The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-08-09
SEC. bRENAMAN IS
At WITS END To
KNOW WHAT TO Do
Requires Judge of Each Pro-
cinct to Submit Returns
to Him Direct
/ SOME FOLLOWING OLD.
SOME NEW PRACTICE
His Hands Tied, He Has No
Idea When to Signal Act
ing Chairman to Call
Committee Together

The State Democratic committee.
figuratively speaking, Is up a tree or
perhaps it is more correct TO say thatS
! 1t is Secretary J. n. Brenaman who
is in the foliage of the tall timber.
/ The State committee. as everyone
knows, is required by law to assemble
as soon as the returns from a State
election are in hand; canvass the
aforesaid returns. validate the bal
lots of the sovereign electorate and
announce officially the results. Until
that is done nobody is elected.
+ Where Rub Comes.
] But here comes the rub.
/ Heretofore it has been the custom
and the law for city and county
chairmeu to transmit the returns,
sealed to the secretary of the State
committee. AS soon as the 11S seal
ed envelopes were in the secretary's
hands he would notify the chairman
of the State committee and the chair
man would Immediately call meet
( ing of the committee. 1t was a plain
open and shut proposition and work
ed like clock work.
/ The Byrd primary law has conn
plicated matters
+ BY it's provisions the judges of each
precinct must send the returns from
that precinct direct to the secretary
of the State committee, so that i'm
stead of receiving lis sealed envelopes
as heretofore the secretary of the
committee will receive somewhere be-
tween 1900 and 2.0o0 sealed ent
velopes containing returns.
Here's onther complication.
/ Another Complication.
Some of the judges of election are
/ mr. nj inc he tSin M
new primary law. For instance,
Secretary Brenaman yesterday re-
ceived a letter from a certain county
chairman stating that under separate
cover he was enclosing the returns
from eight precincts in his county and
the other two would follow later. That
means that the eight precincts of that
county are in one envelope and the
other two will be in another.
/ OF course Il would be an easy mathe-
NAUTICAL proposition for Secretary
Brenaman, who is somewhat of =
mathematician. to figure out to the dot
just how many precincts there are in
/ the cities and counties of the State,
and If all were sent in singly accord
| ing to the provisions OF the new law
| he could tell with his eyes shut when
the returns were all in. But-and
+ spell 1t with 81 big B-some are fol- )
lowing the old law and some the new.
designate on the outside of the en-
velopes the precincts from which the
returns come, how is Secretary Brena-
man to know when they are all INF
Echo answers how?
Secretary's Hands Tied.
The law requires that the returns
must be opened in the presence OF
quorum of the State committee. The
secretarys hands are tied. He has
no right to even take a peep into th0
sealed envelopes to see where the
unmarked returns are from, and he
cannot conscentiously notify the
State chairman to call the meeting
until he Is assured that all the returns
are in. It costs the members of tho
State committee about $50 each to
come to Richmond, and the members
OF the committee--all of them not be-
| ing millionaires-cannot afford to an
swer false alarms.
II wish you would please give the
people an idea of what we are up
against" said Secretary Brenaman
last night They will begin to
clamor pretty soon for the COMMITTEES
to meet and canvass the returns. ana
the committee can't canvass the re-
turns until they are all in; and how
on earth, under the present arrange
ment, am l to know when they are
! all In, II was very easy under. thass
| former primary laws to signal the
chairman when the one hundred and
eighteenth sealed envelope reacheu
its destination, but under the new law
| can't ell anything about II, s
People Must Have Patience.
"It is very unfortunate that the
lawmakers slipped up on this point,
but the people will simply have to u
possess their souls in patience ana i
wait. When have received about = Il
wagon load OF returns and have rea-
son to believe that they are all In 1
will notify the acting chairman. a
seems to me, though, that the meeting
for canvassing the returns will not -
I held until In the dim, distant futnrc. -
In the meantime Colonel BrenamaM "a
declares that the squirrels in the cApl> 4
tol square have nothing on him.