Los Angeles herald., 1892-07-21
IS He A CANDIDATE?
Cannon's Candidacy Questioned
Under the New Law.
An Argument Unwelcome to the Peo-
ple's Party.
The New Law Attempts to Disffanohise "a
Large Number of Cftizens--An
Argument Which Is
Startling.

MI Wllllhm OEdWiOru, tH6 attorney
yesterday made the following statement
anent the new election law, which will
be found of interest to all, particularly
to members of the Peoples party, as &C
cordipg to Mr.. Crawford's argument
Mr.. Cannon is not candidate, accord.
ing to the provisions of the statute:
The evil that the last Republican
legislature did is living after them, and
if they did any good tits certainly buried
with their bones, for no one has yet dis
covered it. One of the boldest attempts
to disfranchise portion of our citizens,
or compel them to vote ticket they do
not want, may be discovered in the new
election law.
By its provisions Mr.. Marion Cannon
at present occupies the peculiar position
of candidate for congress from this dis
trict who cannot be voted for. Section
1885 of the election law of 1891 provides,
among other things, as follows: "Any
convention, as hereinafter defined, held
for the purpose of making nominations
mate candidates for public Office to be
convention, within the meaning of this
gates representing a political party
holding of such convention, polled at
the district for which
the nomination is made" The district
for which Mr.. Cannon's nomination
is made is the old Sixth congressional
district, and the entire vote
of the district cast at the last election
divided as follows: Bowers (Rep.),
3,522; Curtis (Dem.), 28,904; Dough-
erty (Pro.), $3.50; scattering, OLA. Total.
6,470. The organized assemblage of
delegates which nominated Mr.. Cannon.
therefore, did not represent political
party which, at the. last election before
the holding of such convention, polled
at least three per cent of the entire vote
of the district.
The act further provides (section 11S7)
for certificate in writing OF all nomina-
tions made by any such convention,
containing the name of each person
nominated, his residence, the office for
which he is nominated, and shall desig-
nate the party or principle which
such convention represents, which
certificate must be verified by the
oath OF the chairman aud secretary of
the convention. OF course, under the
provisions of section 1855, quoted above,
the chairman and secretary of the con-
vention which nominated Mr.. Cannon
cannot swear that they or he represent
any party or principle. Section 1889
provides that this certificate must be
filed with the secretary of state (section
1192) not more than sixty days and not
less than forty days before the day fixed
by law for the election, who, (section
1889 not less than twenty-five days
before the election, shall certify the
name OF che nominee to the various
county clerks within the district.
The ballots on which Mr.. Cannon's
name ought to be printed are required
to be OF tinted paper furnished by the
secretary of state, waIeImarEed with 8
design to be furnished by the secretary
of state, which design must be kept
secret from all persons not engaged in
the preparation, printing or distribution
of the paper ballots until the day of
election. All chance of Mr.. Cannon
being officially recognized as candidate
under the foregoing provisions OF the
law is therefore efectually shut off.
But the legislature of a thousand scan-
dals having thus refused official recogni-
tion to any but the Republican and
Democratic parties, graciously provided
a method by means of which those
Republicans who do not believe in
a Carnegie tariff and shotguns
may put up candidate and
have their votes counted. The act pro-
vides (section 1889 that a candidate
may be nominated otherwise than by a
convention in this manner: A Acertificate
of nomination containing the name of
the candidate and other information
(for instance, when signer lives in a
city, the street and number of his resi-
dence) shall bs signed by electors resid-
ing within the district, equal in number
to at least per cent of the entire vote
cast at the preceding election in the
district for which the nomination is to
be made. This certificate must be yeri-
fed.
As shown above, the total vote in
this district at the last election was
66,470. Five per cent thereof would
be 3323-a good many signatures
and an effectual iva way Of f learning ngD1iso who
they are and where they live. The Peo-
ple's party, therefore, had better at
once begin to hustle for signatures.
In discussing this law with a Republi-
can last week, he said he believed in
fair play and giving the new party a
show, and that he would sign Cannon's
certificate if asked, but would not
promise to support him. Our aetute
legislature evidently anticipated such a
feeling as this, for section 1190 OF the
law reads as follows: "1190.
No person shall join in nominating, un-
der the provisions of this code, more
than one nominee for each office to be
filed and no person who has voted in a
convention for or against candidate for
any Office shall join in nominating, in
any manner. any other nominee for that
office" The believer in fair play, if he
signed Cannon's certificate of nomina-
ton, would therefore violate the
law If he took any part in
the primaries or convention of any
other party, and the last clause of the
section is directly aimed at boilers.
The figures given above are taken
from the Blue Book and are undoubted-
ly correct. 1t will be seen by them
that Dougherty's friends lack 1913 votes
of enough to nominate him in conyen-
tion, and they will have to take the same
course as the Peoples party if they
wish to vote for him again.
In the face of euch q scheme as this
to perpetuate the clutch of the Republi-
can rings in the state, county and dis