The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1904-03-31
As to the County Convention.

EDITOR REPORTER;-I notice in the
last issue of THE REPORTER call for
mass convention of the democrats Of
Decatur county on Saturday, April 16,
1914, to select ten delegates to attend
the state convention which will select
the delegates to attend the national
convention at st. Louis, July 6, 1904.
Now, it seems to me the proper thing to
have done would have been to call the
townships in convention to select dele
gates to the county convention to select
delegates to the state convention as
that is the only fair way to get fair
and honest expression of the wishes and
sentiment of the democrats Of Decatur
county, or any other county or party.
There is not an intelligent democrat in
the party but knows it is an impossible
lty to get the honest sentiments Of the
democrats Of the county in mass con-
ventlon for the reason that the mass of
voters in the county could not attend il
they wanted to, at this season of the
year, as nine-tenths of the farmers can
not go from five to twenty miles to at
tend convention at, Leon. In mass
convention to appoint delegates to
represent the voters they could not do
1T intelligently, and the only way to get
an honest and intelligent expression Of
the democratic voters Of the county is
to call for delegate convention of each
township to attend the county con,
ton. Then there would be no cause to
complain if each township was not
represented in the county convention
l would suggest that the call be-
changed from mass convention to
delegate convention to meet on Satur-
day, April %, the township caucuses to
be held on Friday, April 18th, as Satur-
day is day Of general trading in Leon
and the farmer cannot go to Leon trad
ing and attend the primary in his town
ship the same day. Each township has
q right to be heard in every convention
of the party and a delegate convention
is the most direct way to get an honest
expression of their wishes through their
selected delegates.
Hoping these suggestions may meet
with your and Chairman McGinnis' ap-
proval, remain yours for honest demo-
cratic government direct from the vot-
e's OF the party. w. E. CANNON.
Eden Township, March %, 1904.
1--WE cheerfully give space for tie
above communication from Mr.. Gam
mon, one OF the best democrats in tie
county, as we believe in giving every
voter and every township the same con-
sideration in the matter of selecting
delegates, but will state that the manner
of calling the convention to select the
delegates to the state convention was
not decided by the chairman and secre-
tary of the county central committee,
but by the various township commit
teemen Of the various townships of the
county, special meeting of the COM
mittee being called for this purpose and
each township committeeman notified
and requested to attend. At this meet
ing OF the township commi tteeman it,
was decided by them to hold mass
convention for the very reason that at
this time of the year it is very hard for
many Of the farmers to attend, and the
calling of mass convention gave every
democrat in the county who could at
tend an equal opportunity of attending
and participating in the selection of
the delegates on an equal footing.
Editor.)