El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-09-05
NEW POLITICAL
HISTORY MADE
IN MEXICO
CONTINUED from page one,.

ton of the convention were crude. In
one of the very fundamentals. that Oh
representation, there was a wideopen
field for an INSCRIPTIONS politician to
have worked unlimited frauds with
practically no chance Of detection
Delegates From Clubs.
Delegates did not come from states
or from political districts, but from
clubs. These clubs were organized at
random throughout the republic and
came with credentials which credited
them with representing the number of
votes which the club claimed to have
enrolled. Naturally it would have been
an easy matter for clubs wishing
greater representation, or rather
greater weight, in the voting, to send
delegates with credentials purporting
to represent double or triple the num-
Der of votes with which the club real
1y counted. On all questions, except
that of the vice presidency, delegates.
whether from large or small clubs, had
the same value as a voting unit When
it came to adopting the platform. the
delegate representing a club of 2Oo
voted his yes" and Cancelled the vote
of a fellow delegate across the aisle
whose mo" carried the weight of
club of 1000 members.
New Political Game.
All this, however, came from the
newness of the political game which
the country was playing Party Or
ganizatfon is in embryo and state or
ganizations on party lines have been
practical impossibility. Except for the
catholic party and the Constitutional
Progressive party of Madero, there are
no real parties in the field. 1t is true
there are dozens of parties, but they
cannot be considered such in the true
sense Of the word. The REYES party, for
example. is held together by but one
thing, the personality of the general
so far as principles are concerned, were
general Reyes to drop dead tomorrow
the party would fall to pieces. ! With
the Reyistas II is not question or
principles, but of the man who heads
the party.
II there had been a real fight for
the nomination for president. the con-
vention might have broken some long
distance records for political gather
ings and remained in session long
enough to set a new mark for other
politicians of other countries, to shoot
at. Madero was nominated by accla-
nation, with so much reclamation, In
faett, that Lie Serapio Rendon, who
swa chosen to put Madero's name be-
fore the convention, was able to reel off
only about three sentences of his nom
mating speech
Fight on Vice President.
There was fight for the vice presi-
dency and It is due to this fact that
the convention dragged along for near
ly week The method OF putting the
names of the candidates before the
convention and allowing a practically
unlimited debate on each candidate
was the cause of the unusual delay.
Instead of allowing time for a nomf-
mating speech for each candidate and
then getting down to the voting, the
method was to allow the name to go
before the convention and then allow
an orator to speak against the candi-
date named Following this. there came
another orator for and another orator
against alternating in this fashion
until the convention was tired and
voted that the candidate had been suf-
ficiently discussed
It was slow and often stormy going
for the delegates were not unready to
show a lack of appreciation for an
orator, his candidate or his sentiments.
and more than one speaker had to
sneak back to his seat because the
out his voice.
No Committee on Platform.
Again there was no committee on
platform. and after the platform of the
1910 convention. which put out the Ma
dero-vazquez Gomez ticket. had been
adopted as a basis. the privilege was
given the convention of making addi-
tions and these additional planks went
directly to the convention to be passed
upon Instead, therefore, of having to
accept or reject committees report
on a platform as a whole, each plank
had TO come up for discussion and be
voted upon by the convention This