The Outlook 1916-11-15

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The Outlook NOVEMBER 15, 1916 Offices, 381 Fourth Avenue, New York The result of the elections as evident sixty hours after the polls had closed (when this number of The Outlook went to press) was: 1. As to the Presidency—on the face of the returns, the re-election of Woodrow Wilson. 2. As to the Senate—a somewhat reduced Democratic majority. 3. As to the House of Representatives—an almost even division between the Democrats and their opponents (including Republicans and six or seven members of minor parties). 4. As to State officers—no apparent increase by either party in the total number of State administrations. 5. As to liquor legislation—the adoption of prohibition in four States, its rejection in two or three States. 6. As to votes for women—the possible adoption of woman suffrage by South Dakota, and its rejection in West Virginia. THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Nobody knew definitely two days after the election whether President Wilson or Mr. Hughes had been elected for the next four years, or even when it would be decided that one or the other had been elected. The election of the President is not determined by the majority of votes cast, but by the majority of electors chosen. Each State has a certain number of electoral votes, according to the number of represent- atives it has in the Senate and the House. The lowest possible number of electors for any State is three, since every State has two Senators and at least one Representative. New York has the largest body of electors, namely, forty-five; while New Mexico, Dela- ware, Arizona, Wyoming, and Nevada have three each. Twenty-four hours after the polls had closed it seemed that of the 531 electoral votes President Wilson was fairly certain of 251—fifteen short of a majority. The States whose votes seemed then most un- certain were California, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, and (much to the general surprise) New Hampshire. It then seemed certain that President Wilson would win by gaining either California or Minnesota and any one of the other three States; while Mr. Hughes would need either both Cali- fornia and Minnesota or else one of these two and all the other three. At one time it seemed possible that the result might turn upon the three votes of New Mexico. Very narrow pluralities in several States suggested that the final decision might be reached only after an official recount. When on ‘Thursday at midnight California was reported as giving President Wilson a majority of over three thousand, his re-election seemed assured. DAYS OF UNCERTAINTY When the sun set on election day in the East, it was still shining in the western part of the country, and in some Western States the polls closed at a later hcur than in some of the Eastern States. Consequently, when the returns began to come in from New Eng- land and New York and New Jersey and Pennsylvania and the other States along the Atlantic, voters in California were still casting their ballots. Indeed, between the closing of the polls in New York at five and the clos- ing of the polls in California at seven o’clock there was an actual difference of five hours. The East was known to be Hughes territory, and when the early returns began to come in showing big pluralities for Hughes there was no particular cause for surprise. But what did surprise and mislead, not only the ordinary citizen, but the trained observer of political matters, were the large Hughes majorities in the precinct returns from such a State as Illinois. When it began to be known on Tuesday night by nine or half- past nine o’clock that Hughes had not only carried most, if not all, of the North Atlantic seaboard States, but had won in the great Middie Western States of Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and even Indiana, it seemed to many impossible that there was any chance 573