The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-07-21
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IDAHO
sTEUNENBERG DEFEATED,

the anti-Steunenberg element won a
signal victory this afternoon. As fore
Swallowed in the dispatches last night
the Dubois forces controlled, but they
had to fight for every inch of their
ground.
The friends of Governor Steunenberg
comprised many of the best politicians
here. They were men accustomed to
meet emergencies and to overcome
obstacles, but they were out-generaled
and outvoted.
The Shoshone county contest was de-
cided in favor of the Dubois or Woods
delegation. The final vote was 122 to
112 With the twelve votes of Shoshone
Dubois now has 1874 votes, ten more
than a majority. His friends declare
that many delegates who voted with
the Steunenbergers this afternoon will
get into the Dubois wagon now and
that his nomination for the senatorship
is a certainty.
Tonight fusion is practically assured.
The vote of today is an indication that
/ Governor Steunenberg will not be en-
! dorsed. Neither will a resolution of
! censure be passed. Instead the matter
/ will be passed over in silence so far as
the platform is concerned, if indeed, a
platform of any kind is adopted.
The friends of the executive are sore.
| They talk of introducing a resolution
/
mends his attitude in the Occur dAlene
! troubles and upholds his general con-
duct of state affairs. They know that
/ such resolution will be defeated, but
they declare they intend to introduce
/ it just the same. 1t is likely, however,
j that talk of this kind will result in
nothing. BY tomorrow the defeated
| faction will have cooled off and will be
satisfied to let the endorsement ques-
| ton alone.
! Governor Steunenberg himself was as
imperturbable as ever when asked To-
night to make a statement. Il am
Democrat" he said Il will support the
ticket named by the convention from
top to bottom"
Further than this the executive did
not care to be quoted, but his lieuten-
ants say for him that he will stump the
state for the fusion nominees.
Senator Dubois did not care to make
any kind of statement although he
was naturally very much pleased over
the outcome. 1t is known, however,
that he expects to receive the SEN
atOrial nomination without any Difficult
ty. His only opponent for the honor is
James H. Hawley of Boise. Mr. Hawley
has not developed much surface
strength as yet and good judges say
he is not in the race.
Old hands in Idaho politics say they
never saw anything more interesting
than the fight on the floor in the Dem
ocratic convention today over the re-
ports of the credentials committee on
the ShOshone delegation. OF the twenty
members of that body ten favored the
Dubois delegation and ten the Steunen-
bergers. A crowd that put breathing
space at a premium was packed into
the pavilion in expectation of fight,
and when it was announced how the
committee Stood a shout that shook
the rafterS went up.
From that moment an open battle
was certainty. H. c. Redwine of
Kootenai moved that the Steunenberg
delegation be seated, Frank Harrison
of Washington proposed an amend
ment, providing for the seating of the
Dubois delegation. The debate was
limited to three hours, of which each
side was to have half The oratorical
battle that followed was in the main
good natured, but at times it was
razor-like in it's keenness of repartee.
Philip AVeritt of Fremont and E. j.
Dockery of Boise made probably the
best presentation of the Steunenberg
side of the question. Their arguments
were clean cut and showed close knowl-
edge of the situation. For the Dubois
people Colonel Jim Reed of Lewiston
and Albert A. Frazier of Ada both
made hits. Colonel Reed was specially
happy.
Al the close of the debate, and Just
before the roll call was ordered oc-
CURED one of the Drettiest political
plays ever seen in any convention, Del
egate Tshud-' of Rannock started it.
He moved that inasmuch as this was
question of individual conscience" the
unit rule be discarded and that each
delegate be allowed to vote his individ
ual convictions. This precipitated the
hottest kind of debate. Believing that
it would injure their man, the Steunen-
bergerS fought the proposition bitterly.
The Dubois people, for the opposite
reason, supported the plan with all
their power. Mr.. Hawley turned the
scale to the ants by a vigorous speech
in favor of the measure. He desired
to know how any set of men could bind
other men in questions of conscience.
He urged that they should be allowed
to vote as they individually pleased.
Several Dubois men sneered at the
Steunenberg crowd for insisting on
what they denominated gag" meas
ureS
Then DR. J. N WOODBURY. of Ere
mont, whose delegation of twenty was
under the unit rule created a sensation
by springing to his feet and eXclaiming, |
dramatically: IF there is any way I'M
der heaven to accomplish it, for Gods |
sake take the gag out of my mouth"
Mr. Averitt also of Fremont county, |
replied: The Fremont county delega-
ton is perfectly willing for the gentle
man to vote as he pleases, if he is will
ing to take upon his own shoulders the |
blame for this gross treachery to his |
constituents.
There was much confusion over the |
method of taking the vote on the ques-
ton of abolishing the unit rule. Chair |
man Perkey finally ruled that the roll |
of counties would be called, and that if |
the vote was incorrectly cast any men, |
Der of the delegation would have the |
right to demand an individual roll call |
This practically abolished the unit rule |
right at the start, and the Steunen-
bergers vigorously objected to the de-
cision The chair was steadfast, |
though, and the call was begun. 1t |
showed I24 votes for abolition and Ito |
against.
This was the first real test and the
Duboisites gave vent to some minutes |
Of enthusiasm. Then the question of
adopting the amendment providing for |
the seating of the Woods delegation |
was adopted 122 to liz, and Chairman
Perkey declared the original motion,
as amended to be in order. 1t carried |
by the same vote, and after the anti
Steunenberg wells had died away one |
of the governors friends proposed that
the vote be made unanimous. This was /
adopted with whoop, and the conven-
ton settled down to business.
committee on resolutions and one
on order of business and permanent or
ganization were appointed and recess I
until S O'Clock was taken. When the
reaSsembled the permanent
committee was not ready
to report, and the time was filled in by t
2 ringing speech from S. H. Bashnor
Of Washington. At the close of Mr..
remarks a permanent organ