Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1912-08-09
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 bad the power to de
eide whether 1t would select the dele
gates directly or should call primary
IN some counties Of the state enc
course was pursued and iu other Couu-
ties the other. IL King county the
committee consisted Of 250 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 $50
precincts. Now substantially the same
territory was divided up into 3Sl 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 so
lected to fill the 321 new precincts Nh
ill an election was held in September
1912 Thereafter and IN spite of this
conclusion the chairman assumed tht
right by MS appointment 70 add TO the
existing committee 13l precinct com
mitteemen, and with these voting IL
the committee il is claimed that pr
| 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 $4,000. The action
Of the chairman of the committee In
attempting to add 131 precinct men t
the old committee was, of course, be
yond his power. The resolution au
thorizing him to fill vacancies, O
course, applied only to those places
which became vacant after they hat
been filed and clearly did not apply t
f31 new precincts. 1t could not In tn
nature of things apply to chang
from the old system to a complete new
system of precincts created by the cit.
council, because If they were to b
filed the entire number of 33l new
precincts different from the old mus
be filed One system could not b
/ made into the other by mere add
tional appointment Of 13l committee
men. No lawyer will say that sue
action by the committee thus const'
tuted was legal Therefore the actio
which the lawful committee Of $50 too
in electing Taft delegates who made
majority In the state convention wa
the only one which could be recognize
as valid
CONTESTED DISTRICT DELE
. GATES.
ALAEAMA.
Ninth District.
The Ninth Alabama contest turne
on the question whether the chairma
of a district committee had power