THE H.B. TRIBUNE TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 1929 FOUR MONTHS AFTER

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIX, Issue 66, 5 March 1929, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 1929 FOUR MONTHS AFTER

Among British communities accustomed to a parliamentary system adopted from the Old Country, it seems not a little incongruous that, although Mr. Herbert Hoover was assured of his succession to the presidency of the United Skates of 'America early in November, it was not until yesterday, four months later, that he assumed the reins of office. In his case, of course, he was to take the place of one who belonged to the same political party and whose general lines of policy were fairly well in accord with his own. But the position would have been the same had Mr Al Smith, the Democrat candidate, with widely differing views on many subjects, succeeded in beating him. Not only this, but the new members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, also elected last November, have not uijtil now had any say in Congress, where the old members retain their seats until the new President takes his. With us, where a new Parliament comes into active being immediately after election and a Ministry defeated at the polls goes out of office at once, this cannot but. be regarded as a strange anomaly. It is very easy to see how an Administration and a Legislature given orders to quit by the electors might, during a further irresponsible four months of office, shape their course so as to seriously embarrass their successors.

It is probably not very generally realised that Mr. Hoover’s election to'the presidency was not formally completed until the middle of last month, although it was made practically certain by the popular vote taken throughout the country on November 6th. That vote, however, was, according to the Constitution, merely for the purpose of appointing State delegates to an electoral college with which, in theory, lies the final choice of a President. Originally these delegates were supposed to exercise their own personal discretion m making this choice. But that idea soon got blown to the winds in practice, and now the State delegates are elected'under pledge to cast their votes ii» specified directions. This formal process w.as gone through early in January. But even then finality had not been reached, for it was

not until the delegates’ sealed voting papers were opened, and solemnly counted, in the presence of both Houses on February 13th. that Mr. Hoover’s election could be officially announced. The perpetuation and observance of all these empty conventions only serve to show that the American people, though loudly proclaiming their democratic ideals, are in many respects much more conservative than the old-fashioned Briton, whom they rather hold in contempt for want of progressiveness. As a matter of fact, the pursuit of all this long and useless election process is the outcome of an almost superstitious worship of the letter of the written Constitution, while its spirit is being ingeniously violated. The authors of the American Constitution were democrats, but they had no great faith in the judgment and restraint of the sovereign people. They feared that, if the choice of the President were left to a direct vote of the people, dangerous public excitement would be engendered and victory would be apt to fall to candidates of merely “showy” gifts. Again, were the President to be appointed by Congress he would be regarded as the representative not of the nation as a whole, but only of a particular section. Accordingly it was provided that he should be chosen by an electoral college consisting of State delegates chosen by popular vote. The sanguine but unwarranted assumption was that its members would be elected on their merits; that they would be men of principle and discernment. As Bryce puts it: “This plan was expected to secure the choice by the chosen best citizens of each State, in a tranquil and deliberate way, of the man whom they in their unfettered discretion should deem fittest to ba the chief magistrate of the Union.” Moreover, they would have an entirely free hand. They could choose any man who fulfilled the conditions of being American born, of having attained the age of twenty-five, and of having resided in America for fourteen years. No part of their handiwork was regarded with more satisfaction by the Constitution-makers than this scheme, yet none has more completely falsified anticipaions. Before ten years had passed their intentions had been utterly frustrated; the functions of the electoral college had become purely formal, as they have continued to be ever since.