The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-09-09

s entitled to three delegates In each OF the city and
county conventions, and in the Judicial Convention,
80 that the nominating oonclaves OF the Democracy
consist cf but eighty -four members each The dele
gates to these nominating conventions are selected
by the "ward delegate conventions" on the day fol-
lowing the primary elections, each member voting
for but two delegates TO the nominating conventions
while the three having the highest number of votes
are declared elected.
BY the provisions of rule 81 the City Executive
Committee is required to select by ballot one OF its
own members to organize each Of the city, county,
and judicial conventions, the person so selected not
to be a member OF any OF these conventions
The temporary organizer thus appointed is required
to proceed to the place where the convention al
lotted him is to meet to call the body to order and
to preside its deliberations until permanent
organization is Effected; and, this task Is
accomplished, 1t is made his duty to retire, and
port his action to the City Executive Committee.
The changes brought about in this way were
inaugurated at the recent nominating conven-
tions of the Democracy, and to all appearances
worked well. The city conventions being made
up of only "a members each, instead of
307, were much less unwieldy than before, aud
the selection of temporary organizers by the
Executive Committee prevented row between
the factions for the control of the temporary
organization. For the first time in the recent
history of the Democratic party of Philldel-
stood fair chance of getting through with his
patriotic task without receiving a broken head,
and the conventions were models of order and
decency.
The Delegate Election system.
But the Democrats did not go far enough in
their experiment at reform, and in their orgaui-
zation, as in the Republican, the greatest source
of corruption and fraud remained untouched.
The delegate election system is radically wrong
ard inherently fraudulent and no substantial or
satisfactory reform can be hoped for until il is
utterly overthrown. The city of Philadelphia
is at present divided into 307 election divisions
and, as will be seen from the summary of the
Republican rules given above, each of these
divisions has an equal representation In all
nominating conventions, whether local or gene
raj. If the Republican voting population of
the 3O7 divisions were the same or approached
equality in point of numbers, the case would be
different Unequal as they are, equality OF repre-
sentatior is a manifest Injustice which demands
an immediate and radical remedy.
The last full vote polled in Philadelphia, with
out being subsequently tampered with by the
Return Judges or the courts, was that cast
for Auditor General Of the State in October,
1868, reaching on the Republican side total of
60,66S. This vote fell but 322 below that cast
for the Grant Electoral ticket in November,
1868, and was 9i6l larger than the vote pollei
by Governor Geary in October, 1869. 1t may
therefore be taken as fair estimate of the full
Republican strength of the city at present; and
taking it as such, we are able to show the actual
and the proper representation of the Republican
voters of each ward in the nominating conven-
tions of the party. The 307 delegates having an
aggregate constituency of 60,663, their average
constituency is little below 2C0 voters. Making
fair allowances for fractions of full constituency
of 200 voters, we have the following result, the
wards marked thus (*) being those in which the
Republicans were in the majority in Oct Jber,
1885,