The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1916-10-20

no part in naming the party nominee.
There is one feature of the compli-
Gated primary law under which we
have fought, scratched and prayed"
the past four years that commends it
the Legislature had the foresight to
make its operation applicable to the
general election law. The second
choice feature was easy to vote, but
very difficult to tabulate. However,
the fact that the name of Rev. Cats
came first on the ballot and first on
the tally sheet made it very easy to
call and tally, but no one who has
studied the primary tally sheet will
say otherwise than it was difficult, in
the rush on the night after the pri-
mary, when anxiety was great as to
the result of both State and county
tickets, for the AVERAGE Inspector
to get the votes properly credited in
the several criss-crossed columns
which followed the column in which
the votes for Rev. Cats were to be
tailed. AS to the certifcation of the
aggregates on the original count, it
was shown that Cats received 80 ,429,
Knott 33,169, and 2S,760 divided be-
tween Farris, Hudson and Wood as
follows: Farris, 1869; Hudson, y
41O, and Wood, 7,701. A blind man
could see that it were possible-even
probable practically certain - that
numerous mistakes had been made in
the compilation of so many votes IN
so hurried a manner, and who was
the man most interested to make a
fight to ascertain if the wishes of the
largest number participating in that
primary had been established by the
original count? Was it Farris, who
received 1860? No. Was it Wood,
who received 1901? No. Was it
Hudson, who received 7,41O? No.
You hear some way, "Catts had a
majority on the first count" Now,
did he? Let's see: The original can
vass by the State Board showed a
total vote for the five gubernatorial
candidate, counting the second choice
votes which could be counted of 95,-
35S. What would constitute a major
ity of 95,358? 1t would be 1850.
Did Cats get that many? The first
count showed Cats to have 33 ,429, or
14,251 less than majority. ,
w. V. Knott was only $50 behind
Rev. Cats, according to the original
canvass. ana with mistakes apparent
all over the State, and Knott being
the most popular second choice c2ndi-
date bv far, the first count figures
showing him to lead Cats on second
choice bv 5.112, can any sane man
Name him for asking the courts to Or
der rccounts with a view Of finding
ont if he DID GET CREDIT FOR
All, THE VOTES CAST FOR HIM?
Knott had that right under the law,
and If is rirbt that any man should
cot l, credit for EVERY VOTE THAT
Is CAST FOR HIM.
What did Rev. Cats do when he
loornnd th3t Mr.. Knott, who had con-
dnctcd a gcntlemanly campaign, free
from abuse of any man, was asking
tba conrts to command inspectors in
,.o , counfies to reassem5le and re-
conn+ the ballots to see if they had
W. MADE mistakes. through misUn-
J ioS of the second choice fea-
tnroo Did he sit down and await
the result? Not by a lu&tul' lie
,n yT, he termed "a superhuous tour"
orJ . orcat many sober-minded peo-
,,io arTood with him in that declara-
To-, He cried "Thief" all over the
Stofo In South Florida he told us
tbpv worc literally stuffing the boxes
in North and West Florida, end in
+Losc sections he told the people we
v y,, doing the same stunt down in
this neck Of the State Of course, he
Ii r,,oI "a +bo fire he started on