The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1890-08-16
constitutional Questions.

more Democratic clubs. 1t declares
in Article / that the clubs in each
county shall be held together and
operate nntier the control Of County
Executive Committee.
Article dire cts that County Dem.
ocratic conventions shall be composed
of "one delegate for every club and an
additional delegate for every twenty
| FIVE enrolled members
The county constitution gives the
Executive Committee the power to
require the roll VI each Climb to be
filed with the Executive Committee a
certain number of days before the
convention.
The concluxions to be drawn from
these sections are as iollsws:
The right of Democrats to form
clubs is inherent. Doubts may exist
as 10 the propriety of sub-dividins
clubs, but there can be none az to the
constitutional right of subdivision.
There can be but one county organi-
zation. All the climbs in the county
shall be held together and controlled
by county executive committee.
There cannot be two committees or
two county chairmen. The number
of delegate in the county convention
is fixed by plain and simple law
| which every one can understand. The
only trouble that can arise is as to the
facts as to the number OF legally ell
rolled members belonging TO each club.
To provide for this each club is re-
quired to file its clnb roll with The
executive committee Cor its clerk) so
that the number of delegates to which
| it is entities. can be ascertained.
This ia the fairest provision that
could be made. Otherwise clubs
might be tempted 10 elect more dele
gates than they are justly entitled to,
by deciding all doubts in. their own
| favor. In the recent Sumter Conyen-
ton it was claimed, and. not denied,
that the delegates present represented
nominal membership of 5000,
whereas the real strength Of the county
is very much less. The Abberille
| county club votes on Il nominal menu
bership Of $500, whereas the largest
primary vote ever cast was about
$500. Other instances might be cited
to show the necessity for some accu-
rate examination Of Climb rolls and ad-
justment Of club strength. Whs shall
decide this question? Plainly notthe
convention itself.
Ii is true that anslosy leads to the
conclusion that the convention shall be
:judge of the election, qualification
and returns Of its MEMBERS" put
analogy gives no warrant for it to tx
its own members or apportion its own
delegates among the several clubs.
This apportionment is always fixed by
some outside authority. Some State
constitutions fix absolutely the quota
of each county in the Legislature.
Others provide for periodical reappor-
tionment, always to take effect at tile
election succeeding the apportionnaent, in
order to prevent members from meet
ing together ana apportioning the
seats among themselves. So, the Uni
ted States Constitution provides that
one Congress shall make the appor-
,ionment and carry it into effect,
which shall not apply until the next
succeeding Congress. What would be
the consequence if, after the present
census, every State would take upon
itself to assume what its representation
ought 10 be and elect members to Con-
gress? In close contest between
Republicans and Democrats We can
we'll imagine eacn State stretching its
representation 10 the utmost justiflable
limit and trusting 10 luck to make q
combine in Washington to keep in
power. This would lie chaos. The
analogy holds perfectly. NO county
convention where party feeling runs
high can safely be allowed to fix it's
own membership. This must be as
certained in advance and the clubs
must adhere 10 the pportioument.
They are operated "under the control
Of the executive committee" That
committee therefore is the proper body
to make the apportionment.
The qualification and election Of
members is q different thing altogether,
and by analogy should be left to the
convention. That is, there can be no
contest in convention as 10 the nnm-
bsr of delegates from club, but there
can be decision by the convention
| whether certain member is duly
qualified or was properly elected.
The fact that the County Executive
Committee appointed i sub committee
of both parties, and this subcommittee
made unanimous report, shows that
the committee was acting fairly and
squarely and in the interest of peace
and right Its action Wax the prOuer
thing, and the County Chairman was
strictly in the line of duty in iuling
that the report Of the committee must