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


pen to have their seats according to the
rule of this convention are entitled to
vote, and l move that these tive men
from the Second ward of, tne CITY of Mil
vaukee be admitted to their seats upon
the floor of the convention and allowed
to participate in its proceedings until
they are unseated, if they shall be. This
is in strict pursuance of the logic that is
laid down by the gentleman who has
just spoken. AS my friend from Racine
has said, yesterday afternoon for the
first time it was reported here that sew
eral wards in the city Of Milwaukee
were to be contested, and among them the
Second, and we were unable TO find out
what the basis of the contest was, what
the nature of the charges were on which
it was based; still held myself in readi-
ness all the afternoon and sought to get
information, but in vain, and finally went
down to the committee room in the even
ing and there l met the gentleman repre-
sentlng the contestants and he opened
that pile of papers foot high and com.
menced reading afiidavits taken eX parte,
taken without notice, without cross-ex~
animation, without anybody present, and
upon those atfidavits this contest against
the Second ward delegates rests"
"A Delegate--"I rise TO poirt of order.
1t is IN regard to the vote on Ashland
county. The question General Winkler
is following is i'll regard to a contest in
milwaukee,, 1t is not germane to the
question"
Chairman: -''The gentleman from Mil
waukee. so far as the general question of
the report is concerned, will contine him
self to Ashland county. The Chair, how
ever, Will entertain a motion that the
Second ward of Milwaukee be permitted
to vote upon this question"
General Winkler THAT is the mo-
ton"
Motion seconded.
Chairman:-"The question now is shall
the Second ward of the city of Milwau-
kee be called and shall it be permitted to
nave a representation in the temporary
organization of this convention"
Delegate from Eleventh district-"I
would like to ask Tor information in vot-
ing upon this question whether or not
there are two delegations here from the
Second ward of Milwaukee,
What Mr.. Spence Said.
Mr.. II. w. Spence:-"I understand
there is but one delegation. There is no
contesting delegation, Il understand there
are no other delegates presenting them
selves to this convention claiming the
right of admission. Now, Mr.. Chairman,
you Will pardon me moment on this
question. The city of Milwaukee, which
some of the gentlemen in other counties
of this state think has politics Of rs own,
has as a matter of fact under the eau
Gus law of this state politics which
should particularly appeal to the admin.
istration elements in this convention. We
have had for years in the city of Mil
waukee as good primary election law
as I>thInk ever was passed in any part
of this country. 1t is a primary election
law that provides for nominations by di-
rect vote of the voter. A gentleman elect
ed from the Second ward can be seated
under a statute Of this state which says
nnn rhA hoS In antn ifxy %
votes in the caucuses shall be the dele
gate to the convention. 1t makes the
caucus inspectors and other officers of
the caucus the canvassing board which
canvasses and decides which OF the gem
tlemen nominated are elected at that pr-
mary election and then the statute itself
provides for county committee WHO
shall certify to that election. These gen-
tlemen from the Second ward number
among them some of the best citizens of
that city and they come here with all
that the law demands and with all defer
ence to my distinguished friend from
l. Racine, whose personal fairness and
honor would not question, these gentle
men did not have a hearing that was of
any value. l went as chairman OF the
Milwaukee delegation at 10 o'clock, at
IL o'clock, at or 3 o'clock, to the door
of the State Central Committee and
asked what If anything was being done
q
find out nothing except thai the Mil
waukee delegation matters whatever
| they were would be taken up by and by
| and | was notified there by the gentle
| men who had charge of that door on the
| inside that the only way for us to do
| was to wait there until the wards were
called. | was informed by newspaper
! reporters that the ward which / repre-
| sent was being contested, and we had
| to hang around that door all day. The
| gentlemen from the Second ward of Mil
waukee were not informed until towards
night by any responsible party that there
| was to be any contest.
Now this gentleman who is a lawyer
himself (Mr. Gittings) says that these
men who have been elected by the votes
| of the people should come up and an
| swer on the spur of the moment to afii-
| davits that may be as false as the ex
| igencies of the case may require. Part
| Of it there isn't any doubt about the
| falsity of and yet without any answer,
| with this great bundle of documents.
which the gentleman says would take you
| five days to examine, If | were in the
Second ward l would be excluded from
this convention. Now, gentlemen, it is
perfectly apparent from this preliminary
vote that you have, whether rightly or
wrongly, taken into your hands the con-
troll Of this convention. There is no
doubt about it. You have got the con-
troll or THIS convention ara upon you at
least rests the responsibility as to what
show of fairness you will make. You
must remember, gentlemen, that on this
question there are people as old as the
grayest Of you, as long Republicans as
the man among you who has voted the
longest, standing as high in their COM
munities as any of you, who disagree
with you almost from beginning to end
as 10 the justice of the treatment that
has been received from what now stands
as an apparent majority of this conven-
ton. Now let us have at least a fair
show for our city OF Milwaukee. 1t
won't make a bit Of diff renee in the re-
suit. We have got our men here.
have here the certificate Of x. II. August
Luedtke, and might say he is here in
this convention by my side. The fifty
men that are here to look over the quail
fcations Of delegates were good, on ac-
count Of Mr.. Luedtke's respectable APP
pearance to let him march through with
out being badged. He is here in your
hall, peaceably, ready to be put out if
you put him out, ready to vote il you
let him vote, for the Second ward Of the
city of Milwaukee. Now will you let
him vote this ward or will you notW
Mr. M. B. Rosenberry-T think, Mr..
Chairman, that this discussion has drift
ed away from the main point which il
raised by the report of he minority.
That it is not question Of whethe"
these contests have been rightly or
wrongly determined, but whether or not
the committee has the power to deter
mine it at ALL That is the question in
volved here, and not whether the de-
-.