St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-07-18
LABOR AND The SAGE
There Were No Conditions in
His Acceptance OF That
Labor Nomination.
Nothing Was Said About the
Raising Of a Big Cam
paign Fund.
Searle Has the Call on the
Sixth District Congress
sional Nomination.
Nelson Not Straight Repub-
liean--Many Congression-
al Conventions.
To the Editor of the Globe.

The friends of Mr.. Donnelly who see the
necessity of placing him right before the
laoor voters OF the state assert that when he
accepted me labor nomination for governor
IN 1883 he did so upon the express condition
mat the party which had made him its CAN
ulaate should raise campaign fund of at
least BLOOD. and that Mr.. Donnelly SO stated
IN ms speech accepting the nomination. Is
tniS correct! LABOR VOTER.
MI. Donnelly was nominated for gov
efhor by convention made up of repre-
sentatives from the labor organizations
OF tue state which met in this city ON
August 2S. 1888. The farmers of the
state had been invited to send delegates,
but had not responded TO any extent,
not over half dozen being present.
The party dubbed itself the Farm and
Labor" party of Minnesota and
nominated Ignatius Donnelly for
governor, ]. p. McGaughev for
lieutenant governor and William
WEIGH for attorney general. Mr..
Donnelly had returned from trip
abroad the day previous. Gov Merriam
had not yet been nominated for governor
by the Republican party, and there was
great public curiosity regarding the at
tItude that the Sage of Nininger would
take III the campaign. His friendship
and loyalty to Gov. Merriam was as we'll
known then as it was six weeks later.
when he laid down the nomination of
the Farm and Labor" party and took
the stump for the head OF the Repub-
lican state ticket.
But at the time Mr.. DonneiIy accepted
the Farm and Labor" nomination it
was not at all certain that Gov. Merriam
would secure the Republican nominal
r. I,nr
these reasons the proceedings of that
convention were reported at length in
the papers at that time. and the inquiry
OF Labor Voter will be answered
from the report OF the convention which
appeared in one of the evening papers
OF Aug. 2S 19SS-a paper at that time
very. friendly to Mr.. Donnelly. That
portion OF the report containing Mr..
Donnelly's speech of acceptance fol-
! lows:
A motion was then made to nominate
candidate for governor. One delegate
opposed the motion because so few
delegates were present, representing
little outside of the Twin Cities. But
this was not the sentiment of the meet
ing. and NJ. L. Finnegan, of Minneapo-
lis, IN very effective speech presented
the name OF lgnatiuS Donnelly.
Inc Sage'S name was received with
great applause, in the midst of which J,
l.. McGaughey, of Minneapolis, took the
platform and seconded the nomination
with very good speech.
Mr.. Donnelly was then nominated by
acciamatlOn.
Mr.. Donneily's Speech.
81 have,' he said, .'been absent from
the country for period of five months,
during which time | have had no cor
respondence on political subjects with
any one in the state OF Minnesota.
Since my return | have done all | could
to dissuade the leaders of this conven-
ton from making nomination, and I
thought. and still think, that it would
I've better for US to turn our attention TO
the election of legislature that will
carry out the legislation which failed
two years ago. My trip to Europe
convinced ME that the people who are
hghtlDg the battle for industrial free
dom III this country are really fighting
the battle Of civilization. Men are
bought and sold i'll the Minnesota legis-
lature; and when such things are en-
acted at the capitol of Minnesota it is
time something should be done. Your
platform meets with my hearty concur
renee. What we have got to do in this
country is to see that our IabOring man
stances as our prosperous middle
classes. The whole power OF the gov
ernment should be directed so as to pro-
tect those who cannot protect them
selves. I'have not sought this nominal
ton, but. as it seems to be your wish, [
accept, and will strive to
Lead Your Cause to Victory.
81 shall always esteem the action of
This 0nnVpntJnn of l,o
honors ever conferred on any man by
the people OF any state"
The course of the Sage in the cam
paign which followed is well and famil- |
iarly known, especially to the repre- !
SentativeS of organized labor, who have |
never forgotten this incident. Two |
years ago it will be remembered that !
Mr.. Donnelfy was candidate for the |
Alliance gubernatorial nomination. A |
fierce contest was made against
inent leaders in the movement.
who claimed the Sage was seek |
ing the honor for the purpose and the |
design of helping his friend, Gov. Mer- |
Ram, out of tight place. In this con-
test the labor delegates, of whom there
were nearly fifty present, joined in the
fight against the Sage, and, voting sol
idly against him, prevented his nomina-
ton. In that convention the labor dele
gates were a large and powerful ele-
ment, a great contrast in point of num-
bers and ability to the bakers dozen
so-called labor representatives in the
late Peoples party convention.
Five delegates represented all the
labor organizations of st. Paul. And
about the same number came from Min
neapoliS.
Why was this? What does it mean?
Simply that the real representatives
OF the laboring men of the state knew
that things had been fiyp.j for tho nom,