The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1894-02-06
THIRD MARCH CONVENTION.
THE ALLIANCE LEADERS UN
SHAKEN.
The People are Said to Favor an
EARLY Movcment-Thc Call Will
Soon be Issued.

The People are Said to Favor an
EARLY Movcment-Thc Call Will
Soon be Issued.
The State, Feb. LIST.
The Alliance faction Of the Reform
party have not the slightest idea Of
abandoning their intention of holding
an early convention to make nomina-
tions for State Offices. The leaders on
their side are displaying their determi-
nation in a calm and deliberate man.
ner. Their talk indicates that they
are absolutely sure of their ground and
seems to show that they have not the
slightest fear of Senator Irby's combi-
nation.
From what can now be ascertained
there seems to be no doubt whatever
that the early convention, to be called
by Mr.. Shell and his committee, will
be held, and it is believed that the call
will very soon be issued. The men
who are leading this faction know in
advance what each Alliance in the
State is going to say, and thus it is
that they are so sure of their ground.
The following leading article along
this line will appear to-day in the
Cotton Plant, the recognized organ of
tho Alllance-ISeformer While it is
calm 1T means a great deal and during
the next week it will be heard from:
AS time passes and the ambitions
OF men begin to come to the surface we
see the necessity of an early conven-
tion of Rcformers clearer than ever.
AS this matter, the greatest danger to
our cause, comes when the ambitions
OF men clash-and when their friends
take sides and turn harmony into dis
cord, the personality of the men be-
come paramount to all else and meas
urcs are obscured by the excitement of
Il personal fight.
To prevent all this and to have the
will OF the people supreme in our State
we have urged the calling of March
convention, in which the people could
speak their willard their voice would
be obeyed by all checrfully Letters
received from all parts of the State
convince us that we were right in our
Interpretation of the wishes of our pco-
pie and the reasons we gave were salts
factory to them, and all that remains
to be done is for the people to speak
their wishes through mass meetings in
each community.
The only reason given yet against
holding preliminary convention of Re-
formers worthy of notice is the one
given by Governor Tillman in his in
tervicw in the daily papers of the 25th
inst. He takes the position that one
OF our demands in 1890 was the holding
OF a State primary in which our people
could vote for Governor and other State
officers, after Il campaign in which the
caHQidateS discussed the issues before
the people, and that to hold March
or spring convention would be inconsis-
tent on our part. Others agree with
the Governor in this view. At first
blushc it looks plausible enough, but
those holding that evidently fail to see
the actual situation.
1--WE have no direct primary now,
and the people, when voting, can only
vote Tor delegates representing can
didatc. Take county that has ,welvc
delegates in the State convention, AID
suppose there wi be five Reform can
dldates for Cover nor; there would be
just sixty Reform candidates for dele
gates. And then would come in the
complications with the humorous can
dldates for State officers which would
open the way for an endless amount of
trading and log-rolling that would be
certain to leave us in the soup.
" We believe in a primary whcrc the
citizen can vote directly for his choice,
but until we get that we must take the
course from irreparable injury
THE interest we take in the matter
is impcrsonal and solely because we
are satisfied that it is our duty to ad-
vocate the policy that will prevent the
Alliance demands being sidc-trackcd,
as they would be in general scramble
for office under the circumstances out
lined above. We, as all others, are
anxious to obey the peoples wishes
Five counties have spoken in favor of
an early convention and one opposed
and all the other counties should hold
mass meetings at as carly day as
possible and let their views be known.
Our views as to who should call
the convention, is also generally con-
Cured in. The executive committee
of the Farmers Association is the only
body that has been chosen by the Re
formers and they could not be accused
OF partiality to any candidate. Objcc-
tion on that ground would be made to
any voluntary committee.
- Call mass meeting in your county
at once, and speak out"