Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-03-09
Some Republicans Feared They Gould Net
Pass Measure Otherwise
wMUIlEN MAKES SENSATIONAL SPEECH
Committee AlsS Acts Favorably on Lea
Annexation Bill.
TERMINAL TAXATION SET FOR WEDNESDAY
Senate Kills the Joint Resolution
Providing for the Submission of
Prohibition Amend
ment.
CFrom a stafr correspondent.l

AiNNOl1N, March Se-(Special THE
house this morning recommended for pas
sage the Joint committee primary bill,
| after amending II TO suit the fusionists,
in accordance with the agreement entered
into; rushed through the committee of the
whole and then passed S. F. 5, by Gibson,
| the employers liability bill; indefinitely
| postponed Harveys legislative annexation
bill and recommended the Lee annexation
| bill for passage, while the senate side
i tracked the joint committee anti-pass bill
and recommended the King anti-pass bill,
with amendments, for passage. The house
also recommended for passage the bill to
submit TO vote the question OF a con-
stitutional convention.
| In the matter OF the primary bill the
republican leaders in the house admitted
having made the tie-up with the fusionists
giving them what amendments they de-
sired In return for their votes on the
measure. and the reason for this tie-up,
| they said, was because they feared of the
100 men who were pledged by their state
! convention for the bill no flfty-one OF
them would have stood by the pledge un-
der any other circumstance. One amend
ment adopted this morning permits OF
| fusion between any two parties, while the
other amendment merely made the bill
conform to the free-for-all primary, as
| BAopDSSN III tue dultnoAltuN duOpltu yes
| terday No test of strength came on the
floor of the house and there is no way to
tell whether the bill would have been fa-
vorably acted upon without the fusion
| tie-up
| The real climax OF the discussion was
a speech by McMullen just before the bill
was acted upon favorably. The special
order provided that both the joint COM
mittee bill and the McMullen limited
| primary bill be discussed at the same
time, but when the discussion OF the Joint
committee bill was completed a motion
was made to recommend II for passage.
Raper of Pawnee moved as a substitute
that the McMullen bill be read and dis
| cussed.
McMuIlen stirs Things Up.
! II appreciate the motion of the gentle
man from Pawnee." said McMulen, "but
am not asking any favor of the members
Of this house. 1 don't want you TO pay any
attention to II. r. 1S7, but / do want to
call your attention to some matters you will
have to answer for when you get home.
We have adopted some features of this
bill, apparently with the idea that all states
since the organization of the federal gov
ernment have had primary law / want
to call your attention to the expense of the
campaign which has been passed over
without comment. When a candidate for
a state Office starts on his preliminary cam
paign he must call I'm ana see the news
papers, He has a talk with the editor
which is satisfactory to the counting room.
His preliminary campaign will cost him
from $1,000 to $500. and then he must again
go out and fight for his election, which
will cost him probably $500 more, and his
salary will be from 5000 TO $500 You
| hay m he afa r.
pays him.
"A word about the platform: In this
bill you have the candidates draw 1t in
stead of letting the people say what they
want. Newspapers tell us. when asked
that the platform amounts to nothing
that il is merely a thing upon which to
ride into office, and yet now you are told
20 vote for a thing because Il is In the
platform. If you don't you are a traitor
When you go home tell your people you
let few men make your platform This
could not have happened In the days Of
Patrick Henry. when we. the people did
things. Now it is we. the candidates.
Another thing l want to cali to your
attention is the fact that the populous dis
tricts will dominate the primaries. Omaha
and Lincoln with their press will DOM
mate the primaries after our admirable
young governor is again elected two
years from now. Watch the young
candidate who is not known. Watch the
young man from Garfield and see how he
shows up with the candidate from Omaha
Lincoln or from those adjoining counties.
You can tell who will win. You are making
It possible for the newspapers to control
the primaries and when you say the
newspapers hght In the open you say an
untruth. They misrepresent people.
Complains of Newspapers.
Two years ago l introduced primary
bin and It was killed by the railroads, Who
have fought me ever since The news
papers have made the people believe am
the ardent enemy of the primary. The
newspapers were with me two years ago
> on that primary bill. There il not a word
in the newspapers today about anything
] but direct primary and the taxation Of
railroad terminals. Nothing about the en-
. ployers' liability act. which is in the plat
? form. Don't tell me they are not con-
. trolled by mercenary motives. Tell your
Q people when you go home and they ask
you about the primary bill that you knew
all these things when you passed the bill.
When the statewide primary bill which
; you have prepared is repealed it will be
the newspapers who are right and the
, men who raised their voices against this
measure now will be forgotten. / am a
friend to the direct primary. l believe
men should vote for whom they please.
But under this bill when you go home
5 you must tell your people you are against
: the party. In adopting that open primary
I section you have carried the madness OF
a the statewide primary TO it's climax. dc
0 you believe you are square? Do you say
D the same thing In public that you do In
p private7 You have supported an amend
!. ment which completely disrupts party Or
= ganization.
. mo, / am not asking for you TO con.
: slider II. II. i6. The metropolitan press
Z says Il is not right You should do thai
J. which Is the easiest. Look out for the
Q press"
d Jenison. who had moved 10 recommend
the passage OF the joint COMMITTEES bin