Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 6

6 DECATUR HERALD Decatur, Illinois Friday, November 8, 1963 Confusion Existed Editorials 0 mons Election Reform Needed Throughout Nation to Look at Basic reform need to keep voters' confidence By Anthony Lewis (C) 1968 New York Times New York THE ELECTION, of 1968 may not have clarified much else, but it has made clear the need for reform in the way the United States elects its presidents. That belief is an inevitable result of the confusion during the long count Tuesday night and Wednesday morning and of the very real possibility that the country might go for months without knowing who would be the next president. The complexities of the presidential electoral system have long baffled many Americans and even sophisticated observers abroad. The closeness of this election will spur the movement for a direct popular vote to replace the electoral college system. But Tuesday night's events show that this change, which could be effected only by a constitutional change, would hardly be a complete cure.

The uncertainties might be worse in a direct popular vote for president when only a few thousand votes separated the major candidates. Temptation "If Tuesday's election had been up for decision popular vote," an observer said, "the temptations to fiddle with the returns and steal votes would have been even worse. You might have been fighting in the courts forever about ballots here and there." It was not only the possibility of an electoral deadlock that caused concern this year. It was the breakdown in the system of reporting returns. The obviously ram-shackle nature of that system, and the chances for fraud.

Shenanigans such as holding ballot boxes back, that seemed to be happening in Illinois, would be unedifying anywhere. But corruption and confusion in the electoral process of the most powerful western democracy is dangerous. In short, the issue is confidence in the system. Any worthwhile reform would therefore have to be a radical one, cutting through all the traditions of local control and lack of order in the way this Air Conditioning, Voters Agree ILLINOISANS are to be congratulated for the faith they have shown in the future of the state through the approval of a referendum for calling a constitutional convention. At the moment there is some question as to whether the test for approval is the total vote cast in the election or the largest vote cast for a single office.

However, with the "yes" vote approaching 55 per cent of the total number of ballots cast for the president of the United States, this appears to be a moot point. In the past only two to three per cent of those who participate i presidential elections vote for other offices and ignore the presidency. This should not pe enough to defeat the question. Those who worked hard on this campaign across the state deserve commendation. This is not the sort of campaign for which anyone can expect material rewards such as a job.

As yet it is too early to fully examine the reasons for the success of this referendum. It had been feared in some quarters that some people, Opinion Polls THE PUBLIC opinion polls have once again vindicated themselves. The polls said the presidential election would be too close, to call and it most certainly was as far as the popular vote Is concerned. Both President elect Nixon and Vice President Humphrey received 43 per cent of the popular vote and George Wallace 14 per cent, according to the still incomplete figures. Mr.

Gallup, after allocating undecided votes, gave Mr. Nixon 43 per cent, Humphrey 42 per cent, and Mr. Wallace 15 per cent. How close can you get? Louis Harris, in his final poll, gave Mr. Humphrey 43 per cent, Mr.

Nixon 40, Mr. Wallace 13 and left 4 per cent undecided. The pollsters frequently point out that their figures are subject to a 3 or 4 per cent statistical error. In other words, they do not claim to be. an exact measure of public opinion, but one that can be off as much as 4 per cent.

Hew System Kelps Student Catch Up By Garven Hudgins AP Education Writer RESEARCHERS IN Warren, Ohio, have developed a new system to help elementary school youngsters grasp subjects in which they may be falling behind. The method labeled "Personal' Learning Unit Systems," or "Plus," is based on testing youngsters to find out not what they know but what they don't know. "It's like calling a doctor to find out what's wrong when somebody's sick," says Bernard Parker, head of the firm developing the new system. "When a doctor finds -out what's wrong, he prescribes a cure. Under the Plus method, a teacher determines through specially devised tests what a child does not know in a given subject.

When she learns this, she can let the child develop at his own speed." What Plus really, does is test the reasoning ability of the child. "It goes, to the basic intelligence of a child in distinguishing and actually seeing a situation," says Parker. In the field of arithmetic, for example, a child may be having trouble figuring out measurements. With the Plus system, a teacher can readily determine where the child's trouble lies. Teacher Remedy The prescriptoin for remedying the situation is spelled out on a special, transparent sheet for use in arithmetic problems.

"It is so easy to follow that teachers can use the system without any special training," says Parker. The system has been given a field test in Warren, Ohio, public schools, among others. Some 1,400 children and 47 teachers were involved i testing the system over the period of a year. The Warren superintendent of schools told a meeting of educators and U.S. Office of Education specialists in Washington that the system had greatly helped elementary school children catch up in subjects in which they had been lagging.

