Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-05-19
HAD PHILLIPS BEEN IN Town.

Mr.. Phillips, a member of the Choteau
delegation, was not in the city when his
name was stricken from the roll of dele
gates by the republican state convention,
on motion of Colonel Sanders. His expul-
sion, therefore, lacked the dramatic in
terest which woul have attached to
it had the gentleman been present in the
flesh. The picture of Colonel Sanders
catching Mr.. Phillips by the nape of the
neck and THE slack of the pantaloons and
dump him out of the second story win
O of the Auditorium, would have added
eclat to the hilarity of the occasion and
gone into history as an Illustration of the
power behind the thrown. Il 9
BY the time Mr.. Phillips had percolated
through space and reached the unrespon-
sive bosom of mother earth, he would
nave acquired the habit of regretting that
any such man as Mr.. w. A. Clark ever
ived. Blu Mr.. Phillips absence made
the incident a very commonplace one, and
the savage look which Colonel Sanders
cast towar the Choteau delegation did
Had Mr.. Phillips been present it is said
he would have arisen to a question of
personal privilege and delivered the fol-
lowing speech before the sickening thud
overlook him.:
Mr.. Chairman: Recognizing the force
of events, and realizing that the most
important event in this convention has
just made a motion more or less personal
to myself, 1 desire to be heard before the
| work of the legally conducted county con
vention of Choteau shall a been an
nulled by your action. If you then desire
to establish the precedent of denying the
right of a county convention to name
| whatsoever delegates it may see fit, in ac-
cordance With law and order, l will grace
fully submit my sef-sacrificing anatomy
to the sole-leather exertions of the dis
tinguished ~arbarian from Helena. If a
county conventionis not competent to pass
upon the political standing of the dele
gates chosen to represent it in a state
convention, and that p~rerogative is to be
arbitrarily assumed by the state c6nvenr
ton, what protection can any section of
the state have, provided Other counties
combine against it n seek to dsolete it's
representation in hat body by expelling
duly elected delegates from the hall aef the
convention? Under such a precelent
could not a state convention, if contrib
ed by interests antagoniZed by a delegals
from any county, proceed to wipe the SAID
a~ntagonistic delegate off the face of the
earth-and no questions asked?
While congress-, and all legislative
bodies elected by the popular vote, are the
judges of the qualifications of their own
members, by what parliamentary right
does a state convention assume to expel
a county delegate when no question as to
his right to sit is raised by the county
from which he halls? Would not the ma
tional convention have just as much right
to exclude one of the delegates to Phila-
delphia which you may chose today, pro-
vided 1t is shown that he was recently a
democrat and voted for Bryan in 1896
This will be the first national republican
convention since that date, Int q it no
jurisdiction to exclude such an one in or
der to make room, for instance for some
republican who got his ducation pulling
hemp? While I have no right to question
any action which this state convention
may q k in censurfng those re-
publicans VINO voted for Mr.. Clark, I dc
have the right to question the legal and
moral right of this body to exclude from
membership n man-were he formerly
q democrat, a populist. a silver republi-
; can, or q Daily copperhead-provided he