The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1909-02-13
O'Connell'. Bad Break

|
ty seems to have stirred up hornets
nest in the state senate and they light
ed on him so numerically that it will
take him sometime to recover from
the stings. The following from the
Rocky Mountain News Of Denver tells
the story of the conflict and the out
come.
The Evans-Speer machine yesterday
suffered it's second defeat in the fight
on the Scott-Hicks direct primary law
when it tried to throw out the pro-
vision for nomination of United States
senator's.
The scene Of real action was in the
senate, where the machine started with
its program to talk the Scott bill to
death and delay action as long as pos
sible before showing its hand in putting
forth sections of the Helbig machine
bill for sections of the Scott bill.
Senator B. ]. O'Connell went to the
firing line for the machine combination
with an amendment to strike out the
provision to nominate candidates for
United States senat r at primaries
O'Connell denounced the proposition
OF the people of the country demanding
the right to elect all of their represen-
tatives by direct vote as wild, anarch-
ial, lawless and revolutionary. He de-
clared that no body of men, even if it
were composed of the entire citizen
ship of the country, had right to de-
viate from the organic law of the land
as laid down in the constitution of the
United States.
The constitution, he said. provided
that senators should be elected by legis-
latures of the various states and he
did not want any enlightenment or ad-
vice from the people of Colorado as to
how he should vote on the question.
The members of the senate listened
patiently to the gentleman from Clear
Creek, then Republicans and Demo-
Gratis alike proceeded to tell him what
they thought of him and his position and
his amendment was voted down by an
overwhelming viva voee vote.
Senators Scott, Stephens and DeLong
accused him unequivocally of being will
ing to accept orders from a political
boss and not from the people of the
state and declared that he had violated
the very constitutional provision that
he then defended when in party caucus
he obeyed the orders of the boss to vote
for certain candidate for United
States senator. In their arraignment
of O'Connell, Senators DeLong and
Stephens defined clearly the position of
majority of the republicans on the
direct primary
, Senator Scott took the first hard fall
, out of o 'Connell by demanding to know
had not made his position toward the
plank for the election of United States
senators by popular vote known during
the campaign instead of accepting Office
under false pretenses. Barney naively
answered:
1.-The generals and captains and colo
nels of the democratic party would not
let me oppose it,
Scott quickly demanded to know why
the power of the generals and captains
and colonels of the party, so potent
during the campaign, had lost its spell
now. The gentleman from Clear Creek
remained in his seat and refused to
answer.
O'Connell referred repeatedly to his
willingness to bow to the will of the
party bosses and never once gave ut
terance to syllable to indicate that he
was under any obligation to consider the
wishes of his constituents or the people
of The state generally.
l When all who desired had had their
fling at o 'Connell, Senator Scott forced
a vote on the amendment, and it was
lost by an overwhelming majority. The
votes of O'Connell and Adams were the
only ones that could be caught in sup
port of the motion.
In reply to letter of inquiry from
VIM. l.. Bush to the United States
Geological Survey department of the
government regarding the Georgetown
quadrangle, the information has been
received by him that the documents had
been completed sometime ago, but
that the. same had been misplaced
or overlooked. The report will be
printed on the seventeenth inst, and
will then be ready for distribution. 1t
will contain the results of the survey
and investigation of the several mining
districts of Clear Creek county and is
the first survey along this line that
had been made by the government.
Another shipment of ore was recent