Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 306, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 December 1912 — French Elections Not Like Ours' [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

French Elections Not Like Ours'

MARKED is the contrast between the turmoil that precedes the election of a president in the United States and the calm that accompanies the choice of a president in France. The difference may be studied now, for on January 17, 1913, a new head of the French Republic will be chosen. The election of a president of the French Republic causes no commotion that can be compared with the excitement of a presidential election in the United States. The event arouses interest, of course, but the normal life of the nation is in no way modified. Up to the present time a stranger visiting France would not suspect from the newspapers or from public talk that the election was to be held within a few weeks. If he stayed here long enough and visited certain centers he would hear whispers of plots—rumors for instance of a great Bonapartist demonstration to be made on election day. But beyond such things he would observe few signs that a presidential campaign was in progress: The excitement of the choice of a president is mostly centered on the day of the election itself. Thus on the morning of January 17 next crowded trains will carry to Versailles, a town that teems with souvenirs of kingly pomp, the officials of the senate and chamber, members of the cabinet, numbers of deputies and senators, a regiment of newspaper men and crowds of spectators which will be large or small according to the weather. Some forty Baudot transmitters, thirty Hughes instruments and about fifty telephones have been installed In the old home of royalty for the occasion. Stately rooms once the' salons of kings and queens resound with a thousand imperative clickings and tappings, and the whole palace, usually deserted and melancholy, is full of confusion. No doubt Versailles was chosen as the place for electing the republic’s presidents to emphasize the lesson that the new order has taken the place of the old and that the ceremony should be held In a solemn and fitting setting, far from popular uproar. At any rate a law passed in 1879 decrees that the national assembly shall meet in Versailles in a hall of the palace specially reserved as the congress hall. “Vote In Common.” The Rational assembly is, according to the French constitution, “a meeting of the chamber of deputies and the senate to deliberate and vote in common A’ This national assembly can only meet for two objects, to elect a president and to revise the constitution. When the presidency of the republic becomes vacant by death or resignation or any other cause the two houses meet immediately and form an assembly to elect a new president. When there iB no vacancy but the seven years of the incumbent are to expire, as in the present case with President Falliereß, the national assembly must meet at least one month before the expiration of his term, and if the assembly is not duly convoked the two houses must meet, in their own right, on the fifteenth day before the president’s mandate expires. If the chamber of deputies should happen to be dissolved at the moment of the death or resignation of the .president the senate must meet, in its own right, and the cabinet, which exercises the executive power in the interim, must convoke the electoral colleges to proceed to the election of a new chamber of deputies. As there are 300 senators and almost 600 deputies, the national assembly numbers 897 members. The president of the senate (now Antonin Du boat, a possible candidate) presides. When M. Fallieres was elected on January 17, 1906, he received 439 votes, against 371 given to Paul Doumer, with a total of 850 voters, so that he only obtained thirteen votes more than the absolute majority requisite for election. Luxurious Restaurant. The life of the assembly on the day of a presidential election only begins after lunch. The president of the senate, the president of the chamber and the ministers have many guests, and

as they are lodged for the day in the palace the ancient home of kings becomes a luxurious restaurant, wherein many a vote is changed by a judicious presentation of arguments over a meal of the highest excellence. Some days before the election all the resources of the national warehouse, where all the nation’s treasures in furniture are stored, are drawn upon to fit up apartments for these high officials who will ÜBe them for but a few hours. To the president of the assembly is allotted entire second story, with bedroom, aB if he was going to stay days instead of hours. He has sumptuous reception rooms at his disposal and a staff of servants of every kind. The assembly generally opens at one o’clock. The public galleries are then crowded. The president of the assembly takes his seat in an armchair amid cheers from his admirers, although the presence of an opposition can always be detected. The secretaries of the senate take their places and the president declares the session * open. He reads the article of the constitution by which the assembly is created and the article which says that the president of the republic shall be elected by an absolute majority of the national assembly for seven years and that he is eligible for re-election. He then says: “‘I declare the national assembly duly constituted. The vote will take place at the tribune by calling the names.” Letters of excuse from members unable to attend are read and the names of thirty-eight 'members to count the votes are drawn by lot. These prer liminaries being concluded a letter is drawn by lot to designate the Initial at which the order of voting shall commence.