Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-01-26

delegates came to Lincoln, and the machine
was on hand to attempt to deliver the
votes. None Of the farmers of Saline county
were here TO advise with their delegates.
The one lone delegate who came down
| from Dixon to cast the thirteen votes had
transportation TO come on and the other
| delegates did not. II was probably the
same with the two men who cast the fifteen
votes for the county adjoining Dixon. II
was too far TO come and pay fare. when no
reduced rates had been allowed.
In the Nance delegation there were four
annual passes. and since the delegation
was almost complete, It Is fair to guess
that the others we're hauled free.
From Sherman county at least two OF the
delegates had regular passes From Frank
lin which was represented by nearly a full
delegation. It is pretty certain that all rode
free. a regular employe Of the Burling-
| ton headed the crowd. and did the voting.
or the seven Boone men who came TO
Lincoln. two or three bought tickets. A
majority OF the votes were cast contrary TO
the desire of the people at home on the
six men from Stanton four were for Let
ton and two regular pass-holders were for
Duffy.
Sale of Delegations.
| to attract attention because it is always
done. was the sale of delegations. or the
exchange of voters for promise of appoint
ments. There were at least three counties
delivered to the railroad candidate on the
promise of place ON the court commits
sion. They were Merrick. Hall and Buffalo.
They are adjoining counties. but the local
! place-hunters who made the sales did not
know until after the convention that the
promise had been duplicated many times.
1t is probable that some other delegations
were secured in the same way.
In the case of Merrick the republicans
were unanimous for Letton, and the dele
CATION was supposed to be that way How
ever the delegates were hauled to Lincoln
by way of Valley, which was 100 miles out
OF the way and eight hours extra on the
! road. to get there on free tickets. At Lin
coin a caucus was held and it was decided
that the vote should be solid for Letton
after a complimentary vote" had been
given TO Ames, and one to Duffy. But the
delegation died in the ditch for Duffy be-
cause Jack Martin had been promised the
vacant place on the commission At the
same time Buffalo was staying by Duffy be-
cause Hamer had been promised the vacant
place on the commission, and the most of
Hall was shouting to get in the Duffy
wagon because Abbott had been promised
the vacant place on the commission. IL the
railroad candidate had been nominated,
and then by any chance elected, 1t would
| have been amusing to see the political
bunco men lodging these duplicated prom
Uses
The Western Counties.
One argument used against the direct
| primary method is that the western coun-
ties would have no chance in the nomina-
tions--that the western man would be
disfranchlsed But what of the western
man now? The average voter in a western
county under the convention method is
about as completely DISTINGUISHED in NOM
nations as If he lived in Greenland. In
the last convention ten OF the western
| counties were unrepresented. and some OF
the others were misrepresented. 1t is
learned that In a great many of the sparsely
| settled counties the central. committees met
and selected the delegates this being a
common practice. The average voter had
nothing to say about 1t. Then the one or
two men who had free transportation came
| down to Lincoln and did the voting Or
like Lincoln county. where the delegates
were tied up with radical Instructions, the
votes were changed to the machine candi-
date on the promise of n regency nomina-
| tion for a local man. The voters were too
| far away to object to this dicker.
| Deuel. county sent one man TO Lincoln
He had been the holder of an annual pass
over the Union Pacific for years. and when
he arrived at Lincoln he made up creden-
tials showing the name OF another man
| who was on the ground but who had not
been named by the county. Three of the
Brown county men were selected because
they had passes. The men who came from
Dawes were picked for the same reason
One of the Sheridan men paid his fare, and
the other two came on passes granted them
as public officials. The two men from Kim
ball were picked because they could 60
One OF them writes: 1T is the practice
here to name the ones who can go; II is a
long trip from here to Lincoln" In nearly
all OF these western counties a few mem
bers of the central committees picked the
delegates without going to the trouble of
calling conventions. and the common voters
heard all about the proceedings after they
were over.
The Case of Paddy Miles.
When you are talking about the beauties
/ OF representation" for western county,
the best joke comes from Cheyenne county
Paddy Miles is the Union Pacific division
attorney out there. He was a delegate
to the last national convention. He is a
member of the state committee. He was
| the only man from Cheyenne county who
attended the last convention, and he was
made chairman OF the committee on reso-
lutions as per the famous or Infamous
McGilton contract Some of the argument
against the direct primary is sure to come
from the annual delegate from Cheyenne,
and this is why:
Paddy Miles could not be elected to any
thing by popular vote. so he finds il neces-
sary to control the county committee For
a dozen years the committee has named
the delegates to the state convention. or
rather Miles has named them. and he is
usually the only one who comes The lists
Of the delegates named for four years past
viii show Cheyenne has been represented:
1902 1884,
| Miles, Miles,
| Mcintosh, Willis
| Gapen, Gapen
| Wills, Wisner.
| simon, McMullen,