The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1912-02-28
HASKELL GRILLS
SENATOR OWEN
Ex-Governor C. N. Haskell in an open
Letter to Opponent Breaks Silence
And PIunses Into the Fight.
Muskogee. Okla, Feb. 26, 1912.
Senator r. L. Owen,
Washington. d C.

senator II. L. owen,
Washington, D. C.
Dear Sir:
To this date have remained re-
spectfully silent on your frequent pub
lie letters and personal interviews
and those that you inspired through
the republican press bureau at Guth-
rie, the republican Oklahoma City
Times anC your own republican news
paper at Itaskogee, asserting that you
are the original discoverer and ad-
vocate of The Peoples Rule" largely
to be promoted through the manda-
tory primary and in which you per-
sistently insinuate that | am against
the primary and for machine rule.
Every expression from you, Senator,
carries the impression that you feel
that popular government is new idea
that you have discovered. A closer
inquiry on your part will correct your
erroneous impression. The ideas are
new to you; but Thomas Jefferson dis
covered them more than hundred
years ago.
We note in the circular letter which
you sent out from Washington July 1.
1911 tower your own signaturel, that
you say you caused the peoples rule
issue to be put in the democratic ma
tional platform in 1908, and that you
have been its most active advocate in
the senate; that you inspired the
movement and helped to put it in the
Oklahoma constitution.
Senator, when the public records
are in existence to speak for them
selves would respectfully call your
attention to the fact that as to the
national platform of 1908, /, myself,
was he chairman of that platform COM
mittee and as such chairman appoint
ed a subcommittee of seventeen, of
which ! was ex-ofiicio member and
which subcommittee formulated the
entire platform, hence when you ap-
prove what that platform says, you
approve the work of myself and as
sociates.
would also further suggest that
about one month before the Denver
convention met we had a letter from
the Honorable W. j. Bryan asking us
to submit suggestions for the pro-
posed national platform. On account
of that letter Chief Justice R. L. Will
liams, Hon. W. H. Murray former
president of the constitutional con-
vention and speaker of the first house
Of Representatives., Hon. ]. B. Thomp-
son, democratic state chairman, and
Judge Thos. H. Owen assembled in
my office and. considering Mr., Bryan's
tier, we assembled the ideas of all
of us on the platform questions, in
cluding the peoples rule and manda
tory primary propositions, which as
sembled ideas we later forwarded to
Mr.. Bryan. Later, about June 2Sth,
we had a telegram from Mr.. Bryan
asking us to come to his home near
Lincoln, Nebraska, before proceeding
on to the Denver convention All of
the four gentlemen mentioned and
myself went to Lincoln, where we
visited Mr.. Bryan, thence proceeded |
to Denver, where, as above stated |
became chairman OF the platform COM
mittee and in that platform you find
the ideas inspired by Judge Williams,
Mr. Murray, Mr. Thompson, Mr.. Thos,
H. Owen and myself If you had any
such ideas at that time and you think
your ideas inspired us such a notion
can be nothing more than dream
AS to the Oklahoma constitutional
convention, was a member of that
convention and chairman of its COM
mittee on primary elections. You
should be able to remember that dur
ing the months of January, February
and the first half of March, at least a
half dozen times you sought an inter
view with me and strongly protested
against the right of the constitutional
convention to require a primary Tor
the state and the United States sena-
torial nominations to be made in the
summer of 1907. You should remem-
Der that you insisted that the constr
tuition that we were then drawing
could have no force and effect until
after it should be adopted by the peo-
pie which would be long after the nom
nations for United States senator and
for state officers, and that my reply
to you, in answer to your argument,
always was that the power vested by
the enabling act in the constitutional
convention to provide an election ordl-
nance to regulate the vote for the
constitution and the election OF the
state officpre ION the same day1 also