Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-12-23
NEBRASKA POLITICS ASTIR
Talk Starting About State Represen-
tation in National Conventions.
HOW DELEGATES ARE CHOSEN
Democratic state Committee Is Dead
Broke, AecordInE TO Edgar How
ard, whs Has scheme to
Raise the Dough.

The quick succession Of developements
in the field OF national politics has started
talk Of president making in Nebraska. al
though the actual work of arranging the
preliminaries for selecting delegates is yet
TO be begun. The accepted custom Of ma
tional conventions requires the selection Of
delegates to be made not less than thirty
days before the date OF the meeting, which
mans that for the populists convention at
St Louis April s the time limit expires
March O. for the republicans, who will
nominate at Chicago June Is the time
limit expires, May Il. and for the democrats
who are 70 assemble at Denver July : the
latest day for the state convention is June7.
with reference to the selection of dele
gates TO the republican national convention.
Victor Rosewater OF the Bee, who has re-
turned from Washington where he at
tended the national committee meeting as
the proxy for National Committeeman Nor
rili has this to say:
The national committee. largely on my
representation. changed the form of its call
so as to permit states like Nebraska to
comply with the requirements of their new
primary legislation. Our state law provides
explicitly for the selection of both state
and district delegates in state and district
conventions to be called by the state COM
mittee. The candidates for congress are to
be nominated later by direct vote in Sep
tember. Previous calls for republican ma
tione1 conventions stipulated that the dis
trict delegates should be selected in the
same manner as candidates for congress.
but this condition has now been stricken
out.
My idea is and is has found favor with
all with whom have talked on the subject.
that the state committee should provide for
seven conventions, six of them being dis
trict conventions whose members should
be finally assembled into a single conven-
tion for the whole state The delegates
to the district conventions meeting at the
same time and place would thus choose
separately the district delegates and alter
mates at large. Such procedure would save
much time and expense and the expense is
something to be taken into consideration.
particularly for the distant counties whose
delegates have TO travel far and foot their
own bills for railroad fare and hotel ex-
penses. l look for the selection of a higher
grade of delegates than is usually the case
TO represent both the district and the state
at large, because the coming conventions
will have no other duties to perform and
will have no nominations for congress or
for state Offices to be used as trading ma
terial. With the handsome republican ma
jority piled UP at GUS last election, Ne
braska republican, are in a posjtion 10
command attention at Chicago IL they VIII.
only send representatives who have more
than mere local standing"
Down in Lincoln, Charles o. whedon has
been publishing some of his correspondence
with members of the republican state COM
mittee, over his demand for a direct pri-
mary on presidential preferences for use
as a guide for the national convention del
egates. The committeeman who have an
swered his circular letters Of inquiry for
the most part quote the Nebraska law.
which provides for the selection OF dele
gates by convention, and in no way pro-
Vides for expressions Of preference for
president or vice president or any officer
whose election does not depend exclusively
upon the favor of Nebraska voters. II
Is TO be read between the lines of these
letters that II a straw vote on presidential
preferences in advance of nominating con-
ventions had been part of the direct pri-
mary idea, the legislature could easily have
incorporated into the law a provision TO
this effect. Mr.. Wheron's counter arRu
ment is that notwithstanding the failure
of the lawmakers to provide for the pro-
posed election and the lack of funds TO
defray the expenses, it is the duty OF the
state committee to improvise such a pri-
mary as token Of confidence in the voters.
From Washington comes the autbenti-
Gated information that Senator Norris
Brown and Senator z. ]. Burkett would
both like to be included in the big four
who are to constitute the delegates at
large TO Chicago
The Daily Drift man in the Lincoln Jour
nal undertakes to recall the politics of
Tour years ago, when Nebraska repubh
cans were being asked to rally around a
vice presidential candidate in the person OF
John l. Webster Of Omaha. He insists
that Webster must be still in the running
and gives assurance that I'VE will stick
TO him like porous plaster, until he wins
or throws the race" As If this were not
enough. he lapses into poetry which can
only be appreciated in the original which
is as follows:
Speak of any man you may.
I'm for Webster;
Let the people have their say,
I'm for Webster;
Though the mob In every town
Howls for Burkett or for Brown
You may safely put Il down
I'm for Webster.
When our hosts get in the game
I'm for Webster:
When Chicago is a1ame
I'm for Webster:
When TO carry out their plan
They have named some other man
Let them do the worst they can.
I'm for Webster
Though they swamp him In the flood
I'm for Webster:
Though his name be written mud
I'm for Webster;
Though he reach the high degree.
or receive the snickersnee
IL is all the same to me,
I'm for Webster
The announcement that the democrats
are arranging to entertain the Cook
county excursionists TO the democratic
pow-wow at Denver. who will stop i'm
Omaha for part of the Fourth OF July.
suggests that Omaha will be the gateway
for a great many prominent men headed
for the different national conventions next
summer. For the democratic convention.
Omaha will catch most OF the eastern
delegations. many OF whom might be in
dueed 10 break the trip with a stop-over
here. For the republican convention Al
Chicago Omaha will be on the direct path
way for the delegates from most OF the
mountain and Pacific coast states ana
these. too, might be glad to take a rest
here either going or coming. or both ways