THE U.S. PRESIDENCY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 65, 9 November 1912, Page 5

THE U.S. PRESIDENCY.

DEMOCRATS CONTROL SENATE

I Washington, November 8. The Democrats are practically assured of the control of the Senate. Allowing for all doubtful States, the Republicans, and Democrats’ count is exactly half, with a Democratic VicePresident, thus giving the Democrats tho casting vote.

COURSE OF THE ELECTION. Tho final result will not bo known for a few months. There are numerous formalities yet to he gone through. The States take what is constitutionally the preliminary step of holding a popular vote to select the electors, who are to choose the President. The electors, on the second Monday in January next, are to moot in the capitals of their respective States and then give their votes. On the second Wednesday in February the votes are opened and counted in the presence of both Houses of Congress, and the new President begins his term on March 4th. The electors number 531, and in tho absence of a clear majority, or 266 votes, for any one candidate, a deadlock will result, and the’electoral college will have to resign to the House of Representatives the function of selecting the President.

THE THREE CANDIDATES. A writer in the ‘World’s Work’ compares the three Presidential candidates in an entertaining and somewhat unu'sual manner. Their educational accomplishments are first reviewed. Dr. Wilson graduated at Princeton fortyfirst in a class of one hundred and twenty-one. Mr. Taft graduated at Yale, second in a class of one hundred and twenty-one. Mr. Roosevelt took Ins degree at Harvard with honours in natural history, and held for a short while the light-weight boxing championship. Wilson has had eighteen months in public office, Roosevelt eighteen years, Taft twenty-one years. Taft is fat, Wilson is lean, Roosevelt is muscular. Taft “waltzes divinely,” Roosevelt is “no fairy on his feet,” and Wilson’s one attempt at a cakewalk was accompanied by almost fatal results to a small audience. Taft dresses well, almost “flashily.” Wilson dresses quietly and carefully, generally in grey, while Roosevelt is “cti; tinct. ly slouchy” in his attire. All three ora blue-eyed. Taft plays golf and is an enthusiastic baseball “rooter,” Wilson was told at college he Would make a baseball player if he were not so “damned lazy,” and Roosevelt’s sport is “killing things.” All three are abstemious men, though the rumour that Roosevelt drinks will probably never die, for his demeanor and actions arc so frequently those commonly exhibited by an intoxicated man. All three are fond of merriment, and all throe are good jokers. Wilson laughs but seldom, but he has always a ready smil> for a clever word an original turn of thought or an oddity or whimsicality. Taft likes his jokes “good and strong,” but Roosevelt, although a master of vituperation, never crosses the line of conventional modesty. Taft and Wilson receive callers courageously, and listen attentively to what they have to say. Roosevelt never listened to anyone in his life. It is a very lucky visitor who has a chance “to get a word in edgeways” with Roosevelt. Taft can get irritated oyer trifles. Wilson pays attention to little details, but does not permit them to annoy him. Roosevelt’s life contains no little things. There can be no little thing if it affects Roosevelt. It is at once a crime against high heaven. Dealing with opponents. Roosevelt storms, Taft jests, and Wilson reasons sympathetically. Roosevelt is the best advertiser and Wilson appreciates the value of advertisement, but Taft, who, by the way, is the only one of the three who ever worked on a newspaper, has a contempt for publicity and popularity.