Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-01-20
TERMS.
The Present Conferee System.

philadelphia Iime' have man lfested
i.tarest in this, the 18th Congress
:...l district, on the subject of the
...ent eonferee system Of nomina-
tipg a congressman.
Tbev. both, are in touch with the
,.onIe in their criticism of the de
tsct, Of the present system OF nomi-
N ,..;,r candidates for congress, but
,e,tber of them come in touch with
fbe people in their desire to tear out
tbs copferoe system, root and branch,
and in its stead adopt the popular
-ots system of nominating candidates
for Congress.
The day is rot far distant when all
nominations, from town and town
shin offices to governor and United
States Senate will be made by popu-
lsr vote.
To change the present conferee
,rstem for nominating congressman,
,o that of another conferee system,
would be worse than putting stripes
m mule and labelling it zebra, for
in the first trial, the paint would be
,nbbed of. and the characteristics of
the mule would appear more plainly
than before.
What the Lewistown conference
next Saturday, may propose, remains
for the day to bring forth, but if it
is ND to a full shoulder to shoulder
: touch with thepeople, it will propose
the nomination of congressman by a
popular vote. Juniata county Re-
publicans nominate in that way. By
such Ia system the Job lot of local can
didates, as the Times calls them, can
have an equal chance to run in each
and every county, and the one who
secures the highest number of votes
becomes the nominee of the party.
The present conferee system with
al Of its defects is less cumbersome
than any that has been proposed, and
it is the same system that was en-
ployed TO settle the electoral vote
question between Hayes and Tilden.
The three great branches of govern
msnt were each represented in the
conference, or electoral com mission,
that settled the Hayes and Tilden
contest.
The Lower House Of Congress
had five confereos or commissioners
appointed. The Senate had five ap
pointed. The Supreme Court had
five appointed, and majority of the
conference or electoral commission
as it was called, settled the question.
But, suppose that Congress had
played the part Of the Philadelphia
Times and certain Franklin county
politicians and had said, mo gentle
men! that kind of a conference or
commission is fair, for don't you
see what large majority we have
in the Lower House over the Senate
and over the Supreme Court" If the
Lower House had acted in that way
the Hayes and Tilden question to-
day would be an unsettled question.
Tbs House and Senate had larger
number by far than the Supreme
Court but neither of those bodies
lost by going into a conference
with the Supreme Court. Franklin
and Huntingdon counties have a
\larger vote than other counties in
the district but neither of them have
lost by going into a district confer
ence on that account.
No the people of the district do
net want change if the change is
to be only a change from one con-
feree system for another and if such
achange is proposed by the Lewis
town conference of next Saturday
twill work mischief instead of good.
With different conferee system,
how much less than the present
Pocket Conferee SYSTEM" as the
Itmes calls it, would it prove to be?
1t IS hoped that Messers Hertzler,
Allison and Shirk, appointed by the
county committee Of Juniata to
attend the Lewistown conference will
not countenance the efforts of certain
pohtical managers to unload a moro
cumbersome conferee system than the
present ono on the district.