Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/67

 THE TIME ELEMENT IN POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS 53

national committee set definite bounds to the period — which it usually does at Washington in the December or January preced- ing the election — than the central committee, in any one of the forty-five states of the union, is at liberty to fix the date of its state convention. This date may be within a month, or may be five months, from the receipt of the national call. Of the Repub- lican state conventions in 1896 the first met in Arkansas, March 3; the last, in Idaho, May 16. Fourteen were held in March, eighteen in April, and thirteen in May. The first three were those of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida; the last five, those of Washington, Colorado, Wj-oming, North Carolina, and Idaho. Of the Democratic state conventions in the same year, the first met in Oregon, April 10; the last, in Georgia, June 25. Twelve were held in April, seven in May, and twenty-five in June. The first five were west, and the last five east, of the Mississippi river.

The action of the state committee in setting the time for the state convention fixed, in the next place, the outer time limits for the county conventions. If the state committee has granted a latitude of four months, and the state has ninety counties, each of the ninety central committees of these counties may choose a separate day for its county convention. In their haste, a few counties may hold conventions before the state committee has issued its call, afterward adjusting their representation by drop- ping surplus delegates from their lists. The Illinois county con- ventions of 1896 extended all the way from January 27, the day before the state committee's call, to April 26, four days before the meeting of the state convention. So, last of all, as each county committee decides the date of the county convention, more or less play is often given to the committees of the towns, or wards, or precincts, for fixing the times of their primaries.

Such have been the general order and conditions of the time game that I am to describe. The infinite number of authorities has meant an infinite variety of practice, and an infinite oppor- tunity for sharp play. Within the limits, the machine of each locality selects for action that date which it deems most advan- tageous for itself, as against the machines of other political areas. The variety of motive and result can be appreciated only by