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About The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 27, 1903)
fife mil? Vol. XV. LINCOLN NEB., AUGUST 27, 1903. No. 14. &Y1I www 4 I i r ?! ?! i 4 POPULIST STATE CONVENTION Judge Sullivan Renominated by Acclamation Unani mously at Grand Island THE DENVER CONFERENCE REPUDIATED Resolution to Commend the Work of That Conference Side-Tracked 'Until Next Year." 8 J THE TICKET A WINNER & tit ,1 S . Supreme Judge ... & J JOHN J. SULLIVAN, J Columbus. ? Regents State University 0 WILLIAM A. JONES, & jS Hastings. ERNEST O. WEBER, & Jt Valparaiso. 8 8 & 8 8 8 8 Promptly at 8 o'clock Chairman Weber called the convention to order, immediately at the close of two num bers by the Harrison band. The call was read by Secretary Farris. Gov ernor Poynter placed in nomination for temporary chairman, A. F. Par cons of North Platte. Hon. 0. S. Whitford of Arlington presented the name of Judge George A. Magney. Chairman Weber called Bayard H. Paine and C. Q. De France to assist the secretary. Upon roll call, which was by some supposed to be a test of strength for and against the Denver conferenc.5, Parsons (who was at the conference) won by a vote of 308 to 282, having 25 counties to Magney's 15, which in cluded the 100 votes of Douglas. In his address Temporary Chairman Parsons adverted to the work of the Denver conference and assured the delegates that if they could all have been there, there would now be no question of for and against. Upon mo tion Secretary Farris was continued as secretary. Then a motion to make the temporary oiganizatloh permanent (after the list of credentials had by motion been aaopted), and C. W. Stewart of Hastings moved the ap pointment of a committee on resolu tions. Pending the chair's selection of this committee, Governor Poynter moved that the convention proceed to nominate candidates for supreme judge and regents. This carried; and T. H. Tibbies placed :n nomination Chief Justice John J. Sullivan. The nomination was made by acclamation vnanimcusly. It wrs then decided that the convention secretary should imme diately telegraph Judge Sullivan at Columbus of the convention's action 2nd ask his acc ptance. The telegram v. as sent about 8:45. Then a short wrangle ensued as to whether a telegram should be rent the democratic convention in session at Columbus, notifying it of Judge Sul livan's nomination. This resulted in sending the telegram at 9 p. m. Adams county then presented as can didate for regent the name of Prof. William A. Jones, the well-knowu educator who was formerly in charge of the state school for the blind at Nebraska City. His nomination was made by acclamation unanimously. The name of Dr. Ernest O. Weber of Saunders county was then presented. He received the same treatment as Prof. Jones and the work was done, except to make a platform, and talk over the Denver conference, which both friends and foes knew must be I cached. The chair announced as committee on resolutions: First district. T. H. Tibbies; Second. George A. Magney; Third. W. II. Woodruff; Fourth, F. M. Howard; Fifth. C. W. Stewart (chairman); Sixth, W. L. Hand; M. F. Harrington and W. A. Poynter, at large. The committee retired and in a short time presented the following rlatform, which was adopted by a ris ing vote; "We. the people's Independent party cf Nebraska, in convention assembled, hereby reaffirm our allegiance to the principles of the people's party as ex pressed In its national platforms, but we realize that the election this year , Involves no national politics; It does, however, involve the right of the peo ple to have the supreme court of the state kept free from the control of any evil influence. The republican state convention was controlled by the pub lic service corporations and the nomi nee was selected months in advance by the railroad interests. We protest against the domination by corporate interests of the court which finally de termines the right of the citizen to his life, his liberty, his property and the redress of his wrongs and we declare it to be the duty of all good citizens to prevent these selfish interests from subverting our highest judcial trib unal. A judge of our supreme court should be honest, impartial and learned in the law. Our present chief justice, Hon. John J. Sullivan, pos sesses all these qualities in an emi rent degree and his valuable services entitle him to an indorsement by the people and we invite all persons re gardless of political affiliations to un ite with us in securing his re-election. "The people's party has always been an advocate of higher education and pledges its nominees to advance the interests of the state