(c) "It shall be unlawful for any lunch counter to sell sandwiches which are not buttered." (Proposed law.)

39. A written constitution like that of the United States is said to prove that government is in the hands of the people, since, being a matter of record, no one can take it from them. It is also said that a written constitution prevents immediate realization of the peoples' will at times, since laws may be declared unconstitutional. Show that the Constitution makes it possible for the people to have their will upon any measure for which there is serious and long continued demand of the majority?

Intelligent reading of this chapter requires an understanding of these words as they are used on the pages indicated. Write a sentence using each.

The President a Powerful Officer. The most powerful officer in the world is the President of the United States. When the Constitution was framed everyone knew the need of a law-enforcing power, but experience with kings had made people afraid of "one man power," and the voters themselves would probably have been unwilling to adopt the Constitution with all the powers it gives the President. Yet the office has grown stronger and stronger; the President is the real head of our government; unlike the King of England, who is said to reign without ruling, the President rules without reigning, but, with all this power we are not in the least afraid that he will usurp authority which the Constitution has not conferred upon him. The Presidency is democratic; the President is responsible to the people politically. "The President comes from the people and must return to the people." He is simply our chief political servant.

How the President Is Chosen. Those who framed our Con stitution expected Washington to be the first President, since they regarded him as wisest and most fair-minded. The plan they devised for electing a President provided that the one who received most electoral votes should be President and the one receiving next highest should be Vice-President. This plan was satisfactory enough at the first two elections but at the

THE WHITE HOUSE-THE PRESIDENT'S HOME

close of Washington's administration political parties with candidates who bitterly opposed each other arose, and the plan could no longer be continued because President and VicePresident so elected were reasonably sure to be political enemies. Every President since Washington has been the representative of a powerful political party, the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution which changed the original plan, says nothing about political parties, but it provides candidates for both Presidency and Vice-Presidency, who are always elected from the same party.

Each state chooses as many electors as it has members in the Senate and House combined. These electors merely vote as they are expected to for the party candidate. It was originally supposed that they might express their own political opinions but an elector who failed to carry out the party will would now be regarded as a traitor to those who elected him. Since electors are chosen by states, greatest attention during the political campaign is centered upon "doubtful states," especially if they are populous enough to have a large number of electoral votes. It is more worth while to employ the best political speakers to carry a state with thirty electors than one with only three or four. In the same way a state whose political history shows unbroken allegiance to the same party is not likely to receive so much attention as the one which casts small majorities now for one party and then for another.

If the President were chosen by direct vote of all the people, the candidate receiving most votes would of course be elected, but this is not always what happens under the electoral college plan. To understand how a "minority President" is possible, study the little tabulation which follows; it indicates only in a general way how a result like that of the election in 1888 can occur. At that time Harrison had sixtyfive more electoral votes than Cleveland although the latter had one hundred thousand greater popular vote.

Democratic Republican Democratic Republican

In this example the democratic popular vote is sixty thousand greater than the republican but the republicans have thirtytwo electoral votes while the democrats secure only four. As long as electors are chosen by states it will be possible to have minority presidents.

Presidential elections occur the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November every fourth year, 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932. Election night is a time of great excitement as "returns" are reported. Though several days sometimes elapse before results are established beyond doubt, the country usually knows very soon who its next President will be. He is not actually elected until the electors meet in their respective states, cast their ballots, and send them to Washington in February following election, and the President of the Senate receives and counts them. To make sure these ballots reach Washington, one list is mailed, one is sent by a special messenger and one is deposited with the judge of the federal district court. The President is inaugurated on March 4th, the occasion being one of very great interest. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court administers the oath of office (Constitution, page 265) upon the same Bible used at the inauguration of George Washington.

If no candidate receives a majority of the electoral votes, the President is elected by the House of Representatives (Twelfth Amendment, page 271). Jefferson and John Quincy Adams were thus chosen.

In order to make sure that someone is ready to act in case the President dies or is unable to perform his duties, the Constitution created the office of Vice-President. The question of who would serve in case the Vice-President also were not able to act was often discussed but never answered until 1887,