Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-10

/ he must stand the consequences. Mr.. Web
ster was on the ticket himself: he declined
TO get off; he fought it out and was beaten
two to one and of course he was not sent
TO the state convention. Can anybody say
that it wae unfair? Were not the men who
ught out The battle and won entitled TO
! go?
The bone of contention happened 10 lie in
! the Fifth ward and i am glad that | am
( here in the Fifth ward to discuss it with the
: mon who took part. II any enc has any fault
to find with what ] say or any CUES zion TO
/ ask. | shall be glad TO answer it. Ii | make
/ any statement not absolutely correct | de-
1 sire to be corrected, as ! am not Fifth
/ ward man. As l am informed this was
about the state Of facts:
Machinery in Hands of Saunders.
The machinery Of the party was in the
hands OF Mr. Saunders and his friends
1 II they were beaten they were beaten in a
fair fight and in fight in which they had all
( the advantage
| As l am told, they were beaten by over
/ 100 majority after the votes had been
counted. They had their own counting ma
chine, Sc there could have been no mistake
in the count Although beaten by a de-
cisive majority, they deliberately decided to
give their own delegation the certificate of
election and in order to have pretcnse Of
right they threw out 12S ballots cast in op-
position to the Saunders delegation.
When the convention met the committee on
credentials heard all there was to be said
on both sides ana after due deliberatiJn
decided that the anti-SaundeTs delegation
was entitled to their seats. The convention by
practically a unanimous vote adopted the
report of the committee, Why should any
body find fault with that decision? Why
should any rational man who was On the
other side feel offended or insulted by it?
National conventions frequently have to de-
eide contests and they decide them usually
on their merits; they hear both sides and
determine the result. If the contest in this
ward had been carried to the courts and
had been decided by jury there could
have been no other verdict than the one
rendered by the convention
We have been told that the defeated dele
gation had another grievance. They say quite
a number of votes had been brought from
the exposition grounds and cast for the anti
Saunders delegation by Assyrians, Egypti-
ans and people not entitled to vote either in
this ward or in any other. If that be true,
why We're they not challenged off and re-
jected by the judges of election who we're
on the opposite side? These Arabs from
Damascus and Egyptians from Omaha do
not look altogether as white as some othcr
people or as black as some others and there
fore they are easily distinguished. 1t would
not have been much trouble for our friend,
George Hess, to have challenged them and
asked the board to have them rejected,
But it seems they had passed the ordeal
of the challenger and the board. And why?
Because as l understand it, they did not
always know whether it was their Egyptian
or the other fellows Egyptian. (Laughter)
Difficulty Not in Recognition.
The difficulty was not so much to recognize
the Arab when they saw him but to know
how he would vote. The fact remains that
all the Arabs, Egyptians, Greeks and freaks
in the Streets of Cairo had voted for years
in the Second ward and in the First ward
and they will dc it again at the next cleo
tion. Their changed dress didn't change
their citizenship; didn't deprive them of
their votes, even If they wore a turban
instead Of a souch hat They have lived in
Omaha and had peddlers' licenses here for |
number Of years, so that charge was per- !
fectly ridiculous What is more, | will /
boldly assert that the Saunders patriots |
themselves had made bargain for the votes |
of the streets of Cairo. | make bold to as
sert, and l name the man, that w. j. |
Broatch said to my informant whose We
racity don't doubt, that Hugh Myers was
authorized to get these voters whenever he |
wanted them and that the arrangements had !
all been made in advance with Mr. Hayden. |
Now, if that be true, l do not see where |
they have any right to complain In real
ity, far as the nomination of the can /
didates before you at the recent election is |
it didn't make a particle of diff
ference whether the Fifth ward Saunders
delegation hal remained seated or not as
the result would have been Just the same.
There was a good majority in that COnVen-
ton in favor OF the candidates nominated;
some Of them, you know, were nominated by
all others were nominated by
decisive majo:!ties and the ten votes from
this ward would have made no difference
in the ticket.
Tho candidates were nominated without
any corrupt influence, without any BULLDOG
ing and without any bribery or promise of
bribery and nobody has yet been able to
make a specific charge that any improper
illegal influence was used in that conven-
tion upon any delegate that cast his vote
for the men placed on the ticket.
Let me go back here to Mr. Saunders,
because / am talking in his ward, l am
sorry he is not present. l always do my
lighting in the open and l do not say things
behind mans back that / would not say to
his lace. In dealing Win c&nGllaLeS 1t
has been my desire always to be fair and
square and not to delude them with the
idea that / am for them when am against
hem.
In the case of Mr. Saunders l sent for
him more than six weeks before the pri-
mary and ! said to him - understand
you are a candidate for county judge. | want
10 say to you that | could not support you
and | don't want you to put yourself TO
any trouble to get the nomination" He
wanted to know the reason and l SAID,
could not possibly support you for this Of
ice because ] did not support you for re-
election when you We're up as candidate for
he council the second time, / could not Z
support you because the county judge is the
custodian of all the funds belonging to the
Widows and orphans OF Douglas county and |
would not want my family to be in your
lands il / should die; that is the reason, and
would no; want anybody elses family if {
would not trust him. CApplause,) Mr. I
saunders said he hoped / would change my
Jews on the matter and / said that l did I
lot believe / would because that fact was |
,ased upon his career IN the council and I
lpon my lack of confidence in mis- integrity
surely Mr. Saunders could have no just |
grounds of complaint against me. He had /
air warning and he had no need o. squan-
ering time and money in the effort 10 get 5
nominated, !
L.,