Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1902-05-31
ELEVENTH LETTER.

'"ro the Editor of the Sentinel:
ION the 10th of May the governor re-
turned the Hagemeister bill to the Sen
ate, with message which occupies lit
tie over nine pages of the Senate jour
nal. His introduction was as follows:
1.-The history of the effort to secure
primary election law in this state, the
character of the opposition and the
means employed to defeat it demand
permanent place in the legislative record
of this session. 1t is therefore from a
controlling sense of obligation that SUBJ
NIT the following in connection with spe-
cific reasons for interposing the executive
veto to prevent this bill from becoming
law
THE message then gave a resume of
the arguments which had been made be-
fore the committees of the Legislature
and upon the floors of both houses in ia
vor of the system of primary elections
provided for in the substitute bill which
the Senate had rejected. He reiterated
the pledge of the Republican state con-
vention of 1900 and asserted its meaning
to be as follows:
81. The abolition of nominations By
caucus and convention.
2. That every voter shah vote directly
for the candidate Of his choice at a PR
mary election.
sss3. That all candidates for state,
legislative, congressional and county Of
fees shall be nominated by direct vote at
a primary election under the Austranan
ballot
He then addressed himself to the Sen
ate in q manner the spirit and temper or
which are fairly illustrated by the fol-
lowing:
Immediately upon the organization
of the Legislature, many weeks before
any bill was offered upon the subject or
primary elections, it was boastlngIy an
nounced that one of it's branches had
been so organized as to defeat the pass
age of any primary election Legislation.
"'Before the introduction of the prl-
mary election bill an attempt was made
to arouse distruSt concerning 1t, and to
thoroughly discredit the measure i'll adj
vance. Upon it's presentation to the
Legislature, so framed as to comply with
the pledge made to the people of the
state. systematic campaign of misrep-
resentation of the bill and its supporters
was industriously prosecuted. The gem
eral purpose of the measure, the plain
meaning of its provisions, and certain ef~
feet of the law in operation the neces-
sary and reasonable expense, each and
all furnished theme for persistent falsi-
fication and malicious assault. An ar
ray of federal office holders, joining with
certain co.. poaa ton agents and the repre-
SentativeS of the machine in the regular
legislative lobby, moved upon the capitol,
took possession of its corridors, intruded
into the legislative halls, followed mem
bers to their hotels, tempted many with
alluring forms of vice, and in some in
stances brought them to the capitol in a
state of intoXication to vote against the
bill. This sets forth in part the charac-
ter of the opposition, but omits to take
account of some Of the means used and
attempted to be used to prevent the pass
n the
al cannot divest myself of the bind
ing character of my official obligation
not in any narrow partisan sense, but to
all the people of the state-which for
bids my sharing in the responsibility Of
giving them a law which violates that
obligation and is manifestly so framed
as to bring reproach upon the. principle,
even if it were at all possible to inter-
pref or enforce it.
Insult to Legislature.
''The constitution authorized the gov
ernor to return a bill if he did not ap-
prove it to the house in which it orig
mated, as, in this case, to the Senate,
with his objections. These objections
were to be, in the contemplation of the
constitution, to the measure and not to
the members Of the house to which the
message was sent, nor to individuals not
members. The Legislature had been
elected by the people and it was respon-
sible TO the people. The people, from
the adoption of the constitution, had
spoken their will through the Senate and
Assembly. They had written in the con-
Stitution:
1.-The legislative power shall be vested
in a Senate and Assembly,
1.-The style of the laws of the state
shall be: The people of the state of
Wisconsin, represented in Senate and
Assembly, do enact as follows
THE doors of each house shall be
kept open except when the public well
fare shall require secrecy
Members of the Legislature shall
take and subscribe an oath or affirma-
ton to support the constitution of the
United States and the constitution of the
state of Wisconsin, and faithfully to dis
charge the duties of their office to the
best of their ability
''The Legislature was a deliberative
body and its failure to pass either the
Stevens bill or the substitute bill was due
to earnest study on the part of the mem
berS of both houses, and to long and seri-
Gus reflection and interchange of views
upon the questions presented by the bills.
Members who thus stopped to think did
not shut their eyes to the obligations i'm
posed upon them by their party's plat
form, nor did they shrink from their duty
as legislators because of the platform.
do not claim to have been more devoted
to my public duty, and / will not admit
that / was less anxious to do my duty
than the average of my colleagues in the
Legislature. | believe l was in accord
with the majority of the voters of my
senatorial district, to whom l was di-
rectly accountable for my views upon the