El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-01-27
az YnWELs ROLT.

Editor FL PasO Herald:
1t seems to me that many OF the
friends and admirers Of c. L Vowel
must be greatly surprised at the stand
he has taken in repudiating the action
Of the City and County Democratic
club and announcing his candidacy for
the office Of county attorney.
I have been, and am, among those
who admire his ability as lawyer and
his fine qualities as an orator.
This action which he has just taken
presents issues of such Importance 20
the several thousand members Of the
club that it wei deserves careful con-
sideration and analysis TO the end that
il may be rightly understood and the
members of the club thus be enabled 70
see clearly and think straight upon ths
whole matter.
The present executive committee took
up the work Of preparing for the com
ing campaign. No one could claim alb
solute impartiality and perfection for
any committee. but 1 am sure il may
well be claimed, from the personnel OF
our committee, that they entered upon
and conducted-the work with the
honest purpose of suggesting men who
were fitted for the respective offices
and who could win victory for the or
ganization.
II was well known to members Of
tie club generally for weeks that the
committee was engaged in this matter
Of finding suitable names 10 be pre-
scented for the consideration Of the club
ct the proper time do not think
that Mr.. Vowel viii say that he was
unaware OF this fact If he attended
the regularly called business meetings
he must have known il. The writer
has sufficient information from author
itative sources to be well assured that
many aspirants for office went before
the committee TO urge their claims
others who We're recOmme nded did not
go before the committee. but the com
mittee went to them They did this
because they were keeping ever before
their eyes, two considerations; first.
fitness for the office; secondly. avail
! ability; and by availability, I mean
ability to get votes. These were proper
considerations and unless they had
been considered. the committee would
have fallen far short of its duty.
Mr.. Vowel had full opportunity
every day for weeks to go TO this COM
mittee. or to individual members Of il,
and present himself as a candidate for
any Of the % offices to be filled It
was by no means necessary for him to
90 "bowing the cringing knee" as he
says in his announcement letter; he
could have walked right in among them
on his own legs. with his head erect,
and there wuold have been no more
cringing in it than there appeared in
his appeal to the public TO support
him.
Mr.. Vowel. however. did not go be-
fore the committee or any member OF
that body, to prefer any request; he
permitted all those opportunities to
pass. More than that the committee
understood that he wanted none of the
offices and would accept none. It may
be asserted here, in perfect confidence
Of its correctness, that had Mr.. Vowel
gone TO the committee and suggested
that he would like TO be considered
for one Of the offices. his suggestion
would have received the most serious
and courteous consideration. and an
earnest endeavor would have been
made to satisfy him, with strong
probability that his would have been
on the list of names presented at last
Tuesday nights meeting.
Every member of the club who went
into the caucus that nominated, by his
participation in the deliberations, said
to every other member that he would
be bound by the action of the meeting
and would support the candidates Sc
lected by the majority OF the members
present Everybody had a right to
assume that Mr.. Vowel Joined with
the others in that agreement If there
was anything fraudulent in the presen-
tation of the names or the conduct Of
the leaders, then was the time to raise
the question. He made no such claim,
and do not understand that he makes
any such claim now.
When Mr.. Vowel goes into caucus
with 4O4 other members Of a club. all
equally free and independent with
himself, and by his participation in the
caucus. from its beginning TO its ad-
journment, he has no right as "a free
and Independent" citizen-American or
otherwise-to repudiate any obligation
into which he entered. by clear implica-
ton. with every other one of the 4O4
members present, that he would be
bound by the action taken at this
caucus or convention
Is IT unfair to claim that by his re-
pudiation Of the action of that caucus.
he has placed a deliberate sffront upon