Morris tribune., 1886-08-04


cur on Saturday, the Gath. l fully
appreciate the situation. The rings
are bound to rule, even il they have
to take our principles and our men.
Call your convention at once. don't
care if you name the Goth, and let us
meet and abide the result like heroes.
Whatever is squarely done at the
peoples convention, / will defend
with all my power. There must
however, he no iog-rolling or political
legerdemain. Let us keep all personal
ambition down.
After the receipt of the above letters,
Mr.. Hall and myself consulted. We
debated long and earnestly as towhat
would be for the best interests of the
Alliance in this district and rs a re-
suit, yielding ION Mr.. Halls part
more particularly than on my OWN
for was then. convinced of the wis
dom of quick actiOn) to the desire for
speedy convention expressed by the
other counties, the call for the con-
vention was signed by us at about
seven o'clock OF the evening of We'd
nesday, July 2lst.
You say "there was insufficient
time between the call and the conven-
ing convention, and insufficient
notice was given. The Tribune was
not permitted to see the call until af-
ter its issue of last Wednesday. The
Herman Herald, of last Friday, it is
said, does not contain it, and q ma
jority of the papers ofthe district have
not been allowed to publish it." have
before me the sworn affidavit of Mr..
Westinghouse, the telegraph operator
of this place, that he sent as by me
requested at about 10 o'clock A. M.
on Thursday, July 23nd, telegraphic
copies of the call to the following
papers: The Herald of Herman, the
Herald of Ortonviilc, the Tribune an d
the Reporter of the Browns Valley.
On that same morning, copies of the
call were mailed by ME to the Grace
vile Transcript, the North Star and
Headlight of Ortonville, and a copy
furnished to the Morris Sun. Regret
was expr. ssed by both Mr.. Hall and
myself that our signing the call was
too late for publication in your paper.
| Notice was also given Mt the same
| time by letter or telegram, to mem
bers of the committee in each of the
| other counties. Also notices were
| mailed, and wherever opportunity
| offered. personal messages sent to the
| nine delegates of this County. The
latest date of election of delegates IN
| this district was on the Goth. The
| members of the committee from all
the other counties had notified us
that their delegates could be ready
| on or before the 9th. We decided to
| give one more days time and made
the call for the 29th. The nine dele
gates of Stevens county were all
present at the convention but one, and
he gave his proxy to another member
of the delegation. The nine dele
gales of Big Stone County were all
present in person or by proxy. Grant
County was represented by three dele
gates, with authority to cast the full
nine votes OF the county. A question
of authority in making the call of the
county convention having arising in
Traverse county, we were informed
by members of the executive COM
mittee of the Traverse County AL
lance who were present at Graceville,
that Traverse County had agreed to
send no delegates, but to abide by the
action of the convention.
"You say "The Tribune was not
| permitted to see the call until after its
issuelof last Wednesday," Possibly
the fact that the call was not written
or signed until several hours after
that issue of your paper, may be vivid
enough to throw into your mind the
light of q satisfactory reason.
AS to the Herman Herald and the
majority of the papers of this district,
the above proof is sufficient evidence
that if they did not publish it, it was
their own fault, or that of the tele-
graph and mail service.
You say "Another thing which
makes the calling of this convention
seem strange, Is the fact that an
| agreement was made between the
chairman and secretary of the AL
lance district committee and the
chairman of the Republican district
| committee that neither the Alliance
nor the Republican convention should
be called till after harvest" wish to
say that the chairman Of the Republi.
can committee must have misunder-
stood my language. I, personally,
| did state to the chairman of the Re-
| publican committee that in my
| opinion 1t would be best not to call
either convention until later in the
season. AS officers Of the committee,
however, we had no power except
what was expressly given us. Our
powers could not he constructed SO as
to allow us to do anything which was
not forbidden us but that we could
do nothing except such duties as we
were specially instructed to perform
and we were never given authority
directly, nor could we assume it by
implication, which looked to the
making of a compact with the chair
man of the committee of any party, to
call or not to call our convention at
any particular time.
You say "This agreement was hard
ly made before it was broken by the
almost claDdestine calling of this con-
vention." If a call which the officers
took measures to have published in at
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