The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1907-01-10

tical battle waged when these men
reached the city and conferred to-
gether as to the plan which they as
party representation would pursue.
The insurgent wing of the repub-
lican party had sixteen members of
the senate who were elected as such,
and their position was we'll known. As
a faction they would stand together
under certain conditions. They lacked
one of having majority in the caucus,
and in the event of factional lines be-
ing closely drawn they would natur-
ally lose out. Some of them proposed
to the democrats that the two should
unite for the control OF senate upon
the floor, cutting out all caucus ar
rangements. If this were done they
would have had a majority of three,
and could have dictated matters not
only in the organization, but in legis-
ton, should they have so desired. But
herein is where the scheme fell fiat.
-Four of the insurgent republicans
Dyste, Wagner, Rice and Ramsett-
refused to fololw their co-factionists
into the democratic party. They We're
for reform in the republican party so
long as that reform could be accom-
plished within the party. When the
fight went outside the party they re-
manned republicans rather than give
aid and comfort to the common enemy.
There can be no bubble about the ac-
ton of the regular republican party
when the members are willing to re-
main steadfast rather than follow some
of the isms. This was the battle which
has been waged, according to some of
the xxx blood to the Bride bits"
correspondents. It was merely a de-
cision of the members to remain with
the party. The members acted on their
own volition, and if any man had a
string on another it was not brought
to the surface.
Another thing which strikes the OBJ
server forcibly is the fact that while
the insurgent wing of the party has
talked about signing up and fixing
slate and all other stuff of that kind
as being seriously detrimental to the
welfare of the state and corrupting
in it's influences, it was exactly the
method pursued by the insurgent wing
of the party and was used for all it
was worth. The signing up was car
ried on openly, and it was the boast of
those who were in charge of the mat
ter that they had secured so many
signatures. If Jud LaMoure and Alex
Mckenzie have corrupted the politics
of the state by their SO called sign
ing up methods, John Sorley and
Treadwell Twichell and dozen others
are doing the same thing, for they Sc
cured control of the house by the
same methods that they have said were
exclusively those of LaMoure and Nc
Kenzie. But if they would admit the
truth, they would be compelled to say
that this is the only manner in which
men under such circumstances could
get together. am not. charging the
insurgents with any political crime,
but do say they have openly swiped
the gang methods of administering pol
itics.
The news columns have said much
already in reference to the inside
workings of the insurgent-democratic
combination which was effected in the
house. I am not sitting in judgment
on the question as to whether or not
it is republican movement. That
question will be settled by the people
at the polls two years hence. One
thing cannot understand, however,
is why when the insurgents had a
majority of the house, as their leaders
claim they had, that if they were Look
ing only to the best interests of the
republican party, they should form a
coalition with the political enemy
whose hope and ambition is the de-
feat of the republican party itself. If
it be said, as it was by some of those
who were managing the matter, that
the insurgents did not have a major
ity, then it would seem that in order
to accomplish the ends sought, the in
surgents were more willing to assist
the democrats than they were to keep
the party together, for the regulars
proposed to these insurgents that if
they would stay in the party and sever
their allegiance to the politically un-
godly,. the regulars would join with
them In caucus and support every
candidate whom the insurgents wanted.
In other words, that the insurgents
could dictate matters if they would
only stay in the party. They chose,
however. to join the democrats. The
leaders said they had made them prom
ises. These must be fulfilled.
Certainly the one wing of the party
cannot charge the other hereafter with
having played the game of politics
which was not fair or honest, for
both have succeeded by means of the
same plan. In the senate, where the
regulars were in control, the other
faction was given all the advantages
which belonged to the victors. Even
though the regulars had the majority
they conceded the rights of the insur-
gent members as republicans, and they
were allowed the same rights and given
the same concessions that belonged
to the others. In the house where the
insurgents controlled, they repudiated
the regulars, coalesced with the demo-
Gratis, and gave the democrats the ad-
vantage rather than concede a single
thing to the regulars.