Morris tribune., 1886-08-04
Time so Limited that even
Telegraphic Notices are too
Late for Publication in
District Papers.
No Delegates from Traverse.
Other Delegations Filled
Only by Proxies.
The Scheme in Detail.

y
July 2Sth, that the officers of the AL
lance District Committee present an
explanation of their action. My
answer to that article comes from me
as the Secretary of the District Conn
mittee, as it then existed, and I make
no assertion which / cannot prove by
documents that are open to the in
spection of any who desire to see
them.
The combination of malicious false
hoods represented by your article,
cannot be answered without partially
analyzing them, and even then it con-
tains SO many that some will doubt
less be overlooked.
You say 1T was never the inten-
ton of the Alliance to become a po-
litical organization. Notnwithstand-
ing this the officers Of the Alliance of
this Legislative District have taken
different course" Whether by
this you mean the officers Of the four
county Alliances of this Legislative
district, or the officers of the district
committee, seems rather obscure but
from the balance of the article the in
ference is clear that your attack is
directed upon the last named officers,
and that it is the spirit of the article
to charge the conception of the late
Alliance convention to them. The
last action of the convention of far
mers, which was held two years ago
at Herman, was the appointment of
district committee for the special pur-
pose of calling another convention Of
the organization during this campaign
This committee met at Morris on July
9th, 1886, and representatives were
present from three of the four counties
of the district: those of the fourth
county, through one of their leading
members, signified approval of any
thing which might be decided upon
by the committee. From the records
of that meeting, l find that resolu-
tions were passed for the calling of a
convention of the Alliances or this
Legislative district to nominate can
didates for the legislature, and prior
to any other other convention; and
instructing the president and secre-
tary to decide and announce the time
of holding the convention later on.
The representation of nine delegates
from each county and the place of
holding the convention was also de-
cided at this meeting. This is con-
elusive evidence that the officers OF
the district committee acted, in call
ing the convention absolutely in ac-
cordiance with instructions.
You say "This action" (that of call
ing the convention) has been taken,
we believe, without the approval of
the membership at large and will re-
suit in injury to the Alliance" 1t has
been understood among the Alliances
of this district that the Alliance
should call it's Legislative convention
first, as it could in that manner meet
uninfiuenced by the action of either
political party, and untrammelled by
the necessity of indorsing or rejecting
any previous nominees, and, it would
be in a position, after cool and un-
biased deliberation, to present for the
consideration of the voters of the
district such men as it thought
worthy of being entrusted with the
important issues ofthe coming cam
paign. Owing to the lateness of the
season, it was the opinion of the officers
of the district committee, Mr.. r. j.
Hall and myself, that the convention
might well De postponed until the
immediate rush of harvest was over.
Such would have been the case had it
not been for an unexpected action of
the Republican Legislative committee
of this district. At meeting of that
committee man was present as q
proxy, who at one time was cOnsid-
cred good Alliance man, but whom
the members of the Alliance are so
fast understanding in his true charac-
ter, that without doubt the result of
the election will show that "they've
got him Oh the listn. This man of
fered a resolution which was passed
ny the committee, positively instruct
ing the chairman of that committee
to call a Republican Legislative dis
trict convention ahead of that of the
Alliances. This clutch at the. throat
of the Alliance was so vicious, and its
intention so palpable, that it could
not be mistaken. AS soon as it was
known to them, the officers of the Al
lance committee sent letters to the
members of the committee IN every
county stating the situation of the
case, asking if the Alliance delegates
to the Legislative convention had
been chosen, and if not, the date on
which they would be, and asking also
how soon the delegates of the differ
ent counties could be ready to re-
spond to call of the convention. BY
the time the answers to these letters
reached the officers of this committee,
the delegates of this county had been
chosen. From Big Stone county
came the answer that the delegates
would be chosen on the 22nd inst. and
that eff the convention is called for
the:23rd OF July, our delegates can be
on hand.n From Traverse County
came the answer-"Ws have made
call for our convention to take place
July goth. That is as soon as we can
get notices through. and will be ready
at moments notice when called on
to act.n From Grant County came
an answer which, besides the matter
pertinent of the date, contained SEN
timents so noble and so characteris-