Seward daily gateway., 1932-01-28
FAIRBANKS SPEECH
 IF DEMO STANDARD BEARER D|MOND
INSISTED OTHER CANDIDATES BE PUT ON EQUAL BASIS
 PARTY TICKET

Remarks of Anthony J. Dimond in support of the motion to amend the report of the Democratic com nittee on nominations, before the Demochratic Territorial Conven- tion at Fairbanks last week:
 "The report of the Committee on nominations just submitted re- conlmends that this convention en- dorse formally one of the three candidates for the office of Dele gate to Congress, namely, MT. Geo. Grigsby, MT. Zeigler and myself, and request one only of the three to file his declaration of candida cy. My motion, which has been se- conded, is to strike all of that par agraph of the report and substi- tute therefor a paragraph request ing all three to file. I wish now to state my reasons for making the motion and these reasons, I trust, you will find entirely convincing.
 Tn the first place, let me say here publicly, what you all know, that I have not sought this office. I should be pleased, indeed, if you could unite on either MT. GrigSby or MT. zeigler. know them both. For George Grigsby I have a very deep affection as well as admiration for his outstanding ability. He has served Alaska as it's Delegate to Congress. He was the candidate of the Democratic party at the election of 1880 and came within 300 votes of being elected. For Mir. Zeigler, although I do know him as we'll as I do Mir Grigsby, I have high esteem. His ability is recognized and, as l re- call, in the election of 1880 he re- ceived the highest vote of all of the legislative candidates for the House in the First Division. Both of these men are Democrats. My only regret is that although they participated in the divisional con- vention for the First Division held at Petersburg and were selected delegates to the Territorial conven- tion, they have not come here in person and have not authorized anyone to represent them After all, the amplest notice was given of the caucuses for the election of delegates to the divisional con- ventions and every Democrat who cared to do so had the widest op- portunity to make his voice and vote felt in the party councils. Of course, it is not claimed and will not and cannot, think, be claim ed that this convention does not represent the Democratic party i'll Alaska fully and fairly.
 Nevertheless, a s Grover Cleve- land once said, we are confronted with condition, not theory. Ac- cordingly to all of the signs as in terpreted by men skilled in politi- cal matters than am, this is a Democratic year in the nation and In Alaska. The people are tir- ed of the old shibboleths which have brought nothing but disaster and are looking for new leader ship. It certainly would be impoli- tic at this time to do or say any, thing which would tend to mar the harmony of the Democratic party in Alaska or elsewhere. What hap pened in Madison Square Garden in 1924 should be lesson enough to us all to avoid the least chance of enbittering anyone who really and truly belongs to the party and believes in it's principles, even though such 8 person or persons may be entirely in the wrong.
 "Since MT. Grigsby a n d MT. Zeigler apparently do not care to be responsible in this convention, though elected delegates, and both, as I understand 1t, have declared that they intend to file in the pri- maries as candidates for the office of deelgate, I think 1t would be a grave mistake for the convention to endorse anyone and that all candidates should be invited to file in the primary if they care to do SD.
 T will not pretend that I am ig- n0rant of the sentiment of this