Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1906-07-11
ments for the holding of the conven-

These rules clearly establish the fact
that the state central committee is the
supreme governing power of the re-
publican party of Iowa.
This is not only established by the
rules quoted from above which are still
the rules under which the state central
committee acts but they are establish
ed by precedence including the pro-
cedure Of the House of Representatives
and of the national committee of both
parties and the state committees in
a number of the states of the union.
More than this the right of the state
central committee to prepare tenn
porary roll and to take such action as
may be deemed necessary in regard to
the preliminary procedure, has been
adjudicated by the courts. In Wis
consin the courts sustained the legality
and regularity of the action of the
state central committee in the so-called
LaFollette convention, and this
decision establishes the fact that by
law the central committee of any
political body is the governing power
of that body and the members of such
organization are bound by the action
of the majority of such committee.
In the rendering of this decision
the supreme court of Wisconsin cited
with approval the case of State VS..
Metcalf, from the South Dakota Su-
preme Court, which laid down the
doctrine emphatically Of the authority
of the central committee of any politi-
cal organization and of the power Of
a majority of such committee to act.
In Gov. Cummins' letter he claims to
have large majority of the cOnven-
tion. In order to make up the list of
delegates which his supporters claim
they include the delegates from Della
ware, Scott, Carroll, Audubon and
Dallas, in which contesting delega-
tions have already been selected and
Black Hawk, Polk, Calhoun, Lyon,
o 'Brien and Poweshiek, in which
contests or protests will be made.
Instead, therefore, of the majority
which Gov. Cummins claims, if he
should lose Shelby and Marion and if
the contested delegates already selected
in the interest of Mr. Perkins are
seated, Mr.. Cummins will have about
754 votes in the state convention. If
he wins Shelby and Marion he will
have 1888. 1t is probable that there
will be about 40 contested delegates
in the state convention and the control
of that body will depend solely upon
the determination of these contests.
The friends of Mr.. Perkins feel con-
fident that they have abundant proof
of the righteousness of their claims to
these contested delegates and they
believe that any fair tribunal will
decide that a republican caucus, a
republican primary, or republican
county convention should be run by
republicans and not manipulated by
democrats. populists. or the adherents
of any other party. They believe
that republican voters are entitled to
express their wishes in the selection of
delegates to state and county conven-
tions without having that right inter
fered with. They know that Gov.
Cummins has obtained a large proper
tion of the delegates with which he
is credited through the cooperation
and insistent work of members of the
democratic party. They know this
can be proven and therefore they feel
we'll satisfied and have no fears but
that justice will be meted out and that
the control of the next state convention
will be placed where it actually be-
longs in the hands of the anti Gum
minis people.