s available everywhere. Replace your c old batteries with Fresh, Dependable }•' Eveready Refills—and get an extra set '• [to keep in reserve.—Advt.