Compare Methods In one field test, Parker adds, the Plus system was applied to classes working with magnets. One sixth grade class used the Plus method, the other used traditional tests. Both classes, were1 given special instruction after the two testing methods had disclosed that the children were having problems. In the class using traditional methods, the students gained an over-all average of 17.92 points on a second test given at the end of the two weeks of instruction, Parker says. Students using the Plus method, he adds, gained an over-all average of 3 5.1 points.

course, eliminate the electoral college. Sen. Birch Bayh, D. hat led the fight for direct popular election of the president. His re-election Tuesday should assure continuation of that effort.

An impulse for basic reform should also be given by the growing public realization in recent days of the nasty political and legal wrangles that the present system would permit. If no one had won an electoral college majority if Illinois had gone to Hubert Humphrey, for example then there might have been fierce bargaining and also lawsuits about individual members of the electoral college, then among the House delegations that might have made the final choice in January. It may be the natural in-sitnct of a man who succeeds in winning the presidency to discount the need for a change in the system that elected him. But in Richard Nixon's case that might not be true. Nixon, as he recalled in his victory comment, knows what it is to lose on a few thousand votes from Cook County, 111.

and with the distrust of the existing system so evident, he might find it not only poetically just but expedient to press for reform. Election country casts and counts its votes. Anyone who has been through a close British election knows the kind of public confidence that should exist. There is no hint of partisanship in the worthy groups citizens who painstakingly count the votes in a borough hall. Few Doubts A seat in Parliament may be won by a handful of votes' the margin has been as low as one but no one doubts the honesty of the count.

After the 1964 general election Labor had a majority of only 13 in the House of Commons, but the Tories attempted no legal challenges to the result. To achieve anything like that in the United States would require a whole new mechanism to supervise the counting of presidential votes. In the nature of things it would have to be a federal system, doubtless relying to a great extent on local amateur help but established under a federal standards. Any hint of such a federal effort in the voting field usually produces powerful resistance in the name of states' rights. And it is certainly true that the Constitution generally left elections to state control.

But the real philosophical Wading the South China Sea. There were plenty of letters, too. The skipper, Capt. J. Edwards Snyder of Grand Forks, N.D., quotes one from an ex-sailor who labored in a boiler room in World War n.

Bad Valve "Dear Capt. Snyder," the letter said. "I used to be a fireman on the New Jersey. The left, No.3, feed valve never did work right. I just wanted you to know that before you got to Viet- Law What is significant about this is that the convention is not being "foisted" on the people of the state by those from one or two particular geographical areas.

Downstate Illinois, particularly the region south of the Champaign Decatur -Springfield area, has long had a reputation for resisting innovation of any kind. But in a preliminary way, one can at least say they appear to be willing to give those who will emerge as convention delegates a chance to come up with a better set of rules for the state. EXCHANGE TABLE Voters Return Mixed Verdict Chicago Daily News THOUGH Republican Gov. -elect Richard B. Ogilvie will have a legislature dominated by his own party, the precedent smashing victory of Democrat Paul Simon a lieutenant governor poses some unusual problems and some interesting questions.

Simon is the first man ever elected in Illinois to. serve as understudy for a governor of a rival party. He could not have won without heavy Downstate support, nor could the other two Democrats who weathered their reelection bids for top office. Sec. of State Paul Powell and State Auditor Michael J.

Howlett. Undoubtedly many factors figured in the election of the three, whose personalities, political background and records vary in a number of respects. But each at various times has been at odds with the Daley Democratic organization in Chicago, which doubtless endeared them to many 'of their fellow Downstaters. Significantly, the one Democrat running for state office below the rank of governor who didn't make it was Francis S. Lorenz, a Daley protege and organization man who was defeated for attorney general by William J.

Scott. For some time to come, political experts are bound to debate whether Gov. Samuel H. Shapiro might not have withstood the Ogilvie challenge if he could have convinced Downstaters that he was as independent of Daley a Simon, Powell and Howlett. Ogilvie persistently hammered at the theme that the governor was Daley's man and would let Chicago City Hall run the Statehouse if he were elected.

