Speaker,
Ly N Garner
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
N FEBRUARY 8, 1933, a new Presl-
dent and Vice President of the
United States will be elected.
“What!” you exclaim, as you
read that statement, “Why, I
thought we attended to that two
months ago—on November 8, 1932,
to be exact, when the American
people voted Franklin D. Roose-
velt of New York into office as President and
John N. Garner of Texas as Vice President.”
As a matter of fact, they did nothing of the
gort. They only voted for a group of men called
Presidential electors and these men presumably
have already voted for Roosevelt and Garner
for those offices. But the actual election does
not become official until the afternoon of Feb-
ruary 8 when the two houses of congress meet
in joint session and go through the ceremony
of counting the electoral votes and the Vice
President proclaims the fact that the Demo-
eratle candidates In the 1932 election had the
largest number of electoral votes and there
gore will be inducted into office on March 4.
Like so many other official ceremonies in gov.
ernment, the February 8 “election™ Is noth-
{ng but a make-belleve and, under its 145. year-
old load of tradition and custom, Vice Presi.
dent Charles €urtis and Speaker John N. Garner
the's speaker one minute and the next minute
he's Vice President!) become companions in a
hollow, but official, pretense. Side by side and
in the presence of several hundred people, the
two leading candidates for Vice President will
act for 30 minutes as though the result of their
contest had not already been known for four
months and everybody else will help lend a
solemn dignity to the emply ceremony.
The only new thing about the whole business
will be two new boxes which a earpenter, an
employee of the United States senate, has be-
gun preparing soon after the November election.
They are made of the finest mahogany and
have brass handles. As soon as they are fin.
ished they are sent to the office of Vice Pres!
dent Curtis, where they will rest until it Is time
to receive 48 huge envelopes which have ar
rived in Washington some time during January.
These envelopes contain the votes of members
of the electoral college chosen on November 8
by citizens In the states from which the en-
velopes eame,
The only person in the United Sintes who has
the authority to open those envelopes is the
president of the senate (the Vice President of
the United States) and even he is not allowed
to learn their “secret” until the second Wednes.
day In February and then only in the presence
of the members of the two houses of congress.
But the legisiative mill must grind out a
certain piece of legislation before even this can
be accomplished. So the first step necessary
to the election is taken when a minor senate
committee labors and brings forth a resolution
which provides for the joint session at which
the ballots are to be counted. Then the senate
adopts the resolution.
Soon thereafter, members of the senate line
up, two abreast and In the order of senlority.
Then, with dignity setting the pace, they start
the march from thelr chamber to that of the
house of representatives, located 500 feet In
the distance,
Grim adherence to the letter of the rules
would eall for the Vice President to carry the
two ballot boxes at the head of the parade,
with the secretary of the senate and the sergeant.
at-arms of the senate a step or so behind him,
The theory is that the ballots must be Jn the
custody of the Vice President, as president of
the senate, and In his custody only, from the
time they arrive at the Capitol. In practice, how-
ever, the vote-laden boxes are earried by two
boys—chosen from among the senate pages—who
march at the head of the double line of senators,
Four years ago the procession began to move
at 54 minutes past noon, with arrival at the
house chamber by 1 o'clock Imperative. Since
the affair has many years of guidance and ex-
perience behind it, the six-minute Interval be-
tween the first shuffling of feet and arrival at
the destination may be regarded as an estab
lished order,
The votes and thelr very consequential es-
cort cause an Initial stir at the entrance to the
house chamber when a doorkeeper announces
to the speaker that the senate awaits, The leg-
islative equivalent of “Tell them to come In®
brings the visiting contingent to occupancy of
seats which are assigned under precisely-worded
rules,
This stage of the proceedings will find Mr,
Curtis mounting the dais at 1 o'clock on Feb
ruary 8, there to take his place at the right
of the speaker. Thirty feet above, eyes of the
press and the galleried public will gaze at the
pair of men who went Into November as op-
posing political candidates and came out of that
month as victor and vanquished,
Election of the President and Vice President
for the next term of four years should be com
pleted within half an hour, In 1020, the job
was completed and the senate was back in its
~ : wr
“President-Elect
Franklin D Roosevelt
own hall 38 minutes after the Joint session
opened, .
