The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1910-10-25

e'>sS@s esSessSey SSf"P0' ~
with the notorious Farrell bossed
convention Of May II, 1904. That
Farrell convention was SO very
regular" very "loyaI to the inter
ests Of the party" that after 1t had
been organized into appropriately
subservient steering committees, It
suspended operations until it could
send to Seattle for J. D. Farrell, the
assistant to the president of the
Great Northern railroad, to steer
those steering committees.
The story of the Farrell conven- |
ton is indelibly written in the pub
lie political history of Washington. |
The popular indignation which it
aroused discredited and brought the
overthrow of the convention sys-
briefly on account of it's bearing
upon the recent relations between
the supreme court and the Great
Northern railroad.
That convention was conceived
in jobbery and conducted in brazen
disregard of both political decency
and the well known wishes of the
people of the state. Prior to 1904
1t had been the custom in this state
to hold two republican state con-
ventions in presidential years. one
to select delegates to the national
convention, one to nominate state
officers. The jobbers in charge of
the machinery of the party decided
that year upon one convention. Re-
garding that decision, Congressman
Tawney, one of the manager that
year of the national republican,
said:
IF INSCRIPTIONS bosses wanted
to manipulate the politics of the
state / can see VIII ythey should
want to do away with the fall con-
vention and do all the business in
the spring The one convention
proposition generally means that
somebody is trying to job things"
This proved to be the case in this
instance. Inscriptions bosses
were trying to job things, and they
succeeded. Calling county conven-
tons before much public interest
udd DCCh OuoCu StdtC DolitiSo,
they prevailed upon many of them
to authorize single individuals to
name all the state delegates from
the county. Fully half the dele
gates were named in this manner.
And the delegates so named were
selected by and took their orders
from their corporation bosses: Not
surreptitionslynl ana in secret, but
openly. VIGOROUSLY and boastingly.
This is not satalogue of crime,
but here are a few of the offenses
committed by that Farrell conven-
ton:
It, nominated foe lieutenant-gov.
ernor an old guard politician who,
during two sessions of the iegisla-
ture, maintained free booze room
for the liquor interests in room
In the state capitol building OPEN
Ing off the senate chamber.
nominated for prominent
Mate office a. man who had been
indicted for embezzlement in an
eastern state.
y It nominated for land commits
sioner a political henchman of the
timber-grabbers, under whose ad-
ministration the. people have lost
millions of dollars by the sale of
state lands for grossly inadequate
compensation.
1t nominated for secretary Of
state an old guard politician, who
was last year forced to resign from
his office when confronted by
charges which threatened to lead
to his impeachment by the lesisla-
ture and his prosecution in court.
It nominated for governor an OBJ
scure lawyer who, prior to the as
sembIing of the convention, had
never even been suggested as a
candidate for that office, and who
as governor winked at the doings
of Insurance Commissioner J. n.
Shively, and appointed as adjutant-
general a man who robbed the
state of $4,000, which he squan-
dered in riotous living.
And this is one of the typical
conventions entrusted with nomin-
ating members of the supreme
court, the court which can do no
wrong.
The Farrell convention touched
the supreme court in four places.
1t renominated Judge Mark A. Full
lerton, it nominated Judge Frank
II. Rudkin, it nominated a governor
who, upon the recommendation of
prominent corporation lawyers, APP
pointed Judges Milo A. Root and
Herman D. Crow, and it created
state central committee which
elected as its chairman E. B. Pal
mer.
Fullerton's denomination was
without opposition, so, strictly
speaking, he was not a product of
that convention. And yet had his
course on the bench been displea.
ing to the Great Northern bosses,
he would, In all probability, not
have been renominated. This Is in
dicated by the fate melted out by
the convention to. Attorney Gen
eral w. b. Stratton. Stratton was
n thoroughly capable official, enti-
tied under party tradition to a sec
ond term. But he had committed
the unforgivable offense towards
the Great Northern of having
kros,o chit c,yit for tho dissolution NJ