CONGRESS. (TiiE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



189 



I have twico before urgently called the attention of 



ss to tlic neee.-~.-ity <>i' legislation fr the p_ro- 

 . lit tin- lives of railroad employee*, bat nothing 

 been done. During the year ending Ju 



iakcmcn were killed and 7,M1 maimed 



while engaged in coupling oars. Tlic total number 



of railroad emplo\ ITS killed durinffthe year wits:;, I.M, 



nd the number injured, 22,890. This is a cruel and 



, a needless sacriiicc. The Government in 



pending nearly *1, >.""" annually to save the 



r shipwrecked seamen; every steam 

 is riiridlv inspected and required to adopt tin- nn>.-.t 

 tpproved safety applianecs. All this is good; but 

 ho\\ shall \vi- excuse the luck of interest and effort in 

 behalf of this army of brave young nn-n who in our 



land i imcrec are being sacrificed every year by the 



continued useof antiquated and dangerous appliances ? 

 A law requiring of every railroad engaged in inter- 

 state eoiniiieree the equipment each year of a given 

 'it. of its freight ears with automatic couplers 

 and air brakes would compel an agreement between 

 the roads as to the kind of brakes and couplers to be 

 u.-cd. aii<l \\ould very soon and very greatly reduce 

 the present fearful death rate among railroad em- 

 ploye. 



The method of appointment by the States of electors 

 of 1 'resident and Viee-l'ivsident has recently attracted 

 renewed interest by reason of a departure by the State 

 of Michigan from tlic method which had become uni- 

 form in all the States. 1'rior to 1832 various methods 

 had been used by the different States and even by 

 the same State. In some the choice was made by the 

 legislature ; in others electors were chosen by districts, 

 but more generally by the voters of the whole State 

 u] >n a general ticket The movement toward the 

 adoption of the last-named method had an early be- 

 ginning and went steadily forward among the States, 

 until in 1832 there remained but a single State, South 

 Carolina, that had not adopted it. That State, until 

 the civil war, continued to choose its electors by a 

 vote of the Legislature, but after the war changed its 

 method and conformed to the practice of the other 

 States. For nearly sixty years all the States save one 

 have appointed their electors by a popular vote upon 

 a general ticket, and for nearly thirty years this 

 method was universal. 



After a full test of other methods, without im- 

 portant division or dissent in any State and without 

 any purpose of party advantage, as we must believe, 

 but solely upon the considerations that uniformity 

 was desirable and that a general election in territorial 

 divisions not subject to change was most consistent 

 with the popular character of our institutions, best 

 preserved the equality of the voters, and perfectly re- 

 moved the choice of President from the baneful in- 

 tlueiice of the " gerrymander," the practice of all the 

 States was brought into harmony. That this con- 

 currence should now be broken is, I think, an un- 

 fortunate and even a threatening episode, and one 

 that may well suggest whether the States that still 

 give their approval to the old and prevailing method 

 ought not to secure, by a constitutional amendment, a 

 practice which has had the approval of all. The re 

 eent Michigan legislation provides for choosing what 

 are popularly known as the congressional electors for 

 President by congressional districts, and the two 

 senatorial dcetors by district* created for that pur- 

 pose. This legislation was, of course, accompanied 

 by a new congressional apportionment, and the two 

 statutes bring the electoral vote of the State under 

 the influence of the " gerrymander." 



These gerrymanders for congressional purposes are 

 in most cases buttressed by a gerrymander of the 

 legislative distriets. thus making it impossible for a 

 majority of the legal voters of the State to correct the 

 apportionment and equalize the congressional dis- 

 tricts. A minority rule is established that only a 

 political convulsion can overthrow. I have recently 

 been advised that in one county of a certain State 

 three distriets for the election of members of the l.i L' 

 islature are constituted as follows: One has 65,000 



population, one 15,000. and one 10,000; while in 

 aiiot her county, detaehcd, noncontiguous M-ctioiig have 

 been united to make a legislative district. These 

 methods have already found etleetive application to 

 the choice of Si nators and Representatives in Con- 

 gress, and now an evil start has been made in the 

 direction of applying them to the choice by the St*te 



ol elei'torsof President and Vie, I'). - ; .i, -lit, If this U* 



accomplished, we shall then have the three great de- 

 partment* of the Government in the grasp of the 

 "gerrymander," the legislative and executive dir.-.-tly 

 and the judiciary indirectly through the power of 

 appointment. 



An election implies a body of electors having pre- 

 scribed qualifications, each one of whom has an equal 

 value and influence in determining the result So 

 when the Constitution provides that u each State 

 shall appoint" (elect), "in such manner as the legis- 

 lature thereof may direct, a number of electors," etc^ 

 an unrestricted power was not given to the legisla- 

 tures in the selection of the methods to be used. u A 

 republican form of government" is guaranteed by the 

 Constitution to each State, and the power given by 

 tin same instrument to the legislatures of the States to 

 prescribe methods for the choice, by the State, of 

 electors must be exercised under that limitation. The 

 essential features of such a government are the right 

 of the people to choose their own officers, and the 

 nearest practicable equality of value in the suffrages 

 given in determining that choice. 



It will not be claimed that the power given to the 

 legislature would support a law providing that the 

 persons receiving the smallest vote should be the 

 electors or a law mat all the electors should be chosen 

 by the voters of a single congressional district. The 

 State is to choose, and, under the pretense of regulating 

 methods, the legislature can neither vest the right ol 

 choice elsewhere nor adopt methods not conformable 

 to republican institutions. It is not my purpose here 

 to discuss the question whether a choice by the legis- 

 lature or by the voters of equal single districts is a 

 choice by the State, but only to recommend such regu- 

 lation of this matter by constitutional amendment as 

 will secure uniformity and prevent that disgraceful 

 partisan jugglery to which such a liberty of choice, 

 if it exists, oners a temptation. 



Nothing just now is more important than to provide 

 every guarantee for the absolutely fair and free choice 

 by an equal suffrage, within the respective States, of 

 all the officers of the National Government, whether 

 that suffrage is applied directly, as in the choice of 

 members or the House of Representatives, or indirect 

 1 v, as in the choice of Senators and electors of Presi- 

 dent Respect for public officers and obedience to 

 law will not cease to be the characteristics of our peo- 

 ple until our elections cease to declare the will of 

 majorities fairly ascertained, without fraud, suppres- 

 sion or gerrymander. If I were called upon to declare 

 wherein our chief national danger lies, I should say, 

 without hesitation, in the overthrow of majority con- 

 trol by the suppression or perversion of the popular 

 sutlragc. Tha* there is a real danger here all must 

 agree, but the energies ot' those who sec it have been 

 chiefly expended in trying to fix responsibility upon 

 the oppoma partv, ratfier than in efforts to make such 

 practices impossible by either party. 



Is it not possible now to ad ( joum that interminable 

 and inconclusive debate while we take, by consent, 

 one step in the direction of reform by eliminating tin- 

 gerrymander, which has been denounced bv all par- 

 - an influence in the selection of electors of 

 President and members of Congress t All the State* 

 have, acting freely and separately, determined that 

 the choice ofeleoton by a general ticket is the wisest 

 and safest method, and'it would seem there could be 

 no objection to a constitutional amendment making 

 that method permanent If a legislature chosen in 

 one \ear upon purely local question.* should, pending 

 a presidential contest, meet, rescind the law for a 

 choice upon a general ticket, and provide for the 

 choice ot electors by the legislature, and this trick 



