Omaha daily bee., 1903-04-15
PLAYING THE BABY ACT.

Inc explanation promulgated by the
~"anti-machine" boilers to justify their
walkout Of the republican convention
is a fine example of the baby act. The
boilers try to make out that one of the
votes counted for Moores was not in
tended to be so cast, but they gloss over
the fact that one of the votes counted
against Moores belonged to him by de-
cree of the primary and was taken
away from him only by corrupt pur-
chase with corporation Doodle.
Whatever contention may be made
over the vote Of Ferdinand Hartmann
Of the Second ward, there is no ques-
ton that Haarmann was elected as a
Moores delegates by the opponents Of
Mr.. Bingham and hat If the Bingham
men had beer in majority in the Second
ward Mr.. Haarmann would not have
been in the convention. 1t is further
undeniable that Mr.. Hartmann declared
in the convention that although he had
promised to vote for Bingham on the
informal ballot, he would vote for
Moores on the formal ballot. No infor-
NAL ballot having been taken, his vote
was recorded as he had declared his
intention. That he did not demand a
poll of the delegation, that he did not
walk out with the boilers, but partici-
pated in the work of the convention to
the end, and that he afterward de-
clared himself satisfied with the nomi-
nation of Moores, all goes to prove that
no advantage was taken of him and
that everything in connection with the
roll call was perfectly proper and fair.
But assuming that all that the bolt
ers claim with respect to the vote of
Mr.. Haarmann were true, Frank e.
Moores would still have been entitled
to the nomination by the same vote
that was recorded for him Of 70 to II,
because the solid Eighth ward delega-
ton should have been counted to his
credit. How could the boilers find any
justification for their action in the vote
Of Mr.. Haarmann Of the Second ward
and claim the benefit at the same time
of the bribe-bought vote Of Lindquest
in the Eighth ward? Lindquest's &C
ceptance of the bride forfeited for him
his seat in the convention. He should
have been expelled by unanimous reso-
luton and his vote cast by his asso-
ciates on the Eighth ward delegation.
In that case 1t would have made no
difference whether Mr.. Hartmann was
recorded on nj side or the other.
The truth is that the boilers were
predetermined to walk out In case the
friends of Moores controlled the con-
vention. They had been beaten out in
a primary in which they had unlaw-
fully usurped all the election machinery
to the exclusion of their opponents.
They had had the advantage of a post
ponement Of the city election made for
their benefit by special legislation
through the delegation at Lincoln and
also Of the test oath primary election
law put through for the same purpose
They had had the expenditure Of a
slush fund furnished by the corpora,
tons amounting to thousands of dol
lars. They had made an arbitrary ap.
-portionment of the delegates with a
view to their own advantage and the
disadvantage of the Moores following
The police commission with its police
club had driven into line for the bolter:
all the vicious elements that could be
reached by police influence and detach
ments Of police officers were put IL
service at the primaries to intimidatC
and Overawe. With all this the ballot.
cast at the primary election showed {
clear majority for Moores ~throughou
the contested wards and gave him Z:
out Of 143 delegates in the convention
Instead Of submitting to the popula,
edict, the boilers Immediately set t,
work to overturn it by bribery and cor
ruption, and, frenzied at their failure
have sought to manufacture an excus,
for boiling. They could not occupy
more untenable and ~unenviabl
position.