The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1912-08-06

assigned as referee the disposition of
the patronage of the national Repub-
ncan administration for ten years In
the state, had been in the habit of con-
trolling the Republican state conven-
ton by securing from tive federal Of
ficeholders in each of these ninety nine
counties certificate granting q proxy
to Colonel Lyon or friend of his to
represent the county as If regularly
conferred by a Republican county or
ganization. The national committee
and the committee on credentials and
the convention after the fullest investi-
CATION decided that these ninety-nine
counties In which the Republican vote
was so small and in which there was
no Republican party, no convention, no
primary, no organization, was not the
proper source for a proxy to give a
vote equal to that to be cast by the
other 146 counties in which there was
a Republican organization and in
which primaries or conventions were
held. The two committees therefore
held such ninety-nine proxies to be
illegal and not the basis Of proper rep
resentation. The two tribunals who
heard the case decided that they should
deduct the ninety-nine votes from the
total of 245 and give the representation
to those who controlled the majority
of the remainder. The remainder was
152 votes, and out of that the Taft
men had carried eighty-nine counties,
having ninety votes. This gave to the
Taft men a clear majority In the state
convention and with it eight delegates
at large.
WASHINGTON.
The contest in Washington turned on
the question whether the Taft dele
gates appointed by the county com
mittee in King county, in which Seattle
Is situate, were duly elected to the
convention or whether a primary,
which was subsequently held and at
which Roosevelt delegates were elect
ed, was properly called. so that its re-
suit was legal Under the law the
county committee had the power to de
eide whether it would select the dele
gates directly or should call primary.
In some counties of the state one
course was pursued and in other coun-
ties the other. In King county the
committee consisted of $50 men, the
majority of whom were for Taft. and
that majority, acting through its exec
utive committee, selected the Taft dele
gates to the state convention. Mean
time the city council Of Seattle had re-
districted the city. 1t before had 250
precincts Now substantially the same
territory was divided up into 381 pre-
cincts The chairman of the county
committee was a Roosevelt man. He
had been given authority by general
resolution to fill vacancies occurring in
the committee. A general meeting of
the committee had been held after the
city council had directed the redistrict-
ing of the city, in which it was re-
solved, the chairman not dissenting,
that representatives could not be Sc
Iected to fill the 331 new precincts I'M
til an election was held in September,
1912 Thereafter and in spite of this
conclusion the chairman assumed the
right by his appointment to add to the
existing committee 131 precinct COM
mitteemen, and with these voting In
the committee it is claimed that pri-
mary was ordered There was SO much
confusion in the meeting that this is
doubtful. However, the fact is that
the Taft men protested against any
action by a committee so constituted
On the ground that the chairman had
no authority to appoint the 131 new
committeeman. They refused to take
part in the primary, and SO did the La
Toilette men. The newspapers report
ed the number of votes in the primary
to be something over 5000. The Roose-
welt committee showed by affidavit the
number to be 5000 out Of usual total
Republican vote of 10000. The action
If the chairman of the committee In
attempting to add 131 precinct men to
the old committee was, of course, be-
yond his power. The resolution au-
| course, applied only to those places
which became vacant after they had
been filed and clearly did not apply to
| 131 new precincts. 1t could not in the
nature of things apply to a change
| from the old system to q complete new
system of precincts created by the city
council, because If they were to be
filed the entire number of. 381 new
precincts different from the old must
be filed. One system could not be
made into the other by a mere addi-
tional appointment of 131 committee
men. No lawyer will say that such
action by the committee thus consti-
tuted was legal. Therefore the action
which the lawful committee of $50 took
In electing Taft delegates who made a
majority in the state convention was
the only one which could be recognized
as valid.
CONTESTED DISTRICT DELE
GATES.
ALABAMA.
Ninth District,
The Ninth Alabama contest turned
on the question whether the chairman
Of district committee had power to
| fill vacancies, whether q committee
man who had sent his resignation to
| take effect only in case he was not
present, being present, should be pre-
vented from acting as committeeman,
and, third, on the identity of another
committeeman. The written resolu-
| ton under which the right Of the
chairman to appoint to vacancies was
claimed showed on its face that the
specific authority was written in In
different writing and different colored
pencil between the lines. A number Of
afldavits were filed by committeeman
who were present when the resolution
was passed to show that the resolu-
| ton contained no such authority This
gave rise to a question Of fact upon
which a very large majority of both
| the national committee and the COM
mittee on credentials held that the
| lead pencil insertion was a forgery,
that the chairman did not have the au-
thority therefore to appoint to the
vacancies, and therefore the action of
his committee was not valid. This
made 1t necessary to reject the contest
ants. The committee decided the two
other issues of fact before them In
favor of the Taft contention, although
the first decision was conclusive.
ARKANSAS.
Fifth District.
In the Fifth Arkansas the question
was one of the identity of one faction
or the other as the Republican party.