The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1897-08-25
THE DOBBYN CASE.


At the st. Louis Peoples party con-
vention last fall it was agreed, on mo-
ton of Mr.. Eltweed Pomeroy, of New
Jersey. that the principle of the "refer-
endum" should apply to the manage
ment Of the internal affairs of the Peo-
pies party; and that if any official of the
party tried to betray it, or was pursuing
policies destructive Of it, any state con-
vention of the party should have the
right to remove him and elect another
in his place. This was a very wise pro-
vision. In the old parties the officials
created by the organization are bigger
than the organization, and can hold their
places, and do all the harm in their
power, even if nine-tenths of the mem
bership would be glad to hang them.
Mr.. VIM. R. Dobbyn, of Minneapolis,
secured a place as one of the national
committee of the Peoples party for
Minnesota, by old-party methods of
trickery and wire-pulling; and has
since been one of a cCterie who have
advocated the dissolution and destruc-
ton Of the party which they claimed to
represent. 1t is very evident that a
man with such purposes should not be
in a position of authority, when he may
be able to do incalculable harm.
We therefore wrote to Mr. Pomeroy
for information as to the best mode OF
enforcing the referendum in Dobbyn's
case, and we have received the follow
ing reply:
Detroit. Mich Aug. 16.-HOn. Ignatus
Donrelly: Dear Friend-Yours of the It'll
received. forwarded from home and as
won't get back for two weeks. and think
I understand what you want. I will write
at once.
Only month ago I sent you the ,Septem-
ber 96 D. l.. Record, which contains the
rules governing the national committee
of the p. p adopted at the st. Louis con-
vention, and you can verify what I say
from those These rules say that the
three members of the national committee
nom each state shall ue chosen by the
delegates to each national convention to
hold office until their successors arc
chosen, which any regular state conven-
ton can do at any time. Nothing is
mentioned about notice of this choosing
having to be in the call fer the state con-
ventiCn; so it would seem to me that it
is unnecessary to nave it In the CALL but
that it would come under the head of gen.
eral business. OF course this rule does
rot specify any procedure for the state
convention to follow. and it is entirely
in its province to follow any procedure it
sees fit. But the following would seem to
fit method. At the proper time bring
Il resolution for the immediate election OF
a national committeeman in place of John
r-f%h a. IN
minutes for nominating speeches. and al
lowing no SeConding speeches. and a roll
call for the voting. and a dropping of the
name with lowest number of votes at
each roll call. OF course the details can
be changed to suit local circumstances
Then at cnce proceed to the nominating,
and let the friends of John Smith nominate
him. and others nominate John Jones'
Tom Brown, etc. After the election have
the result certified in duplicate, under the
certificate OF the chairman and secretary
and one sent to the national chairman
and one to the national secretary. This
might be embodied iE a resolution 1T
would also be we'll if the convention order
ed the secretary to notify the fact to every
member Of the national committee by a
printed circular. Such list can be OBJ
tanned from Senator Butler. or I will fur
nish it, l hope these truly democratic
methods of our party government will be
frequently used With best wishes.
EI.TWEED POMEROY.
This is very clear and explicit; and
we shall bring the matter before our
next state convention. We do not I'M
derstand how any person can De an
official of party who believes that the
party ought to die. You might just as
we'll commit a babe to the tender mer-
cies of a nurse who has declared that
she had poison in her pocket to ad-
minister to it.
OF course if the state convention de-
sires to keep men like Dobbyn at the
head Of the party, the rest of us can
quietly withdraw and organize party
that has some show for it's life.