The San Francisco call., 1908-08-22
Chairman of Republican County
Committee Announces Meet
ing at WaItOn's Pavilion
Machine Forces Are Expected to
Respect Notice and Avoid
Contest in Court

man +. II. Dam of the republican coun-
ty committee announced yesterday that
he did not purpose to submit to the
hocus pocus reorganization" of the
party's local governing body by which
Tim sullivan and minority of the
committee assumed to elect Buck"
worthington chairman.
Dam, the regularly elected chairman
of the county committee. will send out
notices for the local convention today.
in pursuance of the terms of the call
for the convention, which was adopted
before Sullivan attempted to oust Dam
and install Worthington with the votes
of a minority of the committee.
The notices signed by Dam will be
sent today to all republicans who are
shown to be entitled to seats in the
local convention. When the call for the
convention was adopted the chairman
was authorized to secure convention
hall and directed to send out notices
of the place and hour for the conven-
tion to assemble at least five days be-
fore September 1. Dam has secured the
hall. He will send out the notices to-
day.
COMPLICATIONS ARE POSSIBLE
The fact that Dam has arranged for
a convention hall does not mean that
the anti-machine forces of San Fran
cisco will organize the convention. The
machine carried all but FIVE assembly
districts. Its delegates can take the
convention out of Dams hands i'm
mediately after it is assembled, but
failure on the part of the machine dele
gates to respond to Dams notice might
result in complications which only the
courts could straighten out and which,
if the machine delegates were willing
to assume the risk of organizing else
where, might result in their failure to
get their nominees on the official ballot
The organization elected 1eS of the
173 delegates who will compose the
local convention. The Lincoln -Roose-
velt leaguers have brought no contests.
There is no question about the election
of the machines 10S delegates and they
will receive their credentials. Outnum-
bering the leaguers nearly two to one
the organization men can do as they
please with the convention after it
assembled, but there is a grave doubt
that they can make valid nominations
unless they assemble in compliance
with the terms of the notice issued by
Dam.
MINORITY MIGHT NOMINATE
An attempt to organize the local
convention by Buck" Worthington.
Tim Sullivan's alleged chairman of the
county committee. would, in the opin-
ion of legal authorities, enable the 65
delegates elected by the Lincoln -Roose-
welt league to nominate an entire To-
cal ticket and place its nominees on
the official ballot. This contention is
supported by adjudicated California
cases. This interesting situation might
arise In this manner: II Worthington,
in his alleged capacity of chairman of
the county committee. should issue a
notice calling upon the elected dele
gates to assemble at another designated
place on September l. and If all the
machine delegates should respond to
that notice, while the minority re-
sponded to Dams notice, the minority
as responsive to the regularly elected
chairman of the county committee could
organize the regular local convention.
Unhampered by the presence of the ma
Jority, the minority could proceed to
make nominations and mandamus the
board OF election co mmissioners to COM
pei them to place its nominees on the Of
fetal ballot, instead of the nominees
chosen by the convention which Buck"
Worthington and the majority might
organize.
MACHINE LIKELY TO RESPOND
The minority has no hope that such
situation will develop. Members of
the county committee are of the opin-
ion that the machine delegates will
respond to Dams notice, organize their
convention at Waltons pavilion and
proceed to nominate according to the
Herrin program.
In spite of the fact that such regu-
lar procedure will be distasteful to
Tim Sullivan and Buck" Worthing-
ton, there is reason for the belief
that they will submit with more or
less bad grace.
Ill feeling is rife in the minority
which Sullivan nnarshaled for his gold
brick reorganization of the county COM
mittee. Worthington has been unable
to secure the attendance of several of
the men who stood in for his alleged
election, and all his attempts to hold
a meeting since the primary elections
have failed. The committeeman who
have declined to respond to the Sullf-
an-Worthington calls for a meeting
say that they are tired of Sullivan's
assumption of dictatorship. That may
be true-probably 1t is true-but those
men like Sullivan as well now as they
did before they joined with him in the
alleged reorganization of the commit
tee. They played with Sullivan then
because they had orders so to do. Their
refusal TO play with him further may
be the result of orders or the absence
of orders from machine headquarters.
BIG MACHINE MEN WANT PEACE
The big machine men are sick of
their San Francisco mess. They are
anxious to close the breaches in the
ranks of the local republicans and
they know there are something like
10000 republicans in San Francisco
who will refuse to follow the lead of
Sullivan, Worthington, ct al The ma
chine elected its delegates. It wants
votes now for the men whom it ex-
poets those delegates to nominate. The
easiest way not to get them will be to
keep up the war in the local committee
The nomination of two republican
tickets and legal battle to determine
which is entitled to place on the ball
lot would not tend to promote party
peace. That contingency can be avoided
by organizing the convention regularly.
The machine delegates can then nomi-
nate machine ticket and there will
be no ground upon which any one can
question its regularity or legality.
RAaufffnu Mofan