Whatever, brought Ogilvie his winning margin Downstate, his victory was decisive and all Hlinoisans will hope that he can now give the state the direction it badly needs to avoid fiscal collapse, improve its educational system and. mental health services, and resolve other pressing problems. Though Simon's dedication to good government is unquestioned, Ogilvie may feel far more constrained than most other Illinois governors to limit his travels outside the state. For in his absence, Simon will be the acting governor. Simon's triumph clearly places him among the younger leaders such as State Treasurer Adlai Stevenson III and William G.

Clark who feel that the Daley brand of Democracy has lost i relevance and must be replaced, the sooner the better, with a rejuvenated party from top to bottom. How Edward V. Hanrahan, the big Cook County victor for state's attorney, fits into the picture remains to be seen. IN THE HERALD 25 YEARS AGO TODAY Heavy rains were blamed yesterday for one of four automobile accidents in and near the city in which 10 persons were injured. Two hundred physicians have been invited by the Macon County Tuberculosis Sanatorium to attend a conference of the Illinois Trudeau society and the Macon County Medical Society here.

The curriculum of subjects taught in the- city schools has undergone extensive changes, particularly during the last few years. Enrollment in mathematics courses has shown great strides since the start of the war, according to William Harris, superintendent of city schools. particularly because of the political tides running nationally, might vote against anything which smacked of change. But this was not the case. Two things were particularly encouraging.

One was the fact that between 75 and 80 per cent of the people took the time to vote on the issue. This appears to indicate that they were well aware of the issue involved in the referendum when they entered the polling place. Those who voted "no" on the referendum are to be commended as much as those who voted in favor, particularly if their study of the question indicated to them that this was not a wise course for the state to follow. A second point is that the referendum carried well throughout the entire state. Just what the precise figures are will not be known until all voting tabulations are completed.

But one authority, Chicago attorney Samuel i believes the Downstate majority might be as high as two to one between those voting on the issue. 'on the Button' Also their polls measure opinion when the survey is taken one or two days before the election for these final figures. A month before the election, pollsters were reporting amazingly strong support for Mr. Wallace. In the final week or two of the campaign they reported slippages in this support.

Then came charges from Wallace that the polls were owned by Eastern money and the pollsters were announcing false decreases in his support so as to hurt his campaign. The final vote is strong evidence that the polls were accurately measuring both the upward and downward trend in Mr. Wallace's strength and that Mr. Wallace was guilty of making false accusations. The public opinion polls have once again proved that they can do what they claim to be able to do.

They will continue to be a highly useful and interesting tool in the field of government and politics. plan. Here, the electors are eliminated and the people elect their president. Yet there is much opposition to this plan because many feel it would eliminate the two-party system and open the way to several parties. In order to keep both the two-party system and direct popular election plan, one suggestion is to stipulate that the victor must receive 40 per cent of the vote.

If the plurality is less than 40 per cent, then a runoff would be held between the two top candidates. The need for electoral reform becomes more obvious when the reasons for the existence of the Electoral College are explored. First, the Electoral College was a compromise between the patrician and the 1 i a points of views. The patricians wanted the president to be elected only by the elite; the plebians wanted direct election. In a way, the Electoral College has the earmark of both.

Second, the Electoral College was a device to help the Southern states, who were so strong at the time of the writing of the Constitution. Back in 1787 the question arose as to whether the slaves should be counted when the states were being apportioned as to the number of representatives to which each state was entitled. Finally it was decided that each slave should be regarded as three-fifths of a person. The result of the Three-Fifth Compromise was that the South could use the slaves in getting more representatives without giving them suffrage. Do these two reasons provide a good base for having an Electoral College? Of course not.

The college was created by another age, for another age, not for the 20th century. Time has come for a change. Life Has Become Easier on New Jersey Electoral College for 1780s purpose of the Constitution was to let the states fix voting qualifications. And even that fortress has been breached by federal legislation to assure Negro voting rights. In broad terms what is required is not hard to see.

It is a uniform, national, officially managed counting and reporting service to replace the variety of local practices and the fitful, amateur national reporting system operated by the communications media. Within that outline there might be many degrees of feeral intervention. Congress might want to continue relying primarily on local politicians of opposite parties to watch each other at the polls, or it might want to turn the process over to nonpartisan teams as in Britain. Could Supervise The constitution probably gives Congress the power now to supervise presidential elections in this way. Supreme Court decisions going back many decades confirm the reach of federal power to uphold the integrity of Federal elections.

But it might be wise to in-clude some general supervisory power in any constitutional amendment now proposed to change the presidential election system. That amendement would, of nam. Snyder was astonished by vistors to the ship at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, the Canal Zone, Long and Hawaii. In Hawaii one day Snyder restricted visiting to the military for two evening hours. Taking up his invitation were 12,000 soldiers and sailors and their familes.

