than the average voter, and that they would be better able, therefore, to choose a suitable President and Vice-President. As a result of the control which political parties have over these elections, the electoral colleges were at a very early date deprived of this important power.

As we shall see in a moment, each of the political parties nominates one candidate for President and another for VicePresident. Either by a party convention or at a direct primary election the proper number of presidential electors are nominated by each party in each state. When the voters go to the polls, they are given ballots which contain the list of the electors that are nominated in this fashion by each of the parties, and the voters cast their ballots for the electoral candidates of one or another party. The electors that are chosen have in fact no independence at all. They must, upon being elected, vote for the candidates for President and Vice-President that their party has previously nominated. No elector would dare vote for any other. While the voters still continue to vote at the polls not directly for President and Vice-President but for presidential electors, this has become a mere form. They actually vote for the candidates of their party; for when the electors of a particular party are victorious at the polls in any state, these electors cannot, when they meet in the electoral college of their state, cast their votes for any other than the candidates of their party. So little part do the electors actually have in choosing the President and the Vice-President that the average voter scarcely knows or cares who they are.

When the votes of the electors are counted at Washington, each state is counted as having one vote for each elector to 'which it is entitled. The entire electoral vote of any one state is, however, usually cast for the candidate of one political party, even though the parties in the state are divided nearly evenly. For example, if the Democratic party in Virginia has only a small majority of voters over the Republican party,

the Democratic electors will be chosen at the polls instead of the Republican electors. These electors will cast all of Virginia's twelve electoral votes for the Democratic candidates for President and Vice-President.

The whole number of electoral votes is 531, for there are in Congress 96 senators and 435 representatives. It requires a majority of the electoral votes to elect a President or a Vice-President. Otherwise, the House of Representatives chooses the President, and the Senate chooses the VicePresident.

NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENT BY POLITICAL PARTIES. Party candidates for President and for Vice-President are nominated by each of the political parties at its national convention. These conventions consist of delegates chosen in the several states either by party conventions or at direct primary elections. They meet usually in June preceding the November elections at which presidential electors are chosen. Each convention, consisting of about 1,000 members, assembles in some enormous hall in one of our large cities.

All of the arrangements for the meeting of these conventions are made by what is known as the national committee of each party. This committee, consisting of one member from each state, has general control over the affairs of the party.

THE PLATFORM AND THE CAMPAIGN. In addition to choosing the party candidates for President and VicePresident, the national convention draws up what is known as the platform of the party. This platform is a statement of the views of the party on important questions in which the people are interested. It declares what the candidates of the party will and will not do if they are elected. Unfortunately these platforms sometimes contain promises that are intended only to attract voters for the party candidates. When the election is over, those who have been chosen to office do not

always seek to carry out the promises which their

in its platform.

party made

The party platform is published in the newspapers throughout the land. It is freely discussed in the speeches that are made during the campaign, as the period preceding the election is called. Each party explains and upholds its own platform, while it opposes and denounces the platform of the other party. The entire campaign, which lasts up to the time of the November elections, is managed by the national party committee.

THE PRESIDENT'S POWERS. The President of the United States is elected for a term of four years, which term begins on the fourth of March following the election of the electors in November. Many of our Presidents have been reelected for a second term, but it is now a fairly established custom that no President will be re-elected for a third term. The constitution and the laws of Congress grant many important powers to the President and impose upon him many important duties.

In the first place, the President plays an important role in the making of the laws of the nation. At the opening of each session of Congress, he sends to the national legislature a message in which he discusses the condition of the country and recommends the passing of certain laws. In 1913 President Wilson adopted the plan of reading his message to Congress in person. This was a plan which no President had followed since the administration of Thomas Jefferson. Sometimes during the session the President sends (or reads) further messages to Congress, and at all times he keeps closely in touch with the leaders of the House and the Senate, consulting and advising with them as to the framing of bills.

When a bill has finally passed both houses of Congress, it must be sent to the President for his signature. The constitution gives him ten days in which to consider the bill. If at the end of that time he has taken no action, the measure

becomes a law without his signature. Before the expiration of these ten days, however, the President may veto the bill and return it to Congress with his reasons for refusing to approve it. If Congress passes the bill again by a majority vote of two-thirds in each house, the measure becomes a law in spite of the President's disapproval. It is usually very difficult, however, to secure the two-thirds vote necessary to "override" the President's veto. If, after a bill has

A NEW YEAR'S RECEPTION AT THE WHITE HOUSE Showing thousands of persons in line entering the White House on the occasion of the President's public reception held on New Year's Day. The large building in the foreground is occupied by the State, War and Navy Departments

been presented to the President, Congress adjourns before the expiration of ten days, the bill does not become a law without the President's signature. This is known as the "pocket veto."

When Congress is not in regular session at Washington, the President is sometimes convinced that measures of im