The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-07-29

4 ~
vection. They woke Us up in the mid
die Of the night to tell US w.lat they
had done. We replied that we were
not . candidate; that we shrank from
tho great labors incident to the place,
butsif the committee desired vs. to
serve in that capacity we would do
our duty to the best Of our ability.
The following telegram, to the ST.
Paul Glote, tells the rest Of the story:
6 st. Louis, NO., July .1.-Tne middle
Of-tlle road men. through their steer
ing committee, took action tonight
which will probably have q very inn
portant effect on the convention.
Early IN the evening they selected Ig-
natius Donnelly for their candidate
as permanent chairman, and sent a
committee to notify him Of his selec-
>tion. Mr.. D0nneliy accepted, but it
was given out later that the steering
committee had held another meeting
and selected J. E. CampiOn, OF Maine,
as their candidate for permanent
chairman. Tne committee realized it
was In q very awkward position, hav-
ing notified DOnneiiy and secured his
acceptance. The reasons gwen for
s1s-sSSAouCtuS Stmplou are tudU utc
lhsnnesot0 delegation and the dsigations
acitach tie steering committee represented
MADE great protest against DOnnetly's
selection, naa,sy declarissg Mey acoutd not
cote for HIM.
And thus by the. action OF our own
people we were again repudiated and
turned under.
In 1892 we were a member OF the
committee on resolutions, and wrote
nine-tenths of the Omaha platform,
which Is now enrolled among the i'm
mortal docume S of the world, side
by side with the Declaration of Inde-
pendence. Hundreds Of the delegates
to the St. Louis convention, Of this
year. expected that we would again
be on that committee, and help form
ulate the beliefs Of the party. But. as
soon as the Minnesota de cation
came together in St. Louis, Prof. Dob
byn moved that Mr. S. NJ. Owen be
made the Minnesota member OF that
committee. No one asked us IL we
would like to remain on the platform
committee until after Mr.. Owen was
nominated. The Minneapolis Journal
of July % had telegram from ST.
Louis. which salt:
Convention Hall, St. Louis. July %.
The Minnesota delegation met this
morning at Hurst's hotel and IN ses.
sion lasting more than two hours, put
the cold steel into lgnatius Donnelly,
turned 1t around several times, and
then turned 1t around again. Do;.-
nelly sat, meanwhile. betraying NJ
pain by countenance or word. his face,
on the contrary, being wreathed in
smiles and his voice being pitched in
the most melOdious key.
Minnesota is easily the center of in
terest today on Dunnelly's account,
the newspapers. The plan of the Dom
was to elect Donneily as the member
of the committee ON resolutions. In
this they failed, this important place
going TO S. NJ. Owen Wy very heavy
vete.
Samuel rebuked David for taking
Uriah's one little ''ewe lamb" Mr..
Owen has been nominated for Con-
gress, and, up to this time, this paper
has been supporting him; he expects
to be elected and draw I'll, COO during
the next two years. We are not q
nominee for anythfng;-we are spend
ing our time and money for the bene-
fit and preferment Of others. But. not
satisfied with prospective congression-
al honors and emoluments, Mr.. Owen
reached over and seized our one little
'sewe lamb" He dou btless thought
that as we had made Minnesota's posi-
tion on that committee illustri Gus he
would fall heir to our honors and be-
come prominent figure in the DELHI
erations of the convention. But am
bition is not substitute for capacity.
Mr.. Owen disappeared unnoted into
the vacuum. The platform is bar
rem statement Of thread-bare facts,
unrelieved by single flash of genius:
lit is as stale, fiat and unprofl able as
congressional agricultural report.
Mr.. Owen should remember that you
may rob a man of his money, his
clothes, his dinner and his good name,
but there is no known method by
which you can transfer to yourself his
brains. !,
We have been the victim of shame.
full conspiracy. Every point was linked
with every other.
First, that little miscreant Williams,
associate editor of the Penny Press,
made foul and libelous attack upon
our reputation.
I Second, Mr. Martin E. Tew, of Clark
field. editor, delegate from the Second
district, man we had never injured
or antagonized, went down to St.
Louis, a week before our conven tion
met, and proceeded to send out tele-
grams all over the United States that
a great many Peoples Party men Ia
Minnesota, desired the nomination Of
Congressman Towne, Of Duluth, for
President: and subsequently articles
appeared in the St. Louis papers that
the Minnesota delegation were unani-
nous for Towne. Mr.. Towne was not
a candidate for the presidency, and
we do not believe that he had any
thing to do with this movement; he
had just left the Republican party;
we had spoken for him at Duluth and
called on all Populists In the Sixth dis
trict to vote for him. Mr.. Tew's ef-
fort was bald-faced scheme to head
off our candidacy by dragging in Mr..
Towne's name for position he did