Omaha daily bee., 1908-06-07
Candidates for President of the United States Are Nominated

EuNNoNIeu nN AnCEN INV AoW1 Va 80 ANRNA~
ing moment and full Of future possibilities.
Al the meeting OF the republican national
committee this question was referred TO "a
speoiai committee, consisting Of three emf
nent lawyers Of national reputation. After
careful Investigation these lawyers unani-
mously reached the conclusion that the
national nominating conventions are en-
tireiy extra-legal Institutions, In no way
subject to legislative control by either state
or federal governments. They take tho
view that the only parsonage officially
known to the law or the constitution IN
connection with the choice Of president AMI
vice president is the presidential %elector,
and that the delegate TO a national nom
mating convention holds no official post
ton. has no legal status and no enforceable
responsibility except as that responsibility
may be enforced by party discipline. They
admit that the officers OF the different
party committees and party organizations
within the several states are subject To
the legislative and judicial jurisdiction OF
those states, and that the complication Of
the party machinery, which usually Joins
together the choice OF national convention
delegates and the nomination of candidates
for office, makes exemption from state
control difficult, II not impracticable, and
for this reason the national committee put
It back to the state and congressional COM
mittees to determine how far the manner
Of choosing national convention delegates
should conform with the laws Of their re-
spective states.
Even as it is, lt will be impossible TO give
strict observance to some OF these state
laws II the conditions Of the call for the
. republican convention are to be made
paramount. In Mississippi. for exam
pie, the lawmakers have decreed that
all national convention delegates shall
be chosen at large in one state
convention. This state law would not only
contravene the republican unit OF represen-
tation, which is the congressional district,
but would permit combinations TO give all
the representation to one or two districts
and disfranchise the republicans in all the
other districts. In Wisconsin,. again, the
law provides for the election of all the dele
gates by direct primary vote in the state
or district, as the case may be, and the APP
pointment Of all, the alternates by the state
committee OF each political party. Inas-
much as the Glternates may upon contin-
gencies become the principals. this method
would permit the naming Of alternates who
could never be otherwise elected, or who
might all live in one district, thus making
possible the Acknowledgement Of the repub-
hcans OF one or moro districts. Under tho
call the names of no a~lternates from Wis
consin can be put on the temporary roll of
the coming republican national convention
unless their credentials show that they
have been chosen by the republican cleo
tors of the district which they claim to
represent.
II the state law governing nominations
and primary elections we're uniform from
one end of the country to the other, most
OF these conflicts would be obviated. Yet
A. 81 49, 49,.
number of states have already put upon
their statute books laws to regulate the
nomination of candidates for office. almost
all OF them expressly exempt from their
provisions the choosing OF delegates to
national nominating conventions, and leave
1t to the political committees to arrange
for choosing these delegates as their party
custom and precedent require. Even in
states like Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Mis-
souri,. Pennsylvania, Oregon and Washing
ton, which have gone farthest in the move
ment for direct primary nominations, the
regular primary election is set for a date
coming after the usual time for presidential
nominations, with a view to separating as
far as possible the choice OF candidates for
state and local offices from national poll
tics. In still other states national conven-
ton delegates are being chosen by direct
primary in one form or another. as impro-
vised by the political committees or as pro-
vided for by the state for use at the option
OF such committees. This is what is being
done in California and in certain districts
OF Ohio. while the state primary In Ohio
was to take the popular expression, not as
to delegates, but squarely as between
aspirants for the republican presidential
nomination.
The enactment Of direct primary laws by
so many states and their possible applica-
, ton to the machinery for the nomination
OF presidential candidates suggest still an
other inquiry. to which, however, the an
swer cannot yet be given. Attempts have
more than once been made to remove the
objections lodged against our electoral col
lege system and to satisfy the demand for
a more popular election for president by
amendment 60 the federal constitution, but
without making noticeable Roadway. The
nomination OF candidates representing poll
tical parties has really brought the choice
OF the people down to a choice between two
opposing tickets. II we could make sure
that the candidates nominated by tho re-
publicans and democrats, respectively,
really represented the choice of the indi-
vidual membership OF the party, the test
OF strength between the two would come
closer to giving us a president chosen by
popular vote. Will the new developments
III primary ieBlblhllOn WOIh out eventually
into a national primary election for the
nomination OF presidential candidatesH
Some progress has certainly been made
toward statewide primaries to select ma
tional convention delegates, and here and
there to instruct them as to popular prefer
ence Of candidates. There seems. however,
TO be no authority able to provide a ma
tional nominating primary, unless 1t be
decreed and put into operation by an en-
tirely new development OF our national
party organizations.
After the delegates are organized IN ma
tional convention they are a law unto
themselves. Although II follows precedent,
the national convention is the highest
tribunal Of the party and endowed with
plenary power. It's official notice OF nomi-
nation is nowhere recognized In law, but It
carries with it the moral certainty that II a
majority OF the presidential electors belong
70 that political party its nominee, his life
being spared, will become president OF the
republic for the ensuing four years