Omaha daily bee., 1897-05-30
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z ECHOES OF THE ANTE ROOM !


The eyes Of all the go. 900 and more Mod
Elm WoOdmen who are scattered over the
country will be turned to Dubuque. Ia, on
next Tuesday. when the head CANT Of the
order will convene in biennial session in
that city. The session will be an important
one for various reasons. but especially be-
cause the head camp will be called upon
to pass judgment upon the present manage
ment Of The order. An investigation Of some
sort seems to be absolutely necessary as a
result Of the agitation that has recently
been started.
The whole trouble is an outgrowth Of the
attempted removal Of the headquarters Of
the order from Fulton to Rock Island, III.
This trouble frst arose two years after the
present head officers assumed control, or in
1899. when the head camp. at a meeting 10
Omaha. directed the removal of the head
Offices from Fulton to Rock Island, ILL.,. and
made an appropriation for the erection Of a
large hreproof building for the permanent
Headquarters OF the order. This proved very
dist2steful to those particularly friendly 70
the former management. the main body of
the adhefents Of which lived in the immedi-
ate vicinity Of Fulton and in Clinton, Ia,
directly across the river. Before any steps
were taken TO effect the removal, citizens
of Fulton went into the circuit court and
obtained an Injunction restraining the head
officers from removing the office to Rock
lslduus AANtT "A AUlE utldN lit utttolDu was
given in favor OF the order and against the
people of Fulton. who alleged the resolution
OF removal was Illegal because passed at a
corporate meeting held outside the state Of
Illinois. At it's next session the Illinois
legislature passed an amendment. the pur-
pose and effect OF which was to legalize
the proceedings at Omaha and to permit the
order to hold future meetings of the head
camp in any state In which IL had subOrdi-
nate camps. The case was then tried IN the
-g--.... --.4 .-l - 4 - ass~An I IN FaNrnr
OF the order. The Fulton people appealed
to the appellate court and engaged some
Of the ablest lawyers in Illinois to conduct
the litigation. The appellate court affirmed
the decision OF the circuit court and the
Fulton people appealed to the supreme court
The fight. however. has not been waged
entirely in the courts. IN February last.
while the Fulton people were considering
whether they should appeal 20 the supreme
court and when no injunction was in effect,
a large party of Rock Islanders went to
Fulton on a special train and attempted to
remove the records OF the head officers The
Fulton people got onto the scheme and re-
sisted the invaders long enough TO file an
appeal bond in the case and therefore con-
tinued the Injunction in force. The Rock
Islanders thereupon returned the records
they had gotten in their possession and
went home.
Shortly after this the Fultonltes and their
supporters claimed to have discovered in
stances OF NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. III lut tOuuuCA
of the business of the order and called a
meeting of representatives, of 200 camps in
Iowa and Illinois. This meeting was held
in Clinton, Ia, a couple Of weeks ago. The
attendance was far from what had been
anticipated. only a dozen camps in the i'm
mediate vicinity of Fulton being represented.
The gathering went ahead with it's business,
however. and appointed an investigating
committee. This body xamined the rec
ords in the headquarters and ii is said that
their findings we're in favor Of the mead
officers.
In the meantime the INDUCTION case
reached the supreme court and was de-
cided practically in favor of the Fulton
ties. They commended that under the laws
of the state OF Illinois the headquarters
could not be removed from Fulton by any
head camp meeting which was not held
in the state of Illinois. Blu whatever effect
this decision might have had upon the mat
ter has been d~ispeiled because of the fact
that the state law. under which it was said
the removal was Illegal, has been changed
by the present Illinois Legislature.
This new phase in the situation has been
brought about by the passage OF the Avery
bill. This authorizes the head camp. Wher-
ever the meetings may be held, to vote
on the question of removing the headquar-
tiers. This bin passed the senate during the
early part Of last week and on last Thurs
day safely passed the house.
Now that the matter is in such shape thai
the Headquarters can be removed there is q
question whether Rock Island will get them
A goodly number of Illinois towns have
signifed their intention of trying to gel
the prize. In the number are Elgin
Peoria, and Springfield.
There are a number of important change!
in the laws that the head camp Will alst
consider. Among them are the proposition!
to form a reserve fund, to increase the ter
ritory of the order, to bond the head officers
in indemnity companies, TO increase tn,
number Of prohibitive occupations, Il
change the manner of trial in questions o
discipline, to rearrange the code of laws
to increase the basis of representation in tn,
head camp from one delegate for each LOOT
members to one for each 1.500 members, tnC
a variety OF other matters.
The principal matter in which the loSa
members OF the order will be interested viii
be the proposed efforts OF the Nebraska
delegation TO get an appropriation for Z
headquarters in this city during the exposi
ton. Local committees have been at worl
upon this scheme for some time past. TIL,
head officers have been interested in tn,
matter, also, and the delegation Is. in posi-
ton to make a hard fight for an appropria
ton.
1t was partly for the purpose Of gettinl
together the Nebraska delegation in ordel
that II might map out a plan of action OF
this matter that the state delegates werl
invited TO meet in this city yesterday ant
today. A full account OF the entertainment