Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-07-18
.IO GALL DISTRICT
CAUCUSES EARLY
Committee Urged to Have Dis
trict Delegations Meet Night
Before Convention
TIME NEEDED TO 20 THE WORK
If Fake Contest Business is Carried
to the Convention the Committee
Will Have a Long Job Ahead Of It
and Two Days Convention Will
Probably be Necessary.
[By Ora 1villiams1

Des Moines, July 1S.-A number of
state have been suggesting to members
of the state committee that inasmuch
as there is likely to be much work for
the committees Of the state conven-
ton August l and that it is desirable
that they have sufficient time in which
to do their work properly, the district
caucuses or conventions be called for
the evening previous, to the state con-
vention. 1t has been customary for
these district conventions to be held at
8 o'clock a. m. of the day of the con-
vention. Generally some of the con-
ventions hold until near the hour of
the convening of the big show. Some
times they are forced to make haste
to get thru. There is little time for de-
liberation at these conventions. Inc
purpose of holding these conventions Is
to select the committees of the con-
vention, and usually the members of
the state committee. are also selected
then. But this method means that the
committees must do their work while
the convention is in session or do it
in few minutes.
Chairman Spence has not as yet des-
ignated the time for these conventions
nor the place of meeting. He usually
does so the day before the state con-
vention. 1t has been suggested to him
that if the convention could be held in
the evening previous, say at 8 p. m.,
then the committees could get to work
at once and by holding sessions the
greater part of the night be prepared
for the work Of the convention. The
delegates are always on hand the day
previous and there could be no OBJ
lection on this score.
( The credentials committee will have
an especially delicate and difficult
task, especially if Ed Hunter is to be
permitted to go on with his program
up to the hour of convening the con-
vention. To dispose of the contests
which come here from the various
counties, three in all, would take the
committee many hours of hard labor;
but if it is to go into an investigation
of the multitude of fakes which have
been organized in Des Moines and is to
open up the question as to whether or
not lifelong republicans who have been
branded as democrats by would-be
party dictators are really democrats,
then the committee should have several
days for investigation. If these fakes
are to be submitted to the convention
some responsible creature of the con-
vention should take cognizance of
oh ho or;,,
their consideration. The only way
known is to have the caucuses held
the day before the state convention. or
to have the state convention take
long recess and make two days ses-
sion of it.
The latest manifesto Of the machine
is to the effect that in addition to the
fakes already bulletined, which in
clude two or three hundred of the del
egates, there are twelve more counties
which are threatened with Contests"
and intimates that preparation to att
tack these delegations is being made in
the headquarters of the machine. Mr..
Hunter does not as yet disclose what
counties these are, which leaves every
county in the state under suspicion 1t
is regarded as possible that he will not
spring this additional list of twelve on
the public until the day of the con-
vention when, of course, the republic
cans from these counties will be who'll
ly unprepared to Offset the manufac-
tured testimony with which the ma
chine is so we'll supplied.
Some time ago the machine announc-
ed with much glee in dispatches which
were sent to all the railroad organs
and which were paraded under big
headlines, that the anti-Cummins
forces had captured a majority Of the
districts and they were therefore dead
sure to have the convention commit
tees as we'll as the state committee
which will be in existence when the
doors are opened for busi-
ness Just what will happen in these
caucuses cannot be foretold, but tine
machine Is confident of controlling all
of them, so that if this is true then it
would be the part of wisdom to have
the caucuses held early. At least one
of the caucuses, that in the Sixth dis
trict, is uncomfortably close however,
and there have been rumors that the
was unwilling to trust the
delegates from that part Of the state.
The Sioux City crowd which spent
so much time and labor in preparing
For the Ed. Hunter attack on the Polk
delegation had it's trouble for
nothing; for while the search was be-
ing made for a lawyer sufficiently dis
reputable to get into the game here,
and inquiry was being made as to what
court might be willing to do the en-
Joining, the governor announced the
delegation The matter of choosing
court was not easy. All
eyes naturally turned to the one men,
Der of the local court who secured his
position by reason of being distin-
yuishad as the only member of the
Polk county bar who was an intimate
friend of Governor Shaw, but 1t was
recalled that he is on record IS de-