The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1884-10-22

no other-that it would tend to
widen the breach between the two
factions without any advantage to
the Pettibone men. While / con
ceded the fact that the chairman of
the committee ought to be selected
from the Pettibone side, i opposed
the election of Mr.. Brownlow for
the reason that he, of all other men,
was most Objectionable to Mr.. Tay-
lor and bis friends. / favored the
election of H Il. Campbell as cleo
tor on the ground that he beng the
nominee of the convention that
nominated Mr.. Taylor at Jonesboro,
on July 10th, would be most accept
able 20 that many Of the party.
There were others of Maj Petti-
bones supporters at Jonesboro on
the Sth of September who united
with me in urging the adoption Of
the course above Indicated. Had
such a course been pursued we
would have had to-day a united
party and assured success. But our
counsel and advice and our interests
were all alike ignored, and myself
and other Republicans were exclud- |
ed from the room, during the sitting
of the committee, and denied the
privilege of urging before the com
mittee the course of action approved !
by our judgment as right and best
to be adopted. This exercise of ar
bitrary power on the part of the
committee was due to the influence
of Col. Reeves, one of the personal .
party men, who was not himself a
member of the committee and had l
no more right to take part in its de-
liberations than myself or any other
Republican. Yet he was present
all the time and directed the action I
of the majority in what they did to
over ride the will of the minority, I
and SOW seeds of dlscord which it is
now beyond their power to eradicate
and the fruits of which will be GER
tain defeat in November. ]
To avert the threatening danger,
l appealed to Maj. Pettibone, to Col.
Reeves, and, as a last resort, TO Mr.. !
Brownlow himself, but all was of no
avail. The fiat had gone forth that
the organization of the party must ,
be such as to make it strictly PER-
soNAL party of which Col. Reeves
and W. p. Brownlow were to be the /
head and Maj. Pettibone the repre-
sentative, without regard to the
rights of the great body of Repub-
lican voters or the ultimate success
of the party. 1t was the adoption
of the rule or ruin policy, and un-
derstand that Mr.. BrownlOw has re-
Gently said that if Pettibone was de-
feated the Republican party should
never have another representative
in Congress from this district. This
is in keeping with the leadership of
the personal party. If they cant
rule they will ruin. We have got
to a point that we must act to save
the party from irrctrievable defeat.
The Question Is, shall We give our
support to strengthen the personal
party under the lead of Mr.. Brown
low, and leave him in control two
wears from now when all our judi
cial officers are to be elected, or
shall We stop this thing right here
and now? l prefer to stop now
rid the party of its present leader
ship, restore the power to the pee
pie where it rightfully belongs, and
reorganiEe under leadership that
will recognize the rights of the COM
moo people in the management of
party affairs, to the exclusion of a
dictatorial personal leadership such
as is new foisted upon us. 1t Id
one thing to be Republican from
principle and quite another and diff
feront thing to be a Republican in ;
name only and from policy. The
selfish policy men are the ones who
press to the front and aspire to the
leadership, and, fastening them
selves on the party, will, for selfish
gain, rule or ruin. Such Is eur
leadership to-day in the person of
Brownlow and Reeves, and such is
the party that Pettibone would rep~
resent-because it comports with
his ideas of party organization.
know that / shall be assailed and
my motives impugned for the pub
lication of this letter, but prefer to
take my stand with the common
voters of the party and defend their
rights against n corrupt leadership,
rather than to take my share of the
spoils offered by Maj Pettibone in
the way of official position. Re
publicans, you must act now, or
two years from now, when we have
10 elect our judicial officers as we'll
as a member Of Congress, you will
see ysur party disrupted and disor- 4
ganized to such an extent as to ems \
danger our success in all these im~
portant elections. The breach be-
tween the two factions of the party
is widening every day and the Re
publicans, who supported Pettib0ne
in the primary election, nust net
endorse at the polls in November
the action taken by the committee |
under the lead Of Reeves and Brown
low. The result Of such an endorse
ment would draw from the party n
majority at least of the Republicans
who supported Mr.. Taylor and
most effsctually and permanently
disorganized the party. The defeat
of Mr.. Pettibone will net be the do
feat of the party, but under the cir
cumstances his defeat. would be
grand victory for the people, and
the restoration of power to them in
the management of party affairs,
and just rebuke to the few who
assume the right to control without
any regard for the interests Of the
common voters of the district.
When the time comes that the peo~
pie have no voice in the control of
the party it ought to die, because it
deserves to die.
There were over FIVE thousand