Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1883-09-19

not right I'd construct the engineer
and place him in charge Of the engine,
ready, when congress shall have ap.
piled the torch, to start the machinery
Ii we hope to escape criticism we are
moving on false premises We have
the right to do 50. and we should assert
it by electing officers. ready when we
are given statehood, to take ilnnledi.
ate charge of the state. There il nc
politics in the move. ! would rather
be represented by democrats through.
out than not be represented at all.
Robert Dollard OF BonIIomme- II
has been said by delegate that ii We
elect officers the ballOt-b0x will be
stuffed. Now. as Il delegate who was
elected by just such an election as will
be held to select officers, he is estoppetl
from such charges. Oregon gave us d
precedent for proceeding as it is pro.
posed and electing state officers. Ii We
have authority, the question is. shall
we proceed? | came here with no pet
views as to how we should come into
the possession of Il state government
] came determined to abide by the
wisdom Of the convention. The
committee have reported in favor OF
state officers being elected now, and
am in favor OF adopting the report OF
the committee. We are much in the
position of the children Of Israel who
paused on the banks of the river in
sight of the promised land. We have
constructed the bridge; now shall'we
cross upon it?
G. w. Mcdonald Of .Jeraull 1t is
useless to elect officers now. No taxes
can be collected and no act performed
by them, and the consequence will be
we will have to have two elections.
Thomas Sterling of Sphinx are
two grounds we may stand upon
doubtful and safe. Ii we elect officers
we stand upon doubtful ground. We
cannot afford to adopt doubtful meas
ures. There should be unanimity. We
have considered what congress would
think OF the election of officers, but we
have not considered what the people of
should consider that. We have ig.
nored prohibition petitions, and yet we
propose to submit the election of OIL.
GERS, when the prohibitiOnists are
against it. beg Of the convention to
think before Incorporating Il feature
obnoxious to the masses.
| AZ l-.-o, tlo CONVENTION duloltTIlttt "
2P.M
AFTERNOON SESSION.
When the convention reassembled ut
2 p. NJ. }. r.. Gamble OF Yankton arose
to personal privilege and announced
that he had telegram to the effect
that the judgment in the capital com.
mission case,
| GUSHING THE COMMISSIONERS
from Office. had been fled. thus declar.
ing the capital commission unconstitu.
tiOnal and void.
The announcement was received with
the widest enthusiasm. and delegate,
clapped their hands. yelled and threw
their hats into the air.
W. w. Brookings OF Minnehah;
moved three cheers for Chief Justic,
Edgerton, who, he said, could not IN
corrupted. Three cheers and u tigel
were given with vim that was deaf
ening.
STATE ELECTION AGAIN.
Mr.. Gamble, in resuming discussion
Of the question pending whether OF
not state officers should be elected -saiG
the issue was not Il party issue, and iI
electing state officers there should
be division of the offices between tht
democrats and republicans, and an
bounced that he would offer an amend
ment later to that effect. He moved t,
Postpone the question until Monday
morning.
| w. W. BrOokings of Minnehaha SAT-,
that since hearing OF the overthrow OF
one OF the most corrupt monopOlies
that ever existed he could afford to re.
main out Of statehood a year longer
than he felt he could before, but he
hoped it would be decided to elect Off,
GERS, rs it would surely do good. and
could possibly do no harm.
Ii. j. Campbell of Yankton cited a
number of states that had proceeded u
statehood by first electing state officers
as proposed in the section under dis
c,ission, and moved to lay on the table
the motion of Mr.. Gamble to post pone
The motion Of Mr. Gamble was
tabled.
X. b. Melville of Bea,lle- No man is
more anxious than to proceed with
discretion in this matter am in fla.
vOr OF adopting Il constitution and
| then carrying out its provisions by
electing officers. We are here to assert
the right OF selt-government, and ii we
are qualified to adopt constitution we
are competent to elect officers and car
ry out the constitution. 1t is our duty
and the man who shirks that duty il
not IN honorable man. Drop party
matters. selfish ideas. and then youl
work will amount to something. Let
us elect officers, officers not party men
but true DakOt;lians.
Il. &. Moody of Lawrence oppose,
the question and spoke against the
citations of the preceslents of Other
states AS quoted by Mr. Campbell He
pronounced elections Of the kind pro-
posed mere shams. lie avowed his
| fidelity to all the proceedings of the
convention, bat ;ldmOnished the dele.
gates to remember they were only Il
small portion of the people Of south
Dakota.
On motion of Joseph Ward of Yank.
ton u recess tat 2:45 r. NJ of ten min.
,ltes was taken.
After recess n. Boynton from Lin.
coin spoke OF the question from dem.
Ocratic standpoint. He said he was
the ~ oldest member of the dem.
ocratic territorial central committee;
he had been accused by members of the
committee rs being made republican
tool by working to get republican
territory into the union. AS for him.
self he did not want any office; he had