Omaha daily bee., 1906-08-28
UNVARNisHED TRUTH AS TO THE
SEHA TORSHR.

'ousiy reflects upon the delegation that
gave me It's loyal support. II is
charged that with Edward Rosewater
out of the way the convention, on the
second or third ballot at the furthest,
would have gone for Senator Millard,
John L. Webster. Gurdon W. Wattles
or Lorenzo Crounse."
Incidentally, in the same inspired
article, 1t is asserted that / had made
two promises. One, that would
never go to Brown. and the other to
the effect that when / saw I could not
win would throw my strength to an
Omaha man
In justice to myself and in the in
terest OF a truthful narrative of events
am impelled to contradict these base
less imputations.
II is a matter of notoriety that l had
repeatedly, during the progress of the
preliminary canvass, announced that
the contest was squarely between my
self and Norris Brown and that no
dark horse could intervene. sub
mitted my claims to the republicans OF
Douglas county and obligated myself
to abide by the result. My delegation
was elected by a majority OF two to
one over that Of my opponents,
Crounse and Willard, who threw their
support and full strength to the dele
cation put forward by the Fontanelle
club.
AS a matter of honor, these gentle
men should have subsidized when their
delegation was defeated, but they did
not. Lorenzo Crounse, disregarding
his moral obligation and the pledge
made for him by his son and son-in-
law, who were candidates on the
Fontanelle ticket, projected himself
into Washington county, and with the
assistance of his ex-embezzling oil in
spector, Frank Hilton. pocketed the
Washington county delegation. which,
under express instructions, should
have come to me at the latest on the
second or third ballot.
Senator Willard. who did not dare
openly to submit his name to popular
approval, announced, Immediately
after the defeat of the Millard-
rounse-Fontanelle delegation. that
he would not abide by the result of
the state 5conyention, whatever it
might be, but would seek reelection
at the hands of the legislature. Nat
l5urally and properly, the convention
took him at his word and paid no more
attention to him than If he had been
the governor of Iloilo. 1t was mat
ter of common. knowledge that Sena-
tor ,Minard had Fentered into con-
spiracy with the corporation man
ayers to prevent, II possible, the nomi-
nation of a senator by the state con-
vention, with the deliberate intent to
deadlock the legislature next winter
and to mhhipyIste its members into a
betrayal of the people. That con-
spiracy failed. 4
Under the circumstances. 1t was a
sublime Psecssof assurance and brazen
effrontery on thepart of Senator Millard
to permit his name to be put forward
In a. conventiors for an endorsement
he had already pronounced worthless
and whose actions he was endeavoring
to block, in defiance of the overwhelm-
ing sentiment of the republican rank
and fiIe. Although holding the ex-
allied ONCE of senator, he could mus
ter only 4S " out. of s57 votes after a
| most strenuoas effort, which must be
| taken as striking proof that he has
been disowned and repudiated by his
own party beyond any possibility Of
resurrection.
It was utterly out of the question
for the Douglas delegation to have
made Willard or any other Omaha can
didate at any stage of the balloting.
Had the attempt been made to switch
candidates the delegation would have
split into fragments and neither Mil
lard nor Crounse could have secured
a corporal's guard. There were half a
dozen men in the delegation better
qualified, more Justly entitled to party
preferment and more In touch with
popular sentiment on the vital issues
of the day than either Of those two
A proposal to the delegates to foist
either Willard or crounse upon the
party would have met with storm Of
resentment, not only in the delega'
ton, but in, Omaha and Douglas
county.
But even though the whole Douglas
delegation. could have agreed on Mil
lard or any other Omaha candidate
any attempt to change front would
only have resulted in stampede tc
Norris Brown. My support consisted
of 22s delegates outside of Dougia,
county. This force was not transfer
able and the bulk of IL would have
gone over to Brown rather than tc
any other man whose name was before
the convention. They represented
constituencies attached to me because
of the principles stood for. the re-
forms l have advocated and the battles
have fought against corporate dom
ination. No other one of the Douglas
nounty candidates mentioned repre-