"The only thing I can put my finger on is tfaat the people look at the New Jersey as a symbol of the years when the United States was on top," Snyder says. "I believe we still are, but I think there are many people in the world who no longer believe this." Snyder, 44, is a Methodist minister's sun with an unruly shock of Dlack hair, a fast walk over the Jersey deck, and a gift of gab kept at a high polish with endless chats with his officers and crew. His career credentials include command of three ships, tours in nuclear weapon and oceanographic research. The captain's bathtub in his quarters was picked up in a Philadelphia junkyard for $12.75 out of his own pocket. As long as the ship was getting an entire crew all at once, Snyder saw to it that two bugle-playing' seamen were included.

Most ships used taped calls to general quarters. The New Jersey's big guns, twice the size of those of any other ship in the Navy, are hitting enemy targets which are often in military eyes not worth the chance of losing costly U.S. aircraft and crews. When the guns are firing the temperatures reaches 130 degrees in the No. 2 turret of Chief Gunner's Mate Harold Sykes, 37, Mebane, N.C.

The breeches of the three guns rest in separate pits which take up the front two-thirds of the turret. The stainless steel breeches, the hydraulic lines and copper By John Lengel Associated Press Writer Aboard USS New Jersey THERE IS much more to this old battleship than her 16-inch guns dating to World War II. Nostalgia is part of it-but don't forget the buglers and the captain's bathtub. Nearly a quarter of a million people-mostly middle-aged-visited the New Jersey as she made her way back from mothballs and the past to her third war, this one in and brass tubing are kept gleaming. The 2.700-pound projectiles travel on loading trays from the magazines and seat in the barrels with a "thong" sound.

A klaxon blares three times, and the shot is off with a roar. The breeches pump back four feet in their pits. Standing down, tfce ehlel rocks back and forth on the back legs of his chair. Sykes is partial to cigars, wears his hat on the back of his head like all chiefs, and sips coffee. Country Western music fills the turret.

Comfortable "Every time the old man hollers for a bullet, we got one for him," Sykes drawls. Of battleship life, he says, "these ships are the best thing the Navy has got. Comfortable. They ride the heavy seas easy. Yep, I like these babies." There is nearly perfect quiet on the ship's upper decks when the guns are not firing.

Sailors pad along tba passageways on errands. There is the occasional click of a typewriter. The flag quarters once occupied by Adm. William "Bull" Halsey remain locked behind his bridge. Halsey liked nothing better, they say, than talking with the crew and visiting their mess.

He wouldn't recognize the spaces today. Fluorescent lights have replaced bulbs. Tile covers the steel decks which had to be buffed three times a day. Checkered table cloths cover mess tables, but off-duty sailors still sip that distinctive Navy coffee and play acey deucey. Air conditioning is perhaps the major improvement.

"We always used to be soaked with' sweat," says Chief Lyle Chastain, Pickens, S.C., the only man aboard from the World War II days. "We slept any place we could find. The best sleeping was on deck. Cooler." SINCE the U.S. Constitution was ratified 180 years ago, legislators have proposed more than 500 plans for changing the Electoral College.

Now, with the strength of the third party emerging, electoral reform becomes important and an Imim worthy of consideration. For the most part, the various Electoral College reformc can be divided nito four general groups. First, there have been many proposals to squelch independent electors who decide not to go with the voters. When a state's popular votes goes to a candidate, the electors of that party are expected to cast their votes for the winner, but there is no mandatory rule. In 1796 a Federalist party elector voted for Thomas Jefferson when he was pledged to John Adams.

In 1948 a Tennessee man gave his vote to Strom Thurmond rather than Harry Truman. And in 1960 an Oklahoma elector voted for Sen. Harry Byrd instead of Richard Nixon. This first group of electoral reforms, then, would eliminate the possibility of a maverick elector. The electoral votes automatically would go to whomever won the popular vote.

The second plan centers on a runoff election. When two candidates become deadlocked and neither can manage the winning number of electoral votes, a runoff election is held rather than tossing the deadlock into the House. Third, there is what some call the proportional plan, under which electoral votes would be awarded in proportion to the number of popular votes within the state. In 1950 this particular plan passed the Senate but then died in the House. Finally, the most talked-about plan in recent years is the direct popular election 'JUST A CASE OF ELECTION HANGOVER'.