Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1906-03-07

acter is a matter winch can well be
put off till tomorrow, because when
tomorrow comes with ii may come
wisdom which shall say it ought never
to be made; or, on the other hand wis
dom which will have the law perfect
when it is made.
There were two or three surprises
about the defeat of the Crossley prim-
airy bill in the senate. The first was
the quickness with which it was put
to sleep. No one expected a vote
would be taken on the measure in
less than time than week after 1t
was called up for consideration. 1t
was thought nearly every member in
the senate would enter into the de-
bate on the bill. On the contrary
there were but two speeches made for
the bill and but three against it.
Those who supported the measure
were Senator Crossley OF Madison
county, its author, and Senator Lewis
OF Page county. Its opponents on the
floor were Senators Saunders of Pot
tawattamie, COPYRIGHT of Blackhawk
and Gilliland of Mills.
Saunders Offers Substitute.
Senator Saunders, as indicated in
this letter last week, presented at the
opening OF the discussion a substitute
bill, which differed from the Cross
ley measure in nearly every essential
particular, granted state wide prim.
airy, but made it limited to county
boundaries in selection of candidates.
and required a majority vote OF the
people at the primary to nominate.
1t upheld the present county, district
and state convention system. Sen
ator Saunders argued for this substi.
tute in one of the strong addresses
for which he is noted, but his argu-
ment was in vain. On the roll call
on his substitute the vote was 20 for
to 2S against. The Republicans. of
whom there are forty-two in the SEN
ate, divided equally on the question
OF adopting the substitute, but the
eight Democratic members joined with
its opponents, thus assuring its de-
feat. The roll call was:
For-Bleakley, Brooks, COPYRIGHT
Crawford, Durham, Elerick. Gale.
Gilliland, Harper, Hartshorn, Hassel-
quist, Houge, Jackson, Jamison, Jones.
Saunders. Spaulding. Stookey, Stucks.
lager, Whipple-20.
Against-Crossley, Dowell, Eckles,
Ericsson, Garst, Hayward, Hopkins,
Hughes, Kimmel. Kline, Lambert
Lewis. Lyons, Maytag, Newberry,
Smith (Des Moines), Smith mitch.
elD, Stirton, Taylor, Turner, Wade,
Warren, Wilson (Fayette), Wilson
(Clinton,) Whine, Young (Lee), Young
calhoun, Young Washington -2S.
Absent Senator Molsberry, for, and
Senator Bruce, against the bill.
The names of the Democratic mem.
bers are printed in black letters.
The Democrats, besides voting with
the Republican friends of the bill to
kill the Saunders substitute, had pre-.
viously voted with them to inject an
amendment into the bill, offered by
Lyons (Dem) of Howard, which pro-
vided that where no nominations had
been made for any Office at the prim
airy the party convention, county,
state or district could fill the vacancy
or vacancies. This amendment was
purely political in its purpose and was
inserted with the expectation that it
would catch the Democrats and hold
them for the measure on final vote. 1t
was part of the strategy of war,
but it failed in final effect, although
the enemy was frightened nearly to
the point of surrender just after it
was adopted.
On the final roll call on the adoption
of the Crossley bill. as amended,
which came after nearly two days had
been consumed in debate, the Demo
Gratis divided their vote, six against
and two for the measure, and it was
beaten, q for to 20 against, all of
the fifty members being present and
voting. The personnel of the vote
was:
For-Bruce, Crossley. Dowell, Ec-
kles, Ericsson, Garst, Hopkins, Hughes,
Kimmel, Kline, Lewis, Lyons, Maytag,
Smith (MitobaIn cx;rxnn 1r,,roor