At the rate less than one minute will be de
votbd to consideration of the votes cast by the
electors chosen in each state. Within that min.
pte Is to be included the time required to move
the envelopes from the mahogany boxes and
to place them in the hands of the Vice Presi
dent, as well as the seconds which will pass
while the presiding officer opens the envelopes
and while official tellers scan the contents and
tell what they see
Under the venerable plan the tellers finally
“discover™ the identities of the men who next
are to be President and Vice President. The
names of those men are then announced by the
president of the senate. Only when no eandi-
date receives a majority of the votes cast does
this procedure go awry.
But to return to the “officl:! pretense” of elect.
ing a President February 8: Connected with its
early history are two significant “ifs” If the
roads between Georgia and Philadelphia back
fn 1787 hadn't been so rough and If a certaln
delegate to the constitutional convention from
jeorgia named William Houston hadn't suffered
so much discomfort from the condition of the
ronds, the whole system might have been dM.
ferent.
The convention had almost decided to have
electors chosen by the people of each state jour.
ney once every four years to the National Capital
to meet for the purpose of voting among them.
selves to decide who should hold the two high
positions.
But Mr. Houston rose to his feet during a
session on a hot July afternoon and, with memo-
ries of the road still fresh in his mind, told the
assembled delegates what he thought about the
iden, He directed the convention's attention
to the “expense and extreme Inconvenience of
drawing together men from all states for the
gingle purpose of electing the chief executive”
He said also it seemed improbable to him that
eapable men would undertake the service un-
der the penalty of having to travel far from
home, only to turn right around and go back
to the Journey's starting point.
A suggestion was made that called for electors
of each state to travel only to thelr state eapital
to cast thelr votes. Mr. Houston approved of
that. Development of the plan then progressed,
producing the proposal that each state appoint
a messenger to bring the votes of its electors to
the sent of the national government. The dele.
gates, worn out after many weeks of debate, wel
comed the compromise,
These periodical trips were continued for more
than 130 years. The messengers, usually rela.
tives of the leading campaign contributors, state.
house employees, politienl newswriters and such,
received 25 cents a mile for their travels to
Washington,
About four years ago, it was found that this
quadrennial sending of messengers was costing
the national government more than $14,000, Econ-
omy demanded a change so a law was passed
providing that the electoral votes, or “certifi
cates” as they are formally ealled, be sent by
mall Instead of by messenger.
This amect, approved May 20, 1028, reads as
follows :
“The electors of President and Viee Presi.
dent of each state shall meet and give their
votes on the first Wednesday in January next
following thelr appointment at such place
in ench state as the legislature of such state -
shall direct,
“It shall be the duty of the executives of
each state, as soon as practicable after the
conclusion of the appointment of the electors in
such state by the final ascertainment, under and
in pursuance of the laws of such state providing
for such ascertainment, to communicate by reg.
istered mail ynder the seal of the state to the
secretary of state of the United States a certh
: ice President
Charles Curtis
Ak sn
Lr
ficnte of such ascertainment of the electors ap
pointed, setting forth the names of such electors
and the eanvass or other ascert vintoent under
the laws of such state of the number of voles
given or cast for each person for whose ap
pointment any and all voles have been given
or cast; and it shall also thereupon be the duty
of the executive of each state to deliver to the
electors of such state, on or before the day on
which they are required by section 1 of this
act to meet, six duplicates original of the san
certificate under the senl of the state; an
there shall have been any final determination
a state In the manner provided for by law of a
controversy or contest concerning the appoint.
ment of all or any of the electors of such state,
it shali be the duty of the executive of such
state, as soon as practicable after such determin
ation, to communicate under the seal of the
state to the secretary of state of the United
States a certificate of such determination In
form and manner as the same shall have been
made: and the certificate or certificates so re
ceived by the secretary of state shall be pre
served by him for one year and shall be an part
of the public records of his office and shall he
open to public Inspection; and the secretary of
of congress thereafter shall transmit to the
two houses of congress coples in full of each, and
every such certificate so received at the State
department,
“The electors shall make and sign six cer
tificates of all the votes given by them, each of
which certificates shall contain two distinet lists,
one of the votes for President and the other of
the votes for Vice President, and shall annex
to each of the certificates one of the lists of the
electors which shall have been furnished to them
by direction of the executive of the state,
“The electors shall dispose of the certificates
go made by them and the lists attached thereto
in the following manner:
tered mall one of the same to the President of
the senate at the seat of government
“Second. Two of the same shall be delly-
ered to the secretary of state of the state, one
of which shall be held subiect to the onder of
4 :
gerved by him for one year and shall be a part
of the public records of his office and shall be
open to public Inspection,
“Third. On the day thereafter they shall for
ward by registered mall two of such certificates
and lists to the secretary of state at the seat
of government, one of which shall be held sub
ject to the order of the president of the senate,
The other shall be preserved by the secretary
of state for one year and shall be a part of the
public Inspection.