university and especially the school of agriculture in which so many farmers sons are re ceiving scientific instruction in Ne braska's greatest industry and we con fidently commend ' our nominees for regents to the favorable consideration of all the people." Calls being made for a speech by M. F. Harrington, he addressed the con vention at some length, going into the question of the new revenue law and railroad taxation extensively. He was cheered loudly as he made point after point against the preeent administra tion and its extravagant methods. At the close of Mr. Harrington's speech, C. Q. De France asked permis sion to present the following resolu tion, which he read and then moved its adoption: "Whereas, On the 18th day of June, 1903, a call was made by Hon. J. A. Edgerton, secretary of the national committee of the people's party, for an unofficial and informal conference of reformers for the purpose of ascer taining if there is room in the United States for a party to provide a politi cal home for all those who are not I.Jark Hanna republicans, Grover Cleveland democrats, or Karl Marx socialists; and "Whereas, Such conference met in the city of Denver, Colo., on the 27th day of July, 1903, remaining in .ses sion two days, having in attendance some fifty persons from eleven differ- "1 U.11U IClTltUl lt!0, &UU Willi letters of encouragement and com mendation from over a hundred others representing almost every state in the Union; and "Whereas, At such conference the following address was adopted: (Quot ing address.) and "Whereas, At such . conference a committee on organization was ap pointed, composed of the following per sons: J. A. Edgerton, chairman, box 445, Denver, Colo.; Milton Park, vice chairman, Dallas, Tex.; J. II. Calder head, secretary, Helena, Mont; C. Q. De France, assistant secretary, Lin coln, Neb.; J. S. Felter, treasurer, Springfield, 111., such committee on or ganization being empowered to select and appoint a member thereof for each state and territory in the Union, with ii structions and power to act in har mony with (but not to supersede or displace) the national committees of the people's party and allied people's party; and "Whereas, At a meeting of the na tional committees of the people's par ty and the allied people's party, held jointly in the city of Denver, Colo., on the 29th day of July, whereat all mem bers of both committees were present in person or represented by proxy, the work of said Denver conference was unanimously approved, both as to the address and committee on organiza tion; therefore, be It "Resolved by the people's indepen dent party of Nebraska, in its four teenth annual convention assembled, That our hearty indorsement is hereby given to the work performed by said Denver conference, heretofore out lined." And until after the midnight hour the battle raged, Messrs. Tibbies, roynter, Edmisten, Eager, De France, Grimison, and Albert being among those who spoLe in i'avor. of adoption; while Messr3. Gilbert, Beltzer, Bowen, Stewart, Howard, Mullen, Lyman and others opposed it Finally Mr. Har rington administered the "knock-out. .drops" which settled the fate of the lesolution: he moved as a substitute that it be referred to the next pop ulist state convention held for the pur pose of electing delegates to the na tional convention, and upon roll call the substitute carried by a vote of 398i,6 to 144 y2, the counties being as follows: Yes. No. Adams ' .. . .17 Antelope ...11 Boone 12 Buffalo .................. .15 ..... Cedar .. 13 Clay 14 Custer ' 17 Dawson ., 12 Douglas 100 .. Fillmore 16 , V .. Furnas 11 '." . . Garfield 3 .. Gosper 6 Greeley 8 Hall 7 Vk Hamilton 14 Harlan 9 Hoit 16 , .. Howard 10 1 Lancaster 2 ' 32 Lincoln f 9 Ix)up 1 i 1 Merrick w 9 Otoe 18 Platte ... 5 12 Folk .14 T. Saunders ,...21 .. Seward .......16 Sherman 6 .. Stanton 7 Thayer 14 Thomas , 2 Thurston ' ! 6 Valley " 8 Washington ...12 .. Webster H York .....................12 5 STATE COMMITTEE. The following state committee was cpioded The committee after mid nicht met and re-elected Chairman Weber and Secretary Farris for the coming year: Adams, Dr. J. N. Lyman, Hastings. Antelope, A. H. Bohanan, Elgin. Boone, J as. T. Brady, Albion. Boyd, C. J. Coffee, Spencer, buffalo, R. A. Emory, Kearney. Butler, A. M. Walling, David City. Cedar, John H. Felber, Hartlngton. Cherry, A. M. Morrisey, Valentine. Clay, Tho. Griess, Clay Center. Colfax. W. H. Carleton, Leigh. Custer, J. R. Dean. Broken Bow. Dawson, Chas. McCabe, Lexington. Douglas, J. J. Points, Omaha. Furnas, C. W. Evans, Beaver City. Carfield, W. I. Grant, Burwell. Gosper, B. L. Chambers, Elwood. Greeley, Ccn. P. II. Barry, Greeley. Hall, B. H. Paine, Grand