The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-07-18
THE - CONVENTION.
A Nameless Creature that Seemed 10 Have
A Large, Fat, Democratic Body, Very
stumpy and shriveled Republican
Tail, Three Union Labor Feet
And one Third Party
Prohibition
Foot.

1t didn't name itself and SO we
don't know what to call 1t. But we
are talking about the "mass conven-
ton" held I'm the Court House i'm lola
last Saturday to select five delegates
to attend a convention to be held at
Ottawa on Wednesday, of this week,
to nominate q candidate for Congress.
The convention was called to order
atabout three o'clock by G. s. Ritter,
of Marmaton, who stated the object
and called for a chairman. Frank
Power, of lola, was chosen chairman
and c. s. Ritter secretary. On motion
the following were appointed a com.
mittee to present the names of del
egates to Ottawa: p. HI. Moore, H.
English, III. III. Hayward, VIM. KEEL
ley, &. Carpenter, VIM. Hoffman, T..
A. Garrison, J. Lehman. When the
committee had retired VIM. Aitken
was called on for speech. He ex-
cused himself and suggested that q
central committee be appointed to Or
ting i'm nomination full county tick
ct. The suggestion was accepted and
the following committee appointed:
VIM. Aitken, Logan; Newt Funston,
Geneva; III. I. Brown, Carlyle; h. w.
Allen, Deer Creek; VIM. Black, Usage;
e. s. Ritter, MarmatOn; o. p. Mat
son, Elsmore; w. b. Jewell, Cottage
Grove; III. H. Hayward, Humboldt; j.
NJ. Lindsay, Salem; ID. T. Nash, Elm;
j. W.Arnett, lola.
On motion s. Bartlett, II. l.. Manley
and A. H. Harris (editor Farmers
Friend were appointed a committee
OH resolutions.
While these committees were out
c. S. Ritter and VIM. Aitken were
called on and made speeches.
The committee to select delegates to
Ottawa reported the following names:
H. HI. Hayward, H. English, Chas.
Preston, Il. f. Kelley, A. H. Harris.
The report was adopted. The commit
tee on resolutions reported the follow
ing, which were unanimously adopted:
Resotred, That We endorse the
platform adopted by the Federation of
Labor at st. Louis last December.
ResOired, That we condemn the
caucus system as now In common use
by the old parties.
Resolved, That we heartily favor
the enforcement of all constitutional
laws, both National and State.
RcsOtred, That we are in favor of
an open register of ballots rather than
any other system of elections.
Resoired, That we are in favor of
the State publication and distribution
of common school text books Mt cost.
After the adoption of this report, H.
III. Hayward, l.. ID. Matthews, Seth
Bartlett, r. l.. Manley, and ]. Leh-
man were called OH and made speech
es, after which the convention adj
jOurned.
So much for the routine work of the
convention. Who composed 1t, and
what was its political Significance?
The answer Is easy: 1t was the same
old crowd, and it had no political sig
nificance beside the fact that the
Republican party will have an old foe
to fight under q new name.
The personnel of the convention is
proof enough of this. 1t was the pre-
tense of those who took part In the
convention that they were achieving
the birth of new party, "nOn-par-
tisan political party, that should
strike out on new lines equally an.
tagonistic to both old parties. Look
at the men who were most prominent
in the new birth: Frank Power, ex-
Democratic Union Labor candidate
for county treasurer; HI. H. Hayward,
ex-Democratic county treasurer; p.
H. Moore, ex-DemOcratic candidate
for representative; VIM. Aitken, ex-
Union Labor candidate for representa-
tive; l.. ID. Matthews, eX-DemOcratic
candidate for sheriff; o. z. MatsOn,
ex-Union Labor candidate for register
of deeds; A. III. Harris, whose polite
al antecedents are unknown but whose
paper has never spoken q good word
for the Republican party nor permit
ted any of its correspondents to speak
one; those are some of the unprejudic-
ed, disinterested patriots who superin-
tended the birth of this non-parti-
san" party. There may have been
a few Republicans present who SYM
pathized with the proceedings. But
the only one who took any active part
was r. l.. Manley, and a doubt is
fact that an hour before the cOnven-
ton met he was talking stalwart Re
publicanism and declaring he had
no sympathy with the proposed new
party.
But if other proof than the names
and records of its sponsors Is requir-
ed to prove that the new move has
no significance, 1t Is found In the SEN
timents uttered by the speakers. Mr..
Ritter brought down the house by
allusiOn to the starvation" of the
farmers. VIM. Aitken alluded to
himself as ragged, lousy and lazy"
declared for free trade, advocated
the repeal of laws for the
collection of debts, and talked
about the monied aristOcracy." H.
H. Hayward declared that there was
not enough money in circulation i'm
the United States to pay the peoples