shall have assembled.
or by the secretary of state by the third Wednes-
day in the month of January after the meeting
of the electors shall have been held, the presi.
dent of the senate or, If he be absent from the
seat of government, the seeretary of state shall
request, by the most expeditions method avail
able, the secretary of state of the state to send
up the certificate and list lodged with him by the
electors of such state; and it shall be his duty
upon receipt of such request immediately to
transmit same by registered mall to the presi.
dent of the senate at the seat of government.
“When no certificates of votes from any state
shall have been received at the seat of govern
ment on the fourth Wednesday of the month
of January, after the meeting of the electors
shall have been held, the president of the sen.
ate, or, If he be absent from the seat of gov.
ernment, the secretary of siate shall send a spe.
cial messenger to the district jodge In whose
custody a certificate of votes from that state
has been lodged, nnd such Judge shall forthwith
transmit that list by the hand of such messenger
to the seat of government.”
(0 by Western Newspaper Union.)
THE CHEERFUL CHERUB
It's hard for me to sit
and knit
Or sew up endless
seams. :
[4d rether sit In
idleness
Just weaving little
“Utopia” as Planned
by Men of Science
A colony or kind of Utopia entirely
peopled and managed by scientists,
engineers and economists has been
proposed before the Dritish Associa
tion for the Advancement of Science
sity of Manchester, who has made a
study of the subject,
This noble experiment would be
tried with 100,000 persons who would
endeavor to free themselves from the
wastefulness and inefficiency now
prevalent in a democracy where the
level of general ability Is that of the
avernge human being; also from the
selfishness, greed and tyranny which
generally result In an aristocracy
when human society as a whole Is
dominated by those of greater than
average ability
Here we would have a different
world—an opportunity, it would
seem, to demonstrate what kind of
world our own eould be if sclence
were put in full untrammeled con-
trol of it.
It such a demonstration is worth
anything it will show the advisability
of sulwequently reconstituting the
world so that it Is nll of a piece with
the small sample set up In the ex-
periment, This eould be done per-
manently only by disposing of the re-
mainder of the human race
In our belief such a colony would
become a failure. Moreover it is
doubtful whether the scientists In-
volved in it would long tolerate the
economists, —Scientific American,
by Prof. Miles Walker of the Univer
HOW TO STOP A COLD
QUICK AS YOU CAUGHT IT
A New Method Doctors Everywhere Are Advising
——
FOLLOW DIRECTIONS PICTURED BELOW
If throat is sore,
crush and dissolve
3 Bayer Aspirin
Tablets in a half
glass of warm waler
and gargle occord-
ing to direclions.
Drink Full Glass of
ake 1 or 2 Bayer
Dake | 4 Water.
Aspirin Tables.
Almost Instant Relief In This Way
and dissolved in a hall glass of
warm water, repealing every 2 or
3 hours as necessary. Sore throat
eases this way in a few minutes, in-
credible as this may seem.
Ask your doctor about this. And
when vou buy, see that you get the
real BAYER Aspirin Tablets. They
dissolve almost instantly. And thus
work almost instantly when vou
take them. And for a gargle, Gen-
gine Bayer Aspirin Tablets dis-
solve with sufficient speed and
completeness, leaving no irritating
particles or grittiness. Get a box of
12 or bottle of 100 at any drug store.
If you have a cold—don't take
chances with “cold killers” and
postrums. A cold is too dangerous
to take chances on.
The simple method pictured
above is the way doctors through-
out the world now treat colds.
It is recognized as the QUICK-
EST, safest, surest way. For it will
check an ordinary cold almost as
fast as you caught it.
That is because the real BAYER
Aspirin embodies certain medical
qualities that strike at the base of
a cold almost INSTANTLY.
You can combat nearly any cold
you get simply by taking BAYER
Aspirin and drinking plenty of
water every 2 to 4 hours the first
day and 3 or 4 times daily there-
after. If throat is sore, gargle with
8 BAYER Aspirin Tablets crushed
E
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