Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-03-07
Is Governor, not Because of the eau
Gus and Convention System but
in Spite of 1t.

Mr. Chairman, Gentlemen OF the Com
mittee, and Ladies and Gentle
men:
| am no populist l believe in the
fundamental principles of representa-
tive government, and yet | stand here
tonight to advocate for your recon-
mendatiOn TO your respective bodies
the passage of the Stevens primary
election bill. In discussing question
as to why this bill is proposed and
why the system which has been in
vogue in this state and other states
for many years, should be abolished, l
shall call things by their right names.
In doing that l want it distinctly I'M
derstOCl that / have no sympathy
with the man who is imbued with the
spirit that he is holier than anybody
else ] want it distinctly understood,
when | assail the caucus and the con-
ventiCn system, as l shall, | shall call
nobody names; l shall charge no man
or no set of men as responsible for
that system. The people of the state
of Wisconsin are responsible for it, be-
cause they have submitted to it. We
have lived under it and have made no
serious attempt, up to within two or
three years back, to wipe it out and
substitute something in it's place, and
what we have submitted to we are re-
sponsible for. We have no right to
point out or designate any particular
man or any particular body of men
as responsible for the system itself.
When | assail it, l assail myself with
you, for l have been interested in that
system in the past | have many
times gone to republican caucuses
with a ticket made up for me to vote
and gone to the ballot box or the hat
and dropped that ticket. | never have
done SO and never have gone out of
that caucus without feeling less a
man. | have gone there too on the
other side, and l have voted against
the prearranged thing. l never was
successful; l went out feeling very
much Inundated, feeling as though
my rights had not been granted or
protected, and that something in the
system itself prohibited that.
Some time prior to the last repub-
lican state convention, discus.
sion arose in the state as
to some other form or some other
mode of designating officers as can
didates on tffe different party tickets.
Agitation for the Law
Six years ago, l think, for the first
time, a public discussion in reference
to that matter was made, and six
years ago the people of this state for
the first time began to be interested
in that subject. Early last spring
Mr.. La Toilette, who at present Is
your governor and mine, agitated that
question by a PRONUNCIATION of the
doctrine to the people of the state
There was no uncertainty about what
he said. 1t was expressed in the
plainest, most emphatical, and best
English. There was no chance to
parse out of any sentence that he used
a doctrine different from that which
he said he believed in. He said that
he was in favor of the nomination Of
all officers by direct vote of the people.
Nobody could have misunderstood it
aid nobody did misunderstood it. 1t
was agitated quite little before he
was placed in nomination as your
standard-bearer in the last campaign.
1t was talked Of in your county and in
your assembly district and senatorial
district conventions. It was talked of
outside of your conventions. 1t was
talked of by the people, and the
people knew what it was and in
many instances instructed those of
you who went to that convention to
see to it that a platform which in
volved or embraced that principle was
adopted. No principle that any con-
vention ever passed on was more
widely promulgated, more fully dis
cussed, and better understood than
that very principle when it came up TO
the last republican state convention.
Resulting in Plank in Platform.
When that convention came. and l
have heard nobody say that it was not
representative body, and l have
heard nobody say that it did not have
the power to express our sentiments
When that convention came and the
question of what party principles the
party was to stand on was discussed.
that convention by unanimous vote
adopted this plank as part of their
declaration of principles, and l wish
you would all pay particular atten-
ton to it's wording: "The great refor-