The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-05-28


states. which has been as nearly as prac-
ticablc in accordance with the plan adopt
ed by holding national conventions by a
convention of delegates from all of TIE
statesI State conventions nave been
held TO collect the sentiment of the people
in the different counties, through dele
gates sent from them, 50 as to select and
send delegates to the national conventions
make platforms expressive of he political
sentiments Of the people of the state
upon federal and state questions then at
issue and nominate by Il vote of its
members, under the twO-thlrds rule when
necessary, state executive officers. Pri
maries. in precincts within the counties,
have of late years been adopted merely
to aid in Il more full expression of the
people. as represented by the delegates
sent from the counties to the state con-
vcntiOn.
II is unnecessary to repeat here what
has been shown by me that The plan of
the reorganization of that committee is
a total departure from former usages of
the party organization of the Democratic
party in this state. and that its results
will be so essentially different that they
must have been predetermined and OK
pected to follow by those who devised
that entirely new and extraordinary plan
cratic party of Texas.
/ There were, as has been stated by me,
three things designed to be accomplished.
and those are the selection as candidates
TO fill the state executive Offices the men
that are now holding them; the appoint
mcnt of silver men as presidential cleo
tors. and the appointment of, twenty-SlX
silver men to represent all the Democrats
of-Tcxas rs delegates to the Democratic
convention ut Chicago, whose authority
will be to end there, if silver, ut the ratio
of Is to !, is not Il plank of that .'onyen-
ton.
/ Any action that may be taken by the
gold men to secure nominations for
county offices can not change "hese re-
suits, and, therefore, any bargaining be-
tween the parties that may now be going
on, or any efforts of the gold men to get
nominations, are matters of indifference
to that committee, but would father be II
thing to be desired by them, whether il
has been produced by concessions public
and private or not, if it would serve to
bring into the convention mt Austin Il hun
drcd or more of gold delegates from the
counties, which would afford more
plausible assumption to be claimed that
it, after being held, was really and in fact
Il Democratic and not Il silver convention
held by Democrats of Texas.
How about this mode Of selecting can
didarcs for our state executive ofhccS!
, They are being nominated now and VIII
continue to be until after the 9th day of
June next. in the primaries, and other
wise, as the people in the counties may
act up to that time. 1t will only be an
nounced by the convention Mt Fort
Worth after the computation of the
nominations made in the primaries and
otherwise up to and including the 9th Of
June next They will be nominated thus
for the first time it was ever done III
Texas, and perhaps in any ether state.
without n platform of state measures for
their advocacy in the canvass, and their
guidance in the performance of their
duties as officers if elected. They are
being now, and until the last hour of the
9th of June next, nominated as candi
dates upon their records, Just as it is
said that | am Il candidate upon my
record. Any set of words that may he
fixed up together at Fort Worth that will
be called Il platform will not bind them,
for they will have been nominated with
out it and not under it, the Dudley rules
not being n platform, only upon silver.
that pertains to the federal and not to the
state administration.
1t will. however, furnish one advan-
tage to those nominees, which is that
they can not be charged with Dulting their
platform under which they were nOmi-
mated which the gold men have charged
upon our governor, which, whether cor
rect or not, | have never sought to find
ont. We know. however, that Mr..
Hardin of Kentucky did not have such
an advantage of being nominated with
out Il platform to follow, for, as he de-
clincd to follow the one under which he
was nominated. he was beaten for COVER
nor by Il Republican, when he was doubt
less ready to say. plague take Il plat
FORM" and if he should run again for the
office of governor he may have to adopt
our new invention of nominating with
out platform.
Has any one denied. or can any one
deny, what have pointed out as the nee
cssary results of the plan of organization
by the Dudley committee? Those results
in forcing the nomination in the primal
riCS of the present state executive officers
as silver men, and the appointment of
silver men as presidential electors, and rs
delegates to Chicago, necessarily give
character to the conventions appointed
to be held at Austin and Fort Worth rs
silver conventions and not Demo
cratic conventions. What is the sig
nificancc of this canvass. got mp by the
Dudley committee six months before the
election and before any national convcn-
ton of any party has been held! The OBJ
iect is to forcstall the political opinion of
Democrats in Texas against the Demo
cratic national platform, if it does not
adopt Il plank for silver ut IL To |. The
same thing is being done now in Ala
bama. Missouri and other states, evil
IDENTITY upon concerted plan that was
concoctcd in Washington City 10y the adj
vocatcs of silver, if not by the members
of the silver national party. The Popu-
list party and the silver national party,
whether they act separately or together.
will certainly nominate Il silver candidate
for president (who, | predict, will he
Bland of Missouri. If the Democratic
party does not adopt in its platform sill
yer plank and should nominate candi-
date against the coinage of silver ut III
to l, except by an international agree
mcnt-such as Senator Palmer of Ohio
which one will the silver men of Texas.
who are now. as it were. being dragooned
into the silver camp, vote for the nomi-
nee of the Populist and silver national
party or the nominee of the Democratic
party? We shall see which one of the
two nominees the Dudley committee and
its prominent supporters will urge them
to vote for. holding up before them their
pledged obligations to vote for the noml-
nees, which nominees will he the silver
men that had before them been appoint
ed presidential electors.