Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-03-07

w uSH we represent tIdl party With
we act for them, we have no right to
our individual opinions. The party
is supreme; the party is sovereign,
and when they tell you that their
party doctrine is this, your individual
doctrine has no right to weigh
against it. There are great, many
smart people IN the republican party,
as there are in all other parties, but
no one of them or no bunch of them is
as smart as the party itself, and when
the party itself sends out its decree,
those who belong to that party, and
ESPECIALLY those who represent it, are
bound to carry it out.
Reasons Why Caucus and Convention
Should be Abolished.
No, gentlemen, if there was nothing
else to it except that party plank,
adopted by the people, in common
honesty, as party men, you would be
bound to carry it into effect. l do not
stand on that position alone. I am in
favor of this bill because it presents
a doctrine to which you and | as in
dividuals may well subscribe. 1t
abolishes, in the first place, the caucus
and the convention. Now, I have no
such love for the caucus and conven-
ton as some of the gentlemen who
have argued this question on the other
side seem to have. l never looked on
it as a sacred institution. l never
thought that it was a corner stone Of
this great republic. / never thought
that the people of the great state of
Wisconsin were great and large as
they are by reason of it. l never
thought that your educational institu-
tions, crowned by that great institu-
| ton on yonder hill, was an outgrowth
or owed its support in any way, or it's
| strength. in any way, to either the eau
Gus or the convention. I never thought
| that the wealth and intelligence of the
! people Of this great state Of Wiscon-
sin were due to any extent to either
| the caucus or the convention | be-
| lieve now and I always have believed
since | came to investigate the matter,
that the people Of this state have
grown great and strong and wealthy
| in spite of this system by which your
Offices have been dealt out. The eau
Gus and convention system is what?
You ought to know it. | need not tell
you. You know that it is not repre-
sentative of the people, and the strong
est advocates of the opposition to this
measure have told you so. There has
| been from this place where l stand the
admission that very few attend the
caucuses. The great majority Of peo-
| pie do not. They do not represent the
people; they represent themselves,
those who operate them, those who go
to them, those who are delegates from
| them. | make the statement, and | do
it without fear of contradiction, that
there never was a convention held in
the state of Wisconsin where state of
ficers were nominated but something
| else beside the merit of the candidate
controlled some of those nominations.
| do not believe any man will gainsay
that proposition. 1t is a matter, gen
tlemen, of public cognizance. You
know every time before we hold a
state convention and before the final
vote is taken upon the subject as to
who the candidate shall be, that in the
public press is announced this man is
going to have that office, the other
man is going to have some other
Office, and the other man still some
other. And you know that in almost
every instance those public utterances
are true. And you know that candi-
dates for office in your state conven-
tons are nominated, not upon their
merit, but in many instances by virtue
OF promises Of patronage made to the
people who are there as delegates and
who are supposed to represent the
great people of the state of Wisconsin.
That practice, that procedure, is some
thing that is an assault on the very
life Of your government. That prac-
tice and that principle is a subversion
of representative government, sub
version of good government. | attack
the very system itself and say that it
is bad. I say that it may have existed
up to this time and no particular harm
come from it, but I say, if it con-
tlnues, your props are weakened, your
understOnes, your cOrnerstones are
shattered. And why? The theory of
The men who go from your presence
and mine go there as our agents. They
go there to transact business for YOU
and for me. That is the theory upon
which they go. What is the practice?
Do they represent you? Do they rep
resent me? Do they think of you? Do
they think of me? Is not the first
thought trade by which the delegate
himself derives benefit? And where
are the interests Of the dear peopIe?"
An agent appointed by the principal,
with an interest in his own behalf in
the very subject-matter in which he
is transacting business for the prin-
cipal! In the law-and the law is
moral-in the law, the transaction of
any man who is an agent for another
which in any way or under any cir
cumstances gives to himself a benefit,
is void. In business, what man ap-
points an agent to transact the most
important Of his own who has an in
terest in his behalf against that of his
principal in the subject-matter over
which his authority is given? What
person is there who knows or who does
business at all, appoints such an
agent? And yet the people OF this
state, under this caucus and conven-
ton system, have been doing it from
time immemoriaL. The interest of the
principal is lost-the interest of the
agent is paramount, and is the inter
est that is protected and that is adj