Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-06-14
LEAR'S LETTER TO COOPER.
An Omen Letter in which the Harrisburg
Chairman Expounds Sound Logic
and Sound Sense for the Bene-
fit of Republicans.

Ii. /
Convention, furnished The a
Press with the following open letter to +
Chairman Cooper: s
DoYLEsTowN, Pa, June 3, 1882 {
Hon. THOMAS V. COOPER.
Nh Dear Slr:-Mr. K. g. Harrison,
the Bucks county member OF the he
publican State Committee, has forward
ed to me your notice of call upon the
delegates to the Republican State Con
veption held at Harrisburg on the l0th
of Nav, to meet again on the 2lst OF
June, for the purpose of nominating
Congressman-at-Large, purportlng 10
be by order of the State Committee,
and signed by you as Chairman. Mr..
Harrison informs me that, although ne
is within three-fourths of an hours
ride of the Republican Headquarters,
and always willing to attend any meet
ing of the Committee, he had no notlce |
of any such meeting as this order I'M
ports and does not know that one was
held
Until received this information, L
supposed there had been call for the
meeting OF the Cor vention ordered by
the Commi e, although in my view
of the matter it is not important
whether the order by the Committee
was actual or constructive. My rea-
sons for not recognizing and obeying
any such call are already partially un'
derstood: but as | shall not attend the
Convention, / propose to state them
more fully, and as others as Wen as
YOU have a right to an explanation lor
nv absence. and especially the DELE
gates, l will communicate with you
throueh the n dir n of the puollc
press. ,u
principle and policy, and grow out OF
the peculiar political complications OF
this campaign. The Rpubfcan party
If the State is divided into two sec
tions. one under the Regular organlza-
tion and the other on al Independent
basis: and while the former has the
prestige of regularity according to an
cient customs, the latter is of sufficient
MAGNITUDE to be feared, and OF sucr
| SUBSTANTIAL CndIdcIoi @" w
respect.
| And what is remarkable about these
two branches of the party, they both
subscribe to the same political faith,
cherish the same principles OF public
policy, and equally admire the achieve.
ments and are proud of the history OF
the great Republican party; and, more
over, they have both placed IN nomlna-
tion candidates for State Offices whose
characters are without reproach, and
whose qualifications are above criticism.
Under such circumstances, what IS the
difficulty which separates them!
THE PEACE CONFERENCE DIsREGARDED.
| The principal, if not the only, ques-
tions between the contendiDg parties
which have caused this unfortunate
division are the modes OF making ap-
nointments to Offices and the manner OF
selecting delegates to nominating con-
yentions 1t is MT so much charged
that official duties are imperfectly or
improperly performed as that the ap-
nointments are made in the interests
of ambitious politicians for the purpose
of increasing or perpetuating their
mower. and that conventions foI
the nomination of candidates are pack
ed with delegates for the same purpose
by methods inconsistent with fair
representation of the Republican masses,
and that such conventions do not ex-
press the real sentiments of the people.
The iustness and truth of these allega-
tions were recognized and admitted by
the Peace Conference, to which you
were party, by the declaration OF a
new code of party principles, and the
adoption of new rules and regulations
for the selection and government of
delegates to nominating conventions,
which principles and rules were ratified
and adopted as part of the platform by
the Regular Convention, held at Har-
risburg May 10. They were presented
to the party as peace Offering IN
answer to the charges of favoritism,
partiaity and injustice, aDd they were
sanctioned and adopted with the same
unanimity with which the candidates
were nominated, and were proclaimed
as an assurance to the people that
their rights would be respected, and
that they should be heard at the nomi-
mating conventions as well as at the
polls. Good faith requires that this
compact between that Convention and
the people shall be vigorously main
tanned in letter and spirit. Any other
course will be equivalent to an attempt
to obtain votes under false pretenses,
and would and ought to be resented by
the voters as an insult to their intelli-
gence and fraud upon their rights.
Having nominated ticket end
adopted platform containing the rules
above referred to, the Convention ad-
journed sine die, and passed out of ex-
istcnce. Among the rules it was re-
solved and ordained that delegates to
nominating conventions shallb elected
in the several districts as candidates
for the Senate and House Of Represen-
tatives are nominated. Within two
weeks after the adjournment OF the
| Convention there was n vacancy on the
ticket by the declination of Mr.. Mar
shall, and the question was at once
asked, how shall it be filled ? The
answer which I gave was that it must
be done by new convention composed
of delegates elected under the rules
adoped by the old one, and | gave
notice that if any other course was at
tempted there would be trouble.
THE COMMITTEE ACTING WITHOUT
| POWER.
The State Committee is body
created by and subordinate to the con-
vention, and, IN calling upon the mem
bers to reconvene after their functions
have expired, and when they are pow
erless to act Of their own volition, the
creature assumes to be greater than its