Mexico weekly ledger., 1902-02-13
W. J. STONE.
Writes Each Member Of the Audrain
County Committee.

Hon. W. J. Stone, candidate for
United States Senator, has written
each member Of the Audrain county
Democratic Committee the following
letter from Ferguson Mo-, under date
of Feb. 8;
VI am both surprised and disappoint.
ed that the Audrain county Commit
tee by a majority vote declined to al
low the Democratic voters Of that
county to express themselves on the
~Senatorship. Several days before the
meeting Of your Committee / address
ed several members OF the Committee,
among them the secretary Of the Com
mittee, saying in respectful but ex-
plicit terms that | hoped the Commit
tee would submit the question OF the
.county's choice for Senator to the
people at the primary, and said that
as Audrain county is In Mr.. Clark's
district, and as he had in public
speech and published letters frequent
ly expressed a desire to get this ques-
tion before the people, / presumed the
Committee would be unanimous In
making the necessary order to that
end. | could hardly credit the tele.
graphic report, therefore, that the
Committee had al its meeting, by q
majority OF four, voted down a resolu.
ton to submit the choice for Senator
to the peopleo Of the county.
although ! have over and again ex,
pressed adeslre to have this question
submitted at every county primary
and still adhere to that position, ]
have made it a rule to accept the &C,
tion of each Committee without pro.
test or comment, and, although dlsap.
pointed at the action Of your Com.
mittee, 1 would have observed my rule
and accepted the result without a word
except for the fact that | have re.
Gently seen it stated in the press that
the action of the Committee was
largely due toa telegramreceived from
Congressman Clark, sent from Wash
ington to Mexico, ~objecting to a prim.
airy in Audrain county. Although !
read this in n or two reputable jour-
nails, | was reluctant to believe that
Mr.. Clark had sent a telegram to that
effect, and so | wrote several letters OF
inquiry about It, and l have been as
sured that such a telegram was sent
and received. l still feel as IL there
must be some mistake about this,
although the assurance i have that
such a telegram was sent is quite
direct. But however that may be
after all the discussions that have
been had on this subject Of primaries,
and after SO many passions have been
torn to tatters over II, it seems to me
| am justified, under all the circum-
stances Of this case, in departing from
the rule Of prompt ae%9ulescence In the
action Of the Committee, and asking
your honorable Committee TO meet
again at an early day, to reconsider
The action taken in this matter, and
to order the names Of candidates for
the Senate TO be placed on the ticket
at your county primary.
"You have already ordered aprimary
TO be held in April at which time the
people viii express their choice for
county officers and member OF Con-
gress, and / can see no good reason
why they should not be permitted at
the same time to express their choice
for Senator. l hope ] can urge this
upon you and your Committee without
otfense, for certainly no offense is in
tended. When / said / wanted the
people of each county and district TO
the Senatorship at their prima-
rles, l meant what | said, and i am
still anxious to have this done. Hence,
| address you as a memberof the Com
mittee and respectfully request the
COMMITTEE to reconsider the ques-
tion Of giving the people Of the coun-
try a chance to express their choice
for Senator at the primary. ] would
be pleased to hear from you at an early
day. Very truly yours,
"WM. ]. STONE"