The morning call., 1893-06-09
TO GUST POPPER.
His Enemies Will Make a
Contest.
His Eligibility to Membership in the
General Committee Questioned.
Exciting Meeting Tonight.

There will be one of the hottest contests
tonight which the local Democracy of this
city has had for years. 1t will take place
on the floor of the general committee, and
its purpose will be to prevent Max Pepper
from being accepted as a member. Ii sue
cessful it will preclude him from the fight
for chairmanship. A few days ago such a
contest might have been determined sue
cessfully with little effort, but not now.
Pepper has increased his strength Won
derfullv, so wonderfully, indeed, that
with the acquisition of two of Buckley s
lambs, Sam Rainey and John Doughertv,
his candidacy has become so formidable
that he will be fought first on technical
grounds and ousted through them II pos
sible before the final test of vote is re-
sorted to.
OF course the man who will contest Pop
per's membership is his chief competitor,
Treacy, who is incidentally backed by the
Mcguire faction of the divided Democracy.
At meeting of the Forty-third District
committee last Wednesday evening lis
rolls were thrown open for Peppers
signature, and he was then elected men,
Der of the general committee from that
district. As he had onlv resided III that
district a few hours and had sought ad-
mission to the membership OF the general
committee The evening before from the
'fhirty-ffth district, where he then re-
sided and where he is registered as
voter, the contest will be on his eligibility
to membership from the Forty-ffth.
Treacy's friends claim that the same re-
quirements exist for membership on the
general committee as for registration rs
voter. They will claim that Pepper Is at
present registered in the Thirty-fifth and
member Of the club there legally. and
therefore cannot be elected a member of
the committee in the Forty-tifth. where he
is not voter. To become member of
a district committee they will claim one
must be voter III that district or have
lived there at least thirty days. This is
not so in Peppers case.
They will also claim his election illegal
in that the canvaSsing committee of the
general committee did not have chance
10 pass on his candidacy thereto, and they
will further seek to show there was no au-
thOrity for throwing open the club roll to
Max Pepper without the consent of The
general committee. These are the lines on
which the contest will be made, and the
meeting promises 10 be exciting
Treacy is an icon0clast. He seeks TO de-
s'roy the god Of peace which has offered
himself as the only means of welding the
divided party. He scouts the idea that
Pepper is white dove of peace" and
points TO his record to bolster up his state
ment.
Pepper was chairman of the general
committee in 1888. when it was known as
the County Committee, and chickering's and
facti0nal fights were as rife then as at the
present hour when he appears as a savior
Treacy has become an alarmist over the
fact that Rainey and D0ugherty have,
within the iast two days, gone over to
Pepper and have been doing vigorous dis
trict canvassing. especially in the Thir-
tieth.
The bitterness of the triangular fight for
the Craftsmanship is nowhere better shown
than in the varying reports of gains. plu-
ralities and majorities each claims in the
various districts. It is said that OF the 405
mem bers Of the general committee Pepper
can safely depend on lis. Treacy on zoo
and Harvey on so. This would leave 10
whose standing is not known, uut If Pop
per gains as much to-day as he has during
tie last folty-eight hours he will make a
better showing Tonight. Harvey, whose
small vote does not make him u serious
competitor. may throw his vote almost
anywhere, and if il goes to Pepper he will
give Treacy very hard rub, If not ac-
tually defeat him. However, Pepper 5
first efforts tonight must go toward main
taining his right to membership. That
lost all is lost.