Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1902-05-31
unlocked for, relating to a third ex-officio


| party convention:
"Section 81 The congressional COM
! mittee of each district shall meet with
/ the nominee at the hall of its chairman
as soon as may be after the nomination
/ has been declared and formulate q plat
! form for such congressional nominee and
/ district.
This was the smallest of the three
! stated party conventions provided for in
| the bill to which l have called attention.
1t was to be held TO formulate a plat
! form for the congressional nominee and
| his district In view of the control given
! to the candidate for Congress over his
! district committee, under section "a Of
| the bill, to which 1 called attention in a
| former communication it is fair to pre-
sumo that the meetings of his convention
would be characterized by unanimity Of
! thought and action.
1.-The cumulative proxy voting of the
members of the city, county, Assembly
! and state central committees was a fea-
ture of the bill which 1 should call con-
vention-like. 1t was, to say the least,
most interesting addition to the powers
usually exercised by such committees
| In all meetings of the state central COM
| mittee there was allowed to each mem
Der thereof 'one vote for every 100 bal
lots or major fraction thereof, cast by his
| party in his county at the last preceding
presidential election In all meetings of
| the central committee Of the city, county
or Assembly district, one vote for every
| twenty-five votes or major fraction there
of, cast by his party in his precinct (elec-
ton district at the last general election
| was allowed. Each of such committee
men was allowed at least one vote re-
CARELESS of the size of his party vote in
| his county or election district. l have not
| been able to reconcile this excess Of vot-
ing power vested in these central commit
tees with any accepted exposition of the
| much-talked-of platform pledge, or with
any deliverance Of the recognized au-
! thOrities on the Stevens bill, which have
come to my knowledge. With an illus.
| tration, which may furnish food for
thought, leave it. 1t is understood that
the basis of representation in the next
| Republican state convention is one dele
gate for every $50 votes ormajor fraction
thereof, cast at the last general election
in the district sending the delegate. In
Rock county there were S249 votes cast
for the last Republican presidential can
hiNlEtICs ACCOIuIuSISJ dDOul Unity -lOuI
delegates will be accredited to Rock
county in the next state convention, so
that thirtyfOur men will cast one vote
each to represent S249 Republican voters.
In meeting of the state central commit
tee, held under section "a of the Stevens
bill, one committeeman might have cast
| eighty-tWo votes to represent the same
number of Rock county Republicans
This l should call one of the absolutely
new provisions of which there were adj
mitted to be some in the Stevens bill.
Presented Three Propositions.
"The Stevens bill presented, in the
main, three propositions: % A plan Of
selecting nominees to be voted for at the
primary election; (2) form of ballot to
be used and a method to be pursued at
the primary election; 81 a party COM
mittee system. 1 have addressed myself in
this discussion thus far to these three
propositions without calling attention to
the clerical matters or details necessarily
found in a bill of this general scope. |
tried to understand the bill when it's
| three-fold character was under considera-
ton in the Legislature and to foresee
| what would be the outcome were three
| such propositions once incorporated into
! our law.
From the beginning to the end of the
discussions of the bill one of these propo-
sitions was held to be quite indspensa-
bic as the other two. 1t was urged that,
| if either one of these propositions We're
rejected, the whole bill was emasculated.
A primary election system had been pre-
scented, said the friends of the bill, for
acceptance or rejection as a whole. The
speaker who opened the debate used
these words:
I'VE ask that the Stevens bill be
passed substantially in it's present form
Then he sounded this note of warning:
~ 1t should not be poisoned by
| amendments destroying its force, or linn
iting its scope and with his next breath
| he urged: If this proposed law has enc
mics in this Legislature or out of it, who
believe that it is not based upon sound
| principles, LET them stand out in the
open and fight it squarely. They have
a right to their opinions. If they are
loyal to their convictions, they will con-
sent to no compromise
Issue Joined on the Bill.
1T was in the air that no compromise
| bill would ever be offered, or considered
! or accepted. The issue was joined on
! the Stevens bill, as offering a primary
| election, system, simple, inexpensive,
complete, which would overthrow the
| machine purify politics and elevate the
| general character of the men called to
| the management Of public affairs.
have found it necessary to refer to these
claims made for the bill by it's friends
and to quote some of the utterances of
the advocates of the bill, and in SO
doing I have been actuated by no cap
tious spirit. l have tried merely to car
ry out the purpose which l set for my
self at the beginning-to bring to light
all the facts within my knowledge relat-
ing to the Stevens bill and to the con-
troversy which sprang up over it in the
last Legislature.
JOHN NJ. WHITEHEAD"
GAINESVILLE, Wis, May Is.
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