The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1895-09-27
R Y,
CANDIDATE HURST'S SPEECH.
DELIVERED At ANNAPOLIS SEP. lITH
Mr., Hurst spoke as follows:

as public speaker, and naturally regrt
very much my inability to present upo
the hustings the issues of this campaign
in such way as they deserve, but havin
been honored by the convention with tn
nomination for the high office of Governo
of this State, feel it to be no less priv
ilege than duty to go out, as have new
done before, to meet the people every
where and present, as well as | can, tn
claims of the great party whose standar,
| bear in this campaign to their continue,
support.
OF my qualifications it does not becom,
me to speak, and shall, there, leave t,
others to say what they think upon this
merely personal aspect of the canvass.
| may, however, be excused for refer
ring with some satisfaction to the fact thai
thus far no one has said that my nomina
tion was one not fit to be made, nor aver
red that, so far as the record of my life's
work goes to prove anything, the office
will find in me, if elected, an unworthy OF
incompetent incumbent.
The line of attack that has been and is
being made upon the ticket does, however
call from me for some illusions of another
sort, personal to myself, and in this, my
first public utterance upon the platform,
wish to express myself with plainness of
speech that nobody can fail to understand
| did not seek this nomination. 1t
sought me. When was first asked to al
low my name to be used for it, the sug-
gestion was gratifying, but | saw that its
acceptance involved labor and sacrifice,
and the undertaking, if elected, of new
duties and responsibilities which no man
brought up as have been could contem-
plate without misgiving.
Finally, however, | Welded to the solic-
itations of my friends and agreed to be
come a candidate
| did not enter into the struggle at all
and can conscientiously say that if ever
there was a case when the office sought
the man, and not the man the Office, this
is that case.
Not unnaturally, | supposed that such
a candidacy and nomination made in that
way would find favor with the great body
methods which so frequently degrade our
political contests.
Heretofore the cry has been that nomi-
nations should not be the result of scram-
l. III |, =
the candidates should be selected without
those incidents which are always much or
less disagreeable and oftimes positively
disgusting
The objection now made is based upon
the opposite idea, and Democrats are ask
ed to vote for the Republican ticket be-
cause did not announce myself as a can
didate months, or at least weeks, before
the assembling of the convention and go
down actively to work in the primaries.
Indeed, the point, so far as | can gather it
from the discussion in the two newspapers
which alone, of the Democratic press in
the State, are opposing our ticket, is that
the convention could not nominate any
man who did not make such a contest in
the primaries without thereby losing its
right to claim that its action is binding =
upon the party.
n such an extraordinary pretention be
conceded to have any force whatever,
where would Judge Fishers nomination
have come in had he been selected instead
of myself?
far as am advised, or run tickets public
ly in his interest in single election dis
trict or precinct in the State; and if the
point to which | am now referring be well
taken, he would have been shut out from
legitimate consideration by the conven-
ton as well as |.
OF course, no Democrat can honestly
stand on such an untenablc ground of OBJ
lection as that.
But pursuing this line of attack upon us
a little more closely, it is urged that my
right to demand the support of the party
could not well be questioned, if had been
nominated upon the second or third or
fourth ballot instead of upon the first
This pretext for boiling the ticket, for it
is nothing but a preteXt, means that not
withstanding all the talk among the dele
gates that had been held after they arrived
in the city, had led to the definite conclu-
sion that a large majority of them were
in favor of my nomination, yet the farce
of several complimentary and Intellectual
ballots was to be gone through with in or
der that the appearance of an animated
and doubtful struggle should be presented
Nobody was in reality to be deceived by
such show of a contest, but still, to sat
isfy the scruples of those who insist that
conventions should always 90 through the
harmless form of seeming to deliberate
several ballots should have been had, and
then the delegates, having sufficiently
amused themselves and the public by cast
ing votes for gentlemen none of whom
it was well understood, were to be nomi
mated, should proceed to its real work, and
cast their votes for the man whom it was
perfectly we'll understood before it met
three fourths of the convention had de
cided they would nominate
While am free to confess that in this
contest should like to receive the votes
of all sincere Democrats who wish THEN
party to retain its control in Maryland,
am tempted to say that we can well atfort
to do without the votes of those who are
such sticklers for form and deliberation as
to see their way clear to abandon their
party, simply because its lawfully, fairly
and honorablv nominated candidate receiv
ed his nomination on the first ballot by the
unsolicited votes of eighty six of the one
hundred and seventeen delegates who came
to the convention uninStructed and un