River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-06-23


laws should be administered for the pro-
lection OF wild game and not the shoot
ing down Of tame citizens. daughter
and applause.) Why, it was one of the
most comical things to listen to some Of
the speeches there this afternoon, in
which the great economy of the present
administration was lauded. We haven't
had a more extravagant administration
in the history of the state, and yet be-
fore that convention it was held up as an
honest and an economical administration.
There are, gentlemen of this convention,
hundreds of weak spots in the present
admiHistra ton. We have not believed in
them; we have opposed them; we have
dlsapproyed of them: we We're against
them; we proposed to correct them; ana
we went in there this afternoon and
asked the men of that convention to JON
with US in putting up a ticket that would
correct those abuses, and we We're con-
fronted with an iron clad rule on the
part of the State Central COMMITTEES,
which was in the power of the admins
tration, which practically shut US out of
\ the convention. Why, they said they
gave US a fair hearing. Yes, l have no
fault to find with the fairness of the
hearing in the convention, but it was the
same kind of a hearing; the Judgment
had been pronounced in the executive
office the night before.
And the question is whether we are
free men or slaves; whether we as Re
publican convention, representing the he
publican party, are going to dictate the
policy of that party or whether that poll
cy is going to be dictated to u.s. We
say that it is the duty of the party to
dictate and not the duty of any one man
to dictate to the party. (ApplauseQ l
said on the floor of the convention today
that the Republican party had risen to
be greater and bigger, broader and more
i'm IsfO INT ha npty flyin
statement was disapproved by 0So dele
gates that sat in that convention under
the State Central Committee"
A voice-"Not honestly, though"
The speaker-"I don't know whether 1t
was honestly or dishonesty. don't
dishonesty, but it is this: 1t seems to be
a blind infatuation. | don't know OF
anything else to call it. A perfect
blind following. A saying to the
executive of this state: You tell us what
to do and we will go and do it and we
won't question your reason for dong IT.
So, gentlemen, for a number OF years
here this state has been torn up over
politics, and why? Because the great
body, at least this year and two years
ago, hundreds of thousands of Repub-
leans in the State of Wisconsin did not
believe that r, NJ. La Toilette was a
Republican. (Cheers.) What do we have
concededly delegates elected by a ma
jority, an immense majority running
away into the thousands of individuals,
of majority of the Republican voters of
this state. Did you notice this afternoon
that very curious little thing that the
temporary chairman presented? Why,
he virtually said to us, You get out of
the Republican party. We will get
enough of some other kind of party to fill
up your places Now we don't propose
to get out of the Republican party, and
no Governor of the state Of Wisconsin and
crowd out of the Republican party.
(Cheers.) The Republican party is going
forward. 1t is going to do it's work. 1t
has got it is true, a great sore upon IL
at this time, but we propose to cut 1T
out down to the sound flesh. We propose
that the Republican party in the future
shall stand where it has in the past. We
propose that the party shall stand in the
councils of the nation where it has stood
for a number Of years, represented by
such grand men as John q. Spooner.
Great applause) We propose that the
State of Wisconsin shall not be repre-
sented in its Senate by any ny rantlng' can
tankerous, EFT V oice-'We know what
you mean.o
Mr. Jeffris-"It was not fit for publ
cation. Gaughter.) But we propose that
the Republican party be represented in
the United States Senate by such men as
Joseph V. Quares. (Cheers.)
"But 1t makes no difference what
mans record may be or what 1t may
have been. 1t makes no difference the
fact that John @. Spooner's name stands
prominent all over the civilized world;
but because of that fact, because of his
standing, the attempt is made to cut the
foundation out from under him and
break him down, and it can't be done IN
"a WISCONSIN,. { n
plause) Our other representative in the
Senate, Mr.. Quarles, has an enviabie
record for the past five years. He has
grown I know, to be liked, to be respect
ed, to be listened to by the other men
who have assembled there In that Senate
as representatives of this nation; and
yet it is proposed that he be taken and
the foundations cut out from under him;
but it can't be done in the Republican
party of Wisconsin. 1t is proposed here
in this state that our Capitol building
shall be made the hot bed of politics in
stead of craftsmanship. 1t is proposed
that all of our public institutions be put
into politics. | say to you, never before
in the history of Wisconsin has that
been done by any Governor. (Applause)
And when a man reaches point that he
is perfectly regardless of the conse-
quences to his Commonwealth and then
comes into a convention and says ! not
only want a third term but | want the
duly elected delegates Of the Republican
party excluded from the convention, be-
cause / can't get the t ird term unless l
dove have the condirron that now con-
fronts us. AS we said last night, we are
going to act here as a man, and l want
to say to you boys you did it magnid-
Gently today. We were proud, those Of
us that you had selected to take care of
che movement. We were proud of the
individual intelligence all through the
rank 1t shows the stuff that this as
gone on there day after day, yes, week
after week, and our delegates couldn't
have been stampeded in any way because
they were intelligent, thinking men.
They were there with a purpose.
"Now we went there today and we
found the conditions that had been told
to us we would find. We met them as
best we could and we have called this
meeting here tonight. and as | said to
you a few moments ago, there isn't any
programme. We want to counsel togeth-
er. We want to advise together. We want
to do the wise thing, the proper thing,
the just thing, the right thing; and in
order to do that every man of us has
got to use his individual intelligence.
When we come together we have got to
cooperate. Now we cannot all Of us,
every individual here of about 600 men,
cannot possibly say that we all agree to
man upon every proposition, but let
us agree to this: That we are going to
be with ourselves fair, reasonable bust
ness men, and that if you present
proposition to me and | can't show you
some good reason against 1t. it is my
duty to conform to your wishes, and it
is your duty if | present a proposition to
q her -