The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1904-10-21

OF the county in which irregularities
may have occurred. and may be re-
! viewed by the state executive COM
m;t,ce whose action shall be final"
! x :: = ::
Rules 6 and ! adopted by the ex-
ecutive committee. which derived it's
powers from the party constitution,
are as follows:
Rule 6. The county democratic ex-
ecutlve committee shall assemble at
| their respective court houses on the
morning of the second day after the
election, on or before IL o'clock m.
to tabulate the returns and declare
the results of the primary, so far as
the same relates to members OF the
! general assembly and county Offices,
and shall forward Immediately to the
chairman of the state executive COM
mittee at Columbia. S. c., the result
of the election in their respective
! counties, for United States senator,
state Offices, congressman and solici-
| tors.
Rule 7. The protests and contests
for county Offices shall be filed with
in five days after the election with
| the chairman of the county executive
committee, and said executive COM
nittee shall hear and determine the
same The state executive commit
tee shall hear and decide protests and
contests as to United States senator,
state officers, congressman and So
licitors, and 10 days shall be allowed
for filing the same.
| Mr.. H. J. Haynesworth in reply
made very clear and convincing ar
gument to prove that the state COM
mittee is supreme in these matters
and that it was so intended by the
constitution. He argued that Mr..
Mccullough had based his conten-
ton on the rules Of the executive
committee and not on the constitution
of the party. The rules are subordi-
nate to the constitution. The deci-
sion of Chief Justice McIver in the
case from Berkeley county is not
final, although it had been circulated
by common report that such is the
case. Chief Justice McIver made
that ruling at chambers and it is no
more than decision of circuit
judge, for decision of a supreme
court justice at chambers is review
able by the supreme court, and in a
recent case the supreme court re-
versed a decision made by Chief JUS
tice Pope at chambers. Mr.. Haynes
worth said that Judge McIver erred
if he had construed the party con-
stitution to say that the state COM
mittee has jurisdiction in appeals
from contests for state and federal
officer alone. And Chief Justice Pope
had expressed no opinion at all. His
recent decision began with an apol-
ogy and concluded by showing off the
issue, and the rest of it was merely
in the nature of advice to the party
Judge Pope had maintained that he
had no Jurisdiction then why should
he have handed down what is con-
sidered an authoritative opinion:
Judge McIver stated positively that
because of the judicial functions OF
the committees, the court has juris-
| diction over their actions.
Mr. T. P. Cothran, in following up
the argument of Mr.. Haynesworth,
made very clear the point that the
"rules' have nothing to do with the
| determination Of contests, that the
rules are subordinate to the constitu-
ton. The state executive commit
tee is charged in the constitution
with keeping a watch over the policy
of the party. He laid great stress
on the powers of the state committee
as designated in the constitution.
The argument was concluded by
Mr. B. NJ. Shuman of counsel for
Speegle. He declared with much
| shirt that the cnunt1: ,1ar,ittee of