Arizona republican., 1908-01-28
PHOENIX ARIz., JANUARY 2S, 1908.
INSTRUCTED DELEGATES.

The subjoined editorial from the St. Louis Globe Democrat of January 21 under the title Concerning Instructed Delegates" covers the entire field, leaving little more to be said on either side. It is of the greater weight, since the Globe-Democrat, favorable to Sec retary Taft and friendly to the admin istratiOn. opposes the instruction of delegates while the administration forces throughout the country are bending every efcrt to secure such in stTuctions. Says the Globe-DemOcrat:
 If the Republicans of the different states will review the history of the party they will. find a decisive array D of facts against the tieing up of dele gates in the face of an uncertain sit uation. When the current is all one way for a particular candidate. or a state has the name of a citizen of it's own to present, instructed delegations can not be objected to. Where one
 
 masses Of the party that his nomina- tion is assured, the instruction Of dele gates has the warrant of the highest authority, the people themselves. Where a state backs a favorite son other states, if the candidacy is to make any headway, must be drawn to his support. and this is usually a mat ter that must be worked out in the convention itself But to attempt to forestall the action of national con- vention by lettering delegates when no candidate is positively in the lead. and months in advance of the great gathering of the party that comes once in four years is wholly unjustifiable a danger to party, a burden upon its principles. and a possibly fatal obsta- cle to it's success. This subject has by no means been neglected in the de- Alterations and action of republican national conventions. What has been done has been decidedly in favor of the freedom of judgment of the indi- vidual delegate. It is to the point to consider the course of past conventions in regard to unit rules and castiron instructions.
 In the convention of 1880 two can didates, Grant and Blaine, were in the lead. Neither had a majority, and neither was nominated. More than to ination was without single vote on the first ballot. It was a critical pe- Iiod for the party, for Grants nomia- ation would have involved making a fight for third term before the peo- pie for the first time in the history of the country. To this day no party has ventured to shoulder the respon- abilities of this test, and any attempt ing it would have to reckon with an unknown quantity in public sentiment This feeling was a strong restraint in the convention of 1SSO It was seen before the balloting began that the question of the unit rule in instructed delegations would have vital influ- ence on the result. Should the vote of q delegate be recorded contrary to his real views? On the fourth day of the convention the committee on rules re- ported a code including an important amendment. requiring that when the vote of any state should be announced by the chairman, if any exception should be taken to the announcement. the president of the convention shall direct the roll of members of such del egations to be called. and the result recorded in acordance with the votes individually given" The New York delegation had been instructed to vote for Grant, yet some of its members and their constituents were against the third term The convention not only removed the letters. but directed the national committee to prescribe rules on this subject for the next meeting in 1884
 It is not necessary to describe here how on the first ballot Grant had 304 votes. Blaine, 2S4. and Garfield 0. The  number necessary to a choice was SIS. Garfield received I on the second ballot, and on the thirtieth had but z ? On the thirty-sixth ballot he was nom mated, receiving 399 to 3O6 for Grant. 42 for Blaine, for Windom and for John sherman. The convention acted for itself Its wisdom in. performing for itself the duty for which it was created was vindicated by the election of its choice. In 1884 the new rules called for were adopted. A time was prescribed for electing delegates to a national convention. and the right of each congressional district to choose its own delegates was recognized and