Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-08-08
Sixth District Congressman
Springs Surprise by De
clining to Make Race This
Fall for Reelection.
COMMITTEE WILL
ARRANGE SUCCESSION
G. C. Porter is Chairman of
the District Organization
With Power to Select a
New Candidate.

New Candidate.
The sixth district republican con-
gressional committee will meet in OF
tumwa within the next week or ten
days to devise means Of selecting
successor to Congressman N. e. Ken
DALI who resigned the nomination
late yesterday. c. G. Porter, chair
man OF the district committee, an
nounced this morning, after learning
OF the withdrawal Of Mr.. Kendall, that
he would issue a call for a meeting
here. Chairman Porter said:
IT will call the committee together
within the next ten days to devise
some means by which we can select
q candidate for congress, either by
selecting new delegates to q con-
gressional convention or permitting
the delegates to the last convention
to serve again and thus select sue
ceesor to Mr.. Kendall in a con-
gressional convention"
While the congressional committee
4 has full power to name successor to
Mr. Kendall, it is not the personal
O06lI0 Oh " VI tCl W OASA Y
this power He feels that a conyen-
tion is the proper place to select the
republican candid ate for congress-.
The state law referring to the filling
Of vacancies, which delegates the
power to the congressional committee,
reads as follows: s
vacancies occurring in nomina-
tions made In the primary election be-
fore the holding of the county, dis
trict or state convention shall be
filed by the county convention If the
once in which the vacancy in nominar
tion occurs is to be filled by the voters
OF the county; by district conven-
tion IL the Office in which the vacancy
in nomination occurs is to be filled
by the voters Of district composed
Of more than one county: by the state
convention if the office In which the
vacancy is to be filed by the voters
Of the entire state. Vacancies in
nominations in such Offices occurring
after the holding of county, dis
trict or state convention or on fail
ure Of any such convention to fill
vacancy in a nomination, as aforesaid,
then it shall be filled by the party
committee for the county, district or
state may be-"
AIfree Not to Enter.
The announcement that Mr.. Kendall
had withdrawn from the race did not
cause H. B. Alfree of Newton to rush
to the front and announce that ne
would be candidate for the place.
Mr.. Alfree was defeated IN the prl-
mary by Kendall last June.
"Mr. Kendall's withdrawal is such
surprise to me that am not able to
say just what will do,' Mr.. Alfree
said. "For the present, / will say that
do not intend to get into the race.
OF course, might change my position
later"
When Mr.. Alfree announced his can
didacy last spring he declared for
President Taft.
"Many Of my best friends refused to
vote for me when was a candidate
before" Mr. Alfree said. Il don't see
where / would gain any strength now.
Their attitude toward Taft has not
changed. Neither has mine.
s'It may be that there will be some
difficulty finding man to run. This
political muddle is bad one for can
didate to Jump into. No matter what
position he takes he will be severely
criticised"
The Washington View.
The Washington dispatch telling Of
Kendalrs resignation follows:
Representative N. e. Kendall made
formal announcement late yesterday
that he would decline reelection for
congress In the sixth district. He sent
q letter to Secretary of State Hay
ward to this effect Mr. Kendall In a
brief statement said he was com
PEELED by reason Of i'll health to de
cline a reelection" The statement
further said he was suffering very
serious heart difficulty" and had been
ordered by his physician to avoid Sc
we're labor.
While Kendall puts his declination
on the ground of Ill health there was
disposition in many quarters here to
ascribe 1t to political reasons rather
than reasons of i'll health and take the
view that Mr. Kendall either feared de-
feat at the polls or knew if he won 1t
would be at the expense of the hard
est kind of fight. The opinion. how
ever, was expressed by some of the
members of the delegation that Mr..
Kendall would have won had he re-
NAMED Ia the race. One factor in the
situation is that some OF the stand
patters = - sixth district recently