Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-06-13
One Thousand Delegates, With
Alternates, Chosen.
Methods Of Procedure by Democrat
and Republicans DO Not Differ in
Many observation-disclosures VIII
Meet Al Baltimore.

and from the insular possessions OF the
United States, will meet and nominate
candidates for tho Presidency and Vice
Presidency, and adopt declarations OF
principles commonly known as platforms.
to make their appeal to the electorate.
says the Ney York Post.
Broadly speaking. there Is little differ
ence between the tw" parties in their
method Of choosing the delegates which
constitute the convention. or IN the pro-
cedure of the conventions themselves.
save in the important particular that 1t
taxes only a ma iority vote to nominate
q candidate in the republican convention,
whilo a two-thrds majority Is necessary
before q candidate can be nominated by
the democrats In the main. therefore,
the opposing conventions will follow sim
liar lines, and although each adopts
set of special rules. to the outsider. at
least. there will be little difference be-
tween them. This has not always been
so: 1t has been matter of growth and
development. but both parties have NOV
ed along similar lines in this respect. just
as they have in the matter of their To-
CAL State and national party organi-
cations.
When the two conventions meet, the re-
publicans at Chicago on June IS and the
democrats at Baltimore on June q. each
will constitute body of somewhat more
than a thousand delegates. The slight diff
ference in the actual numbers In each
convention Is due to dissmilar method
of allowing representatives to the terri
toral possessions and the District of Co.
lumbia. Presumably every delegate Will
be accompanied by an alternate who Is
elected in the same manner as he is,
and who Is empowered to cast his vote
in case of his absence or disability.
Save for the difference mentioned, the
basis or representation differs little in the
two conventions. For many years both
parties have accorded to each State a
representative in the convention equal to
twice the number or representatives the
State has in the two houses of Congress.
A large majority of these are chosen
from Congressional districts. the method
of selection being determined by the
party national committees, unless there
is provision in the State law for the
choice by direct primary.
III other words. practically all the dis
trict delegates to both conventions are
chosen either by party district conven-
lions, by State conventions. or by direct
primaries. Delegates at large, cores
pooling to the States representation in
the Senate are chosen by convention
or by Statewide primaries. In most States
there are four delegates at Large. In
some instances. usually where the State
apportionment of Members Of Congress
provides for represen tatives- at large
there are as many as six or eight dele
gates-at-large. In New York State the
practice of the two parties in regard
to the choice of district delegates diff
fers. The republican choose theirs by dis
tricts at the spring primaries; the demo
Gratis, by vote Of elected delegates from
each district in the State Convention.
Between conventions the body that en-
bodies the national unity Of the party Is
the National Committee. composed o.
one member from each State. These com
mitteemen are chosen by the regular del
egates to the National Convention from
; each State. acting in a body. and hole
office for four years from the adjourn
ment of the convention Vacancies ar
filed by the party state Committee. l
IS THO csmmittec which plans and man
ages the campaign, Its chairman beini
the national campaign manager OF hi
partys candidate. Hardly less important
however, is the duty which devolves up
on the Committee of making prelminar.
arrangements for the Convention, an,
| making up the temporary roll which In
, | he Of
, tests.
: COMMITTEES ACTION REVIEW
In no respect is the action of the Com
mittee so far as passing on contests. o
selecting the temporary presiding Officer
final. The Convention, like Congress,
the judge Of its own members. and
majority may determine to accept a dele
gate or displace him even though he ha
the stamp of the National Committee
approval. In like manner the selecto
OF temporary chairman by the Nation
al Committee may be accepted or no
as the convention sees MT.
National Committees were of late
origin than the convention system Orig
inally they were merely advisory bodie
created to give some semblance of regu
lar1ty 10 the Gaming OF the convention
and to be the official medium for tn
purpose of bringing about harmoniou
working of the party in the severe
States. Gradually they were accordo
fuller powers to .act rs a sort of part
court to decide all questions arising b,
tween conventions, 1t was at this por
that their influence in making up tn
temporary roll OF the Convention becan
important
| Ordinarily. the National Committe
! meets few days in advance of the cor
vention for this purpose. The committe
l itself makes the rules which govern III
filling of contests and the hearings
/ sits until all the contests have been pas.
ed upon, and presents to the conventio
d temporary roll which must constitut
the roll sof the convention when II
/ called 10 order. But their action doe
not constitute the final word on the elil
l ibiity Of the delegates.
Alter the convention IS organized by ii
/ election OF the temporary chairman Sc
! ected by the national committee, or b
/ the choice OF some other person name
/ from the floor to oppose him, committee
/ on rules credentials, resolutions. and
| on, are appointed. the selection beln
I made one from each State by the Sta
/ delegations. 1he committee Oh urede,
/ tials then takes up the matter Of del,
/ gates anew. Usually. all contests tn.
| committee. and temporarily decided
Il