The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1912-05-09
"A ROSS OR RING RULE.
,...r.r crowd Trying to Recapture
organization - Something About
I,I,n of Organization.

the people Can BE Express
..a beg leave 10 differ with
..-clusions with reference 10
... . Of our Plan of OrganiZa-
Minority representation begins
rrtmaries and only ends at the
...,atfug conventions. While the
,-.,,raI convention Is not specifical-
H.. ,r.rrfoned In Section 8, yet If you
,f the last clause. which says,
and the delegates representing the
,.tr,rjty shall be named by the min
lr.,, YOU have the clincher. This
..l,iop vas placed in our Plan OF Or
q.rfzation 10 prevent the use OF the
.rr,D rule, which often has been used
In the past by tricksters TO actually
daf.at the will of the majority in
dominating conventions. The Repub-
bean convention held two years ago
q. Greensboro intended to give the
rrupIr. and not the bosses, the right
20 rule in our nominating conyen-
-.ou-. for the aggregate vote of the
r.Iroritv when totaled at nominating
c9uyentiOns often constitute the ma
.or.fl For instance, take two coun-
ties forming Senatorial district with
rlirry-six votes, divided between the
rao counties as follows: "A" coun-
rs has twenty votes and "B'' county
has sixteen votes. There are two can
didatcs, Jones and Smith in "a"
county Jones gets eleven votes and
Smith gets nine votes; in "B" county
Jones gets six votes and Smith gets
ten votes. this gives Smith nineteen
votes from the two counties and the
nomination by two majority. Now
suppose we had no minority repre-
sentatiOn-Jones having a majority
the unit rule and take the entire
twenty votes, thus defeating Smith
who had a clear majority in the two
counties Any one can see at glance
how designing self-seeking politicians
have in the past defeated the will of
the majority, by destroying minority
representation, and at the same time
stirring up discomfort and disorgan-
izing our party. Section 8 says plain
" that a poll of the voters present
shall be taken in order to ascertain
the strength Of all officers to be voted
for, and are not the candidates for
president are officers to be voted for;
and would it not be violating the
word and spirit of this provision to
assume that a majority at the State
onr111 q mi q
and thus deprive the minority of its
pro rata part of the vote and of nam
ing its proportion of the delegates.
Whoever goes to a nominating con-
yention is in honor bound to cast the
vote on the first ballot as directed by
the people at the primaries.
| heartily approve your suggestion
to so amend Section 9 as to prevent
any quibbling in the future as to the
vote in National Conventions. The
attempts being made by few in this
State to throttle the minOrities makes
it dOubly important that this sec
ton be retained in our Plan of Organ
izatiOn | notice Mr. Editor that you
are advocating a Statewide primary,
for goodness sake don't let's make it
impossible for poor deserving man
10 get within shooting distance of a
nomination. With a legalized pri-
mary none but the rich need apply for
any of the elective offices as a rule
There is too much time and expense
now taken in the chase for Office, and
olu no n
has to have a we'll supplied purse if
he even attempts to run for office.
The truth of the matter-the people
are firing of so much election and
so much turmoil and scramble after
the loaves and fishes. What better
system do we need than the one we
have if We will just only carry it out
10 the letter?
In Section we have the simplest
direct vote Of the people primary sys-
TENS | have ever seen. Every man
who aspires to Office under our pri-
mary system can readily and at little
expense ascertain the will of the ma
Jorlty, and no man who deserves the
name, should want AN Office if he has
10 gain it by overriding the will and
wishes of the people.
notice in your last issue, Mr.. Edi-
Cor, that the editor of the Western
afollna Enterprise claims to be the
author of Section 9 in our Plan of
organization. Personally, Mr.. Edi-
Tor, | care nothing about his claim,
out IN 1908 at the Republican Con-
Nenuon held at Charlotte l drafted
mat section and gave it to a member
oI the Resolution Committee, and
every man who attended that Con-
'ehlon knows how useless it was to
'ylempt to get such section through
"Hich gave to the people absolute
control of all nominations. It's adop-
ION meant the death stroke to the
'oSSes and tricksters who are in the
s"ine for their own personal aggran-