Island. Hamilton, F. M. Howard, Aurora. Harlan, Frank I. Webber, Oxford. Holt, A. F. Mullen, O'Neill. Howard, C. B. Manuel, St. Paul. Kearney, Louis C. Paulson, Mindea. Keya Paha, Chas. Lear, Springview. Lincoln. A. F. Parsons, North Platte, Loup. R. S. Scofield, Taylor. Merrick, J. E. Dorsheimer, Cent City. Platte, W. A. Way, Columbus. Polk, F. H. Ball, Osceola. Saunders, C. M. Lemar, Wahoo. Seward, Dr. H. B. Cummins, Seward. Sherman, John W. Long, Loup City. Stanton, W. H. Woodruff, Stanton. Thayer, M. C. Dill, Belvidere. Thomas, J. H. Edmisten, Thedford. Thurston, Herman Freese, Pender. Valley, Geo. M. Petty, No. Loup Washington, C. B. Sprague, Blair. Webster, Dr. Rob. Damerell, Red Cloud York, E. A. Gilbert, York. KANSAS CONFERENCE Chairman Edgerton Calls Meeting of Re formers at Topeka, September i7. Denver, Colo., Aug. 20, 1903. There is hereby called a state con ference of populists and other reform ers to meet in the city of Topeka, at 10 a. m., on Thursday, September 17, Suitable hall and headquarters will be secured and announced later. This meeting will be similar in character to the Denver conference. There will be no walls about it. It is hoped that prominent men from every county in the state will be present. It becomes more and more apparent that the reactionary element will con trol the next national democratic con vention. This makes it necessary for all those who sincerely believe in the reform cause to prepare for indepen dent political action. To leave this until the conventions have acted next vear would be putting it off until too late. We must be organized in ad Mince, we must act now. Kansas has always been at the fore front in every humanitarian move ment and I am certain it will be in tbe forefront of this revival of the re form cause. The object of the meeting is to pre pare for the thorough organization of the state, to appoint state and county organizers, to take steps to strengthen, the state press, to advise as to the proper policy for the future, to re light the old populist camp-fires, to rekindle the old enthusiasm and to qo whatever else may be necessary to put Kansas back into the reform ranks to stay. We want the presence of honest and earnest people. There is little room in a reform movement for the mere political trimmer and trickster. We need men and women who have the intelligence to discern a principle and v,ho have the courage to follow it. J. A. EDGERTON, Chairman National Organization Populist Committee. Box 445. Denver, Colo. (Kansas reform press please copy.) MICHIGAN POPULISTS Mr. Vlncnt FUaied With th Succais of th Denver Conference Editor Independent: I am much gratified to learn that the Denver con ference proved so successful, and that so much harmon and good will exists among the populists throughout the whole country, consequent on the har monious action of said conference, I fully agree with what you say in your iisuc Cf the 13th inst. on editorial pages 8 and 9 in the articles entitled ' The Reason Why We Did It" and "Mr. Bryan's Protest." I have favored rcore or less a "co-operation" or, as seme say, "fusion" by the populists with democrats when a political prin ciple could be gained and made a lead ing factor in subsequent legislation, where the best interests of the people could be the better subserved. But I have never advocated or indorsed the so-called "fusion" for the purpose of electing any set of men to office for the sake of the emoluments of such offices, regardless of the political prin ciples involved. When co-operation or fusion was honestly and fairly car ried out a great amount of good was thus obtained, as it placed in office a set of men who fearlessly advocated cur reform principles of government both in and out of our legislative halls. Co-operation sent a large number of the people's reformers to both halls of congress as well as in the state legis latures. It placcu such men as Weav er, Allen, Weller, Rice, Farel, Simpson, Davis, Jones, Watson, Towne and others into congress where the sides of the people as against the plutocrats were presented at all times whenever the occasion occurred. Let me ask where are these repre sentatives of the people now? Not one of them can be found in any capac ity where he can stand up as the peo ple's champion. The "fiat" went out from the plutocratic caverns of Wall street "that no more people's agitators should be allowed to be elected to seats in either house of congress, or else where." This is one of the main rea sons why we are left without represen tation in congress to fight the battlfs of the people as was the case from the advent of Weav.r to the exit of Allen from the halls of congress. ;