AMERICAN ELECTIONS.

Evening Star, Issue 23724, 4 November 1940, Page 6

AMERICAN ELECTIONS.

To-.Monr.ow the electors of the United States will decide whether the Democrats, led by Mr Franklin Roosevelt, or “the Republicans, with Air Wendell Willkie as their candidate, are to control the destinies of tho country for the next four years. Afore than usual interest is attached to the results of the voting because of the circumstances arising from Hitler’s assault on democracy. The elections this week are not confined to the choice of a President. A proportion of the members of the Senate and of the House of Representatives have to stand the test of the popular will. The campaign, therefore, is a real fight for power between the two historic parties. .Electing a President in America is a complicated process. The people as a whole do not actually vote at the ballot box for the President. They have an election and appoint “ electors,” who are empowered to perform the real election for them. In short, they appoint the men who appoint the President. This is how it operates: On a certain day in every fourth year an election is held in every State. The day fixed is the Tuesday following tho first Alonday in November in every leap year. Each State is allowed to choose tho same number of members as it has in Congress. Thus there will be one each for the ninety-six Senators and one each for tho 435 members of tho House of Representatives, a total of 531. These members, who form what is called an “ electoral college,” pledge themselves to support a certain candidate for the chief office, so, when the result of the elections is known, the people know who is going to be President. But the President is not officially elected till December, when the “ electors ” go to tho capital of their respective States and record their votes, which is a formal legal procedure, since the decision is already known. As a result of war developments taking precedence in the news services, comparatively little has been cabled about the American elections, but a vigorous campaign has been conducted by both sides. Air Willkio’s chief points of attack were directed, against what the Republicans assert was the failure of the New Deal to solve the country’s pressing domestic problems, which were the reason for its initiation,' and the third term issue, with which has arisen the suggestion of attempted dictatorship. Countering this, President Roosevelt said that a free election, as in the present case, was a complete bar to this form of government. In Air Willkie’s opinion the basic argument against the third term, apart from the fact that it contravenes one of America’s cherished traditions, is that any man who is President of the United States gathers into his hands enormous power—enormous power to re-elect himself—and that no matter how good a man’s motives are, when he puts himself behind these forces and those men about him who want to have continuance in office, there is a danger of destroying American democracy. Air Roosevelt sees a threat of dictatorship in another form. His allegation is that radical and ultra-conservative groups have combined to form an “ unholy alliance,” seeking his defeat and the establishment of a dictatorial form of government in the United States. This implies an understanding between Communism and Nazism, for the word “ radical ” in America has a different meaning in politics from its meaning in the British Empire. Thus, it would appear that American democracy is threatened on two fronts, but the people will no doubt conclude that the dangers are not so great as the election campaign speakers would have them believe.