Montana news. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-191?, 1908-12-03
TEN YEARS AGO

In lS95-96 the old S. l.. r., under
the management of DE- Leon. Voigt
* Co, had reached the Zenith ~ its
Power" the process Of Generalization
made itself felt.
! Eugene V. Dcbs had l,rt Woodstock
Jail and, together with Victor l.. Bor-
ger and others organized the social
Democracy OF America"
Suspension. expulsion and with
drawsl of : L. =. sections became
more numerous as d. Leon grew morr
| desperate. \ number of s. l.. T.. sec
tions had Joined tn" IS. u. Of A."
The first annual conference of tho
Social Democracy of America" was
| called To- convene at rlich's hall, Clark
street. Chicago, Tuesday, June :, 1895.
| Eugen" Y. D"bs called the delegates TO
| order, stating the object of tn" gather
Ing. Th"r" were IS delegates present
Immediately following the report Of
IN" cr"dontial committee. Secretary
| keliher announced that on Saturday.
| June 3, not less than eleven new
| branches OF tn" Social Democracy OF
| America We're organized 10y the So
! called Colonists of Chicago, all Of
which had applied for charters Mon
! day, June q. /. e., just one day before
| the opening uf the convention. Some
of these new delegates" were i'm CLOSE
touch with the Chicago city hall ma
chine.
For a fun day the question of ad-
mitting the Chicago delegation was
discussed, and there being no prospect
OF transaCtinE any business. the dele
gates wer" finaly admitted by close
vote. Phillips of New York Berger
of Milwaukee. Carey of Massachusr It's,
Hoehn Of st. Louis, Margaret Halle
of Boston, Mailly of Tennessee. Cor
| don of New Hampshire. Winchrwsky
of New York and Meier Of St Louis
bitterly opposed the admission Ofthc
new Chicago delegates. claiming that
| at least min" out Of the eleven new
| branches were organized at the very
last moment for no other purpose than
To- pack IN" convention. tn" eleven
| delegates representing less than go
mem brrs in all.
Secretary Kslihrr submitted his r'-
| port according to which the total re-
| ceipts were SS,595.SS. total .xpondi-
| lures SS,Ss4.44. Report received and
referred To auditing committee.
On Thursday morning the commit
tee on Organized labor submitted its
report. which was adopted. Thursday
afternoon Chairman Debs delivered
his annual address, stating. among
other things. that on his agitation trip
To the eastern states he addressed l43
public meetings i'm 80 days Comradr
Debs said the time had come when the
working people must make use of the
political power and inaugurate politi-
cal movement on strictly Socialist
lines. In regard to colonization" he
said, Il have not changed my mind
since our last years convention. and I
still believe that some good can bc ac-
complishcd by working in the dirpc-
ton indicated in our constitution" In
conclusion h. stated that, il there
should be any Iscariot present in tho
convention, he would certainly find
chance To hang himself before tn,
convention was over.
on Friday afternoon. June 10, TIA"
committe" on platform submitted its
reports majority report signed by
Margaret Halle and Victor Berger. and
minority report signed by John
Lloyd. The latter report was read 10y
Delegate ingalls,; il was a very lengthy
document, full of firework rhetoric
and phrases. and making the colony
scheme the most important feature of
the convention a hot discussion fol-
lowed. Hourwich. Phillips, Edwards.
Mailly. Miller, Hochn, Carey, Halle.
Steadman. Gordon ard others spoke
that its adoption would put the Social
Democracy In "A most ridiculous posi-
ton. Frank. Osborne, Willard, Lloyd.
ingalls,, Cook and others defended the
minority report. some of them speak
ing against political action and advo-
eating the colony scheme as the sal
Nation OF the American people.
The discussion continued until 2:30
O'Clock saturday morning. and when
the vote was taken the Berger Halle
report was defeated and the John
Lloyd report adopted by vote of j3
for and 81 against.
Now the unexpected and unavuid-
able happrnrd-thr unexpected be-
cauC the majority were not prepared
for the new developments; the un-
ayoidable because the minority Of
delegates, who were In line with the
International movement had To- act
In behalf of the future of the Amrri-
can Socialist movement.
The delegates of the minority seeing
they could no longer cooperate with
the majority without disgracing the
cause OF Social Democracy and the
International Labor Movement, at
once adjourned 20 the Revere house,
and organized temporarily with Jesse
Cox of Chicago as chairman, and Will
liam Mailly of Nashville, Tenn, as
secretary. This was ut 8 o'clock sat
uIuaN. June IL, lHUh,
TIL" Bcrger-Iailc platform. defeated
at the UlTich's hall convention. was
then adopted unanimously, and IL was
agreed that the name of the organiZa-
tion bc cial-Dcmocratic Party Of
America"
The organization of the Social
Democratic Party of America" was cf-
fcctcd between + and 6 o'clock Satur-
day morning, the golden ray of the
rising sun greeting the delegates as
they were cheering the birth OF the
new Socialist Party Movement
The following delegates attended the
Revere house carly-morning C0nvcn-
tion and pledged themselves TO support
the Social Democratic Party OF
America" Anna Ferry Smith, Branch
IL, of California; A. q. Hicks, Branch
l, OF Colorado,
Eugene " Dchs, Branch 3, of In
diana, who was seriously sick and con-
fined To his room, sent word that hc
was heart and soul with the Social
Democratic Party Of America"
Theodore Debs and Hugo Miller OF
Indiana. George Koop, seymour