The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1880-08-23
THE coNcxAvE.
The agismanagement and who ia Re-
sponsible.

The Mismanagement ana Who ia Re.
/ sponsible.
There is great complaint of the Trien
nial Oonclave. at Chicago. and Sir Knight
are loud in their denunciation of thu
treatment received. Who is to blame fol-
the chaotic condition of affairs in Chicago
is not for uniformed parties TO say. bu
| if tho details narrated in an article, in The
Chicago Times, are correct-the RESPONSE
bility must rest with Sir Norman 7. Gas.
settle, Eminent Commander of the Apollo
Commandery of Chicago. until disproved
by that eminent gentleman. 1t may be
the. purpose aof Chicago papers to shift
responsibility from the city. and If this be
the motive, then Sir Norman I. Gassette
is unjustly accused. There is no denying
the fac. however,that shameful condition
of affairs existed, and that, as managed
the record is that of gigantic swindle,
and must be fully explained to clear Chi.
cago's skirts as we'll as others outside the
city who had hand in the m management
of the conclave. The Chicago Times says
of the affair as follows:
In its efforts to fifty characterize the
accompaniments of the Templar's conclave
the Times finds itself compelled to per-
form an unpleasant task. 1t IL. however,
one which must be done in the Interests
of justice. We're the press of this city to
remain silent at this time, it would logi-
cally seem to the visitors to be the tact
that the newspapers are party to the
lamentable blunders which have been
perpetrated during the progress of the
conclave. There is also the further reason
for the denunciation of these blunders
that such course will enable the visitors
to locate the responsibility where it be
longs. They will discover that it is not
Chicago which is in any way to be held
responsible, or that any portion of the
blame rests on the local Communicates.
There has not been. from the beginning
to the end of the series of conclave enter
tainments, a single unqualified success.
Failure, extortion. laundering, swindling
have been the main features OF everything
which has taken place of an official nature.
and which had been arranged ia advance.
The grand parade was at once a partial
failure and a complete swindle on those
portions of the city which have done the
most to give the conclave financial fouu-
dation. The exposition affair was a conf
dence game, pure and simple. It was not
simply confidence game. but it was a
most disgraceful one-one in which there
is not single palliative feature. The
competitive drill was still another opera
ton which is q disgrace to every man who
had anything to do with it 10 an official
capacity, Ii was swindie in that it asked
Communicates to compete in one way. and
then. at q later date. forced them to CON-
pete in another way, and one for which
they had not the time to prepare them.
selves, 1t was a most disgrsceful affair
In that there was no provision for water,
whereby visitors were obliged to pay for
something to quench their thirst. 1t was
still further gross. inexcusable swindle
in the fact that people who held tickets
were bClidoxed at the gates. and. to the
NUN Der of thousands were compelled to
pay for their admission to the grounds.
There is no use In parading all the de-
tails of this affair. and inviting attention
to those which are in the nature. of COM
plete or partial failures. It is much more
easy to state the Illuminating fact that not
one of the promises of the triennisl COM
mittee has been fulfilled. Of the gorge
GUS hopes which were excited, there has
not been single one realized. All that
remains for Chicago to do is TO purge
itself as far as it can of any PARTICIPATION
in the outcome, and to place the blame
where it properly belongs. What is true
in regard to the CITY is also true with the
various commanderies of Chicago. They
have done all they could: they have con-
tributed their time and money without
stint, and they are as mortified oyer the
result as il is possible to be. under the
circumstances.
The Times wishes its visitors to fully
comprehend that all the blame for the
failures rests on the shoulders of but one
man. This one man has arrogated to him
self the right to run this reception busi-
ness. 1t may be said that the command
cries are to be credited with the blunder
of allowing one man to control an enter
prise of such magnitude: and such would
seem to be the case. But it should be
stated in their justification that they did
ell in their power to fprevent this absorp
ton of authority by one person. although
the effect was perfectly useless. Ample
committees were appointed to carry out
the views OF the communicates; and they
went to work in earnest to decide upon
what should be done. In this effeort they
IDauc EO pEOkEGSS. 1n6 HuL6CfaCtc ClaIr~
man of the triennial committee paid not
the smallest attention to the action which
they decided on: and when they reported
their conclusions, the selfinhated mo.
gul. who had uuurped autocratic power
threw them all aside with q supreme
contempt. There was not single subor,
dinate committee that received any con
sideration. The occurrences of the last
three days resfrom the designs of this
autocratic chairman, No other human
being had anything to do with their con,
oeption or their execution. For them, In
every one of their manifold aspects, this
autocratic chairman is solely responsible
He started out with the belief that there
was vast amount of glory to be gathered
from the management of the affair; and
he determined TO reap 1T all for his own
benefit, He allowed nobody else to have
aught to do with the planning: and hence
it is only just that upon him should rest
the burden of the failure. He chose TO
SOW the wind, and it is his own fault if be
has reaped the whirlwind.
OF course there have been large num-
Der of aunoyanees and disoomforts which |
are inseparable from the gathering of a |
crowd of the dimensions which has been |
in the city during the present week. For |
these. there should be nobody blamed land |
it ia not these which are to be charged to |
the chairman of the trIeDnial committee |
He has enough to bear of things which |