East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1910-06-20
REPLY TO MIR. MooMAs.

| A'ihpteu answer OF tne chairman or |
the republican central committee to /
my recent communication. and trust |
that he will reply to this rejoinder.
Discussion will be a good thing. Let |
us turn the light on the dark |
places The people are interested and |
il the assembly is n good thing pub
| licity will not injure it. hope. how
ever, that i'm his future letters the
chairman will use his own originality
and not present the worn and wab-
bly, arguments with which the Port
| land Oregonan has RECALLED us for |
year, and that he will not again at
tempt to drag to his support the hon
orable name of Governor Hughes. be-
cause every intelligent man knows |
that the New York fight is against a
bipartisan machine SO strongly en- |
trenched that a direct primary with |
an assembly adjunct would be a long
step forward. The governor is willing
to take half a loaf rather than no
loaf at all. Rest assured, however, !
he would welcome and support
the Oregon system If he deem
ed il possible to attain i'm state
where lurid, professional politics
have held sway for nearly half a
century. Let me ask, too, that in
future discussions the chairman will
be fair with us and publish his So
called minutes. 1t is understood that
;Gey contain some things which will
| be of interest as throwing light upon
the underlying purpose of the recent
meeting, and disclosing the fine Ital-
ian hand of the man behind the
scenes. 1t avails little to say in
claiming a majority of the committee
present, "our minutes show there was
majority" when men who were in
the room assert that there were but
eighteen, and that part of these were
proxy holders. There are forty pre-
cincts in the county. The chairman's
reflections upon me personally are
unimportant l have been called al
most every name available to my po-
5 litical opponents, whether reactionary
republican or democratic ana am
yet in fairly good condition, and able
to give, as well as receive, blows
awhile longer. Suffice it to say that
stand today exactly where l have
I always stood, for the people and
against the domination of wealth and
power, and for that reason l am a
Lincoln republican and am opposed to
the assembly, which is called because
the privileged classes believe that they
can control it, as they have always
controlled conventions, and they cam
not control all the people. 1t is the
last charge of the Black Horse Cav
t airy in Oregon. l am fully aware
e that the assembly will be held, can
= conceive about who Will constitute its
controlling forces, have fair idea
as to the personnel of it's candidates,
n and now venture the prediction that
= the people at the September primar-
: les will defeat the most of them as a
just rebuke to the party reactionarles.
Does the chairman believe that the
people are incapable of self-govern-
ment, and that they cannot select their
e own candidates without. the assistance
of few self-constituted advisors
Does he believe that the elect are
born to rule, and that the assembly
Bourbons are the elect? If so, of
course no answer is possible from me
S because he is royalist and accepts
,4 the doctrine of the divine right of
q kings. l suppose that under the as
sembly system they will be invited
, to become candidates, but that is too
le childish for serious consideration by
is anybody except tory editor. Every
le sane man knows that men who desire
=. public preferment will seek the same
Under the existing system they go di-
= rectly to the people, while under the
'e assembly system they will go to the
1t boss and pay the price for the noml-
4 nation
-. VIII the chairman tell us where the
assembly can improve the direct pri-
D. mary? If he says that it will give us
er better candidates then l answer that
lie it never did in oregon. Chamberlain
o. was elected governor under the rev
system, Pennoyer under the old, both
y" democrats in republican state
Bourne was elected senator under the
new system, Simon under the old, and
is | apprehend that the chairman is not
-, especially proud of the political rec
ord of either. Had the men who are
y now bowling loudest for the assem-
bly, been loyal to Henry NJ. Cake al
Is the polls he, not Chamberlain, would
SO now be senator from oregon. II is a
q notorious fact that Cake was beaten
by the very people who now seek tC
destroy the principle of popular nom
TX nations in this state. BY SO doing
s. they thought they could control the
election in the legislature, but the
people had elected men honorable
enough to keep their political pledges
" and the scheme failed; then the as
e. sembly idea began to burgeon, and Il
A. found support as does every monop'
I. olistc movement, in the brilliant pei
=, of Harvey Scott, hence the situation
today.
Does not the chairman know tina
the old nominating system became 81
e. monstrously corrupt that it was &
d. stencil in the nostrils of every descent
a man? Can he not recall when pri
maries were controlled by cash anC
Z" conventions dictated by a single mar
who represented the interests? Is h'
not aware that delegates to state con
10 Ventions in those days travelled OF
N free passes furnished either by the
railroads or by candidates, voted a:
- they were directed, and were played
re in the game as pawns in chess?
am sure that he will not deny the fac
-------------