Omaha daily bee., 1889-10-13
STATE CONVENTION ECHOES.

The Wahoo Wasp deeply regrets the de-
feat of Judge Reese, and says that while
Judge Norval may be just as good man,
"the fact that he was backed by the COM
bined railroad interests of the state should
be sufficient to lead every thinking man TO
ponder well the gist of public affairs. No
man in the convention had aught TO say
against either the character, or tho public or
official acts of Judge Reese and yet it was
apparent that combination of railroad loD.
byists had control of the e.convcntion from the
very start. Judge Norval stands high as
iurist but no man stood higher in the minds
of the people of Nebraska than did Judge
Reese, and his retirement will be deeply re-
grettcd throughout the state"
The York Times speaks of the late state
gathering as a "hoodoo" convention, and one
OF the widest and wooliest ever held in the
state. 1t was "a legitimate sequence to the
corrupting and disgraceful means resortod
TO by the railroad crowd. Judge Norval is o
good man, an efficient lawyer and just
judge. While we rejoice with him and his
friends at his good fortune, we can but de-
plore and denounce tho means which were
resortod to b. his principal supporters"
The Norfolk News, while it believes the
convention blundered in not renominating
Judge Reese, is also of the opinion that lit
| was Judge Norvars misfortune rather than
| principles that drew the railroad support TO
| him. Many delegates who voted for him
were as strongly anti-rairoad as were the
supporters of Judge Reese. He being the
| strongest candidate in the field, the rail
| roads supported him out of supreme desire
| TO defeat Reese. The nomination may not
| be relIshed but all straight republicans will
| vote for Judge Norval."
| The Hastings NebraslSan, after severely ar
| ragning the "fanatical anti.railroad faction
| in Nebraska politics." remarks at may be
| true, and perhaps is that the influence of the
railroads was exerted to secure the nomina-
| tion Of Judge Norval, but it by no means fol-
| lows that the judge upon the bench will be
| governed in his administration of justice by
| impure motives. The system of electing
| judges is worse than farce if favors can be
metcd out by the courts in return for friendly
| aid at the polls"
The Grand Island Independent has reached
| the conclusion that the whole convention
system is rotten and ''always gives the vic
| tory to the corporations over the peoples in
terests. Reese" says the independent,
was hated by the railroad companies on ac-
count of his honest independence, and they
did all in their power to beat him. Their
| original and most preferred candidate would
have been man like the present secretary
of state, Laws, but such a one was not to be
| had, so they contented themselves with
| Judge Norval. That he was the railroads
candidate against Reese is proven by the
character of the men who worked for Nor
val. They were all railroad employees or
other servants of these corporations
The Beatrice Express of course fails to
Oh,
dominated the state convention, but lays the
chief blame for Judge Reese's defeat TO "the
active interest in his behalf taken by At
torney General Leese. 1t had the effect of
concentrating against him every interest hos
tile to the latter. and 1t was a load heavier
than he could carry. Judge Reese had good
reason to pray that he might be saved from
his friends. He has fallen sacrifice to their
unpopularity."
According to the Kearney enterprise the
"state campaign in Nebraska this fall will
not be an inspiring spectacle. The masses
of the party believed in the honesty and
capacity of Judge Reese. They expected to
see him re- elected without trouble. Judge
Norvals nomination smaCkS too strongly of
railroad influences to command the hearty
support of his party.'
The Kearncy Hub says it "hoped to see
Judge Reese renominated. That he was de-
feated by the railroad influence appears to
be certain. That the railroad influence was
reinforced by the antiprohbition crowd is
quite evident That tho Laws influence went
to Norval to take him out of the Second dis
trict congressional race Is something more
than guess work. 1t looks at this distance
as though the convention had done an un-
wise thing, and done it with deliberatlon.
The outcome depends very much on the
character of the candidate put up against
Norval; and republicans will not forget, but
remember with shame and modification,
how Loran Clark was laid out a few years
ago. ana that republican leader, G. Fl. Gere.
was saved from the wreck by the skin of his
teeth.
Says the Schuyler Quill: "The republican
state convention was one that bore the rail-
road stamp and was disgrace to the party
it represented. 1t was not only captured by
the railroads of the state, but the party was
| attached to the railroud camp as an addition
for revenue purposes ouly.n