The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1913-12-06
MAY CALL A SPE-
C|AL CONVENTION

The Republican national committee
has no authority to change the basis
of representation and voting in ma
tional conventions.
The national committee has authori-
ty to change the manner and method
of choosing delegates to future ma
tional conventions so as to provide
that delegates be-.chosen in such man
ner as the laws of the several states
from time to time may provide Dele
gates shall be chosen according to the
laws of the state they represent in
stead of according to the discretion
of the committee itself
The national committee has the au
thority to call special convention of
the party, the legal form of which
call is provided by the legal commit
tee.
These conclusions are reached in an
opinion made public by Charles B.
Warren, of Detroit, chairman of the
legal committee, appointed by the ex-
ecutive committee of the Republican
national committee.
National Committee to Meet.
The executive committee in Wash.
ington, May "a, last, adopted a reso-
luton requesting the chairman to call
meeting of the national committee
to be held within sixty days after the
expiration of the special session of
congress convened in March. 1913.
The national committee will consider
among other things proposed plans
for party reorganization The legal
committee was named to make a de
tailed examination of the questions
that would arise. Mr. Warren, who
wrote the opinion now submitted, is a
new member of the national commit
tee. He was one of the LAWYERS for
the United States in the arbitration
with Great Britain before The Hague
tribunal of the North Atlantic fish
cries controversy. The opinion is
eoncurred in by the other members of
the legal committee, who are United
States Senator Wesley L. Jones, of
Washington, Representative James r.
Mann, of Illinois, Jas. A. Fowler of
Tennessee, former assistant general:
William Marshall BulIitt. of New
York, former solicitor general: Rov
@. West, of Illinois, and Sherman
Grange, of Ohio.
In reaching his conclusion Mr.. War
ren quotes extensively from national
conventions of the party from that of
1856 to that of 1912.
Position of the Party.
As to the manner of choosing dele
gates to national conventions, the
opinion reads:
The facts recited from the history
of the party show that the position of
the party is in favor of representa-
tion from congressional districts. New
ertheless, the elimination from the
rules adopted by the convention of
1908 and 1912 of all reference either
to delegates from congressional dis
tricts or to delegates at large, and
the elimination of the provisions
found in former rules prescribing the
manner of electing delegates, left, ac-
cording to the terms of the rules. the
national committee clothed with au-
thority to provide in the call the man
ner of choosing delegates for a nation
az convention.
The convention undoubtedly be-
lieved, in view of the historic position
of congressional district representa-
tion, that the national committee
would not issue a call for national
convention which did not provide for
the election of delegates from con-
gressional districts in all states hav
ing no laws PROVIDING for the election
or all delegates from the state at
large; but the convention evidently
provided, by the terms of rule 10. as
adopted method of avo;d;no con
flict between the call issued by the
national committee and the laws of
the several states whether already en-
acted or thereafter enacted.''
Can Avoid Conflict. 81
Under the terms of the rule adopt
ed by the 1908 and 1912 conventions
the national committee can, the opin.
ion says, avoid conflict between the
law of a state and the rule of the
party by providing in its call that
delegates may be elected in confor-
nifty with the law of the state in
which the election occurs.
Therefore it is the opinion of the
committee, in deciding the second
question, g that the national commit
tee has authority, under the wording
of rule IL as adopted by the conven-
tions of 1908 and 1912, to prescribe
in its call the method of choosing
delegates to future national eonven
tions, including the authority to pro
vide therein that all delegates from
any state may be chosen from the
state at large, or part from the state
at large and part from congressional
districts, in accordance with the laws