Republicans Ride to Spokane to Pick Judges — and to Fight Over Silver
The state GOP gathers September 19 to nominate two congressmen and two supreme court justices. But the real contest is over a free-silver plank, pushed hard by the mining counties around Spokane.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The Republican state convention is called to meet at the city of Spokane, September 19, 1894, at 10 a.m., for the purpose of nominating two congressmen and two supreme court judges. The basis of representation to the convention will be one delegate for each eighty votes and one for each fractional vote over forty, as calculated from the highest vote received by any candidate on the electoral vote of 1892 in the respective counties, and one delegate-at-large for each county.
The only state officers it will nominate will be two justices of the supreme court. Chief Justice R. G. Dunbar will be a candidate for renomination and will have a strong following. Had it not been for the division in Pierce county between the respective friends of Justice Stiles and Judge Pritchard, the second judge would in all probability have been awarded to that county. It is now probable, however, that the honor will go to Judge Thomas J. Humes. The numerical strength of the King county delegation, united in support of Judge Humes, will have great weight.
There will surely be a warm contest over the silver question in the platform. The silver mining industry of Northern Idaho and Northeastern Washington centers at Spokane, and the general sentiment there has been strong enough to force into the support of the white metal everybody aspiring to public favor. There is, of course, a similar sentiment in other parts of the state, but not nearly so strong and determined as at Spokane. It is to be hoped, however, for the good of the state and the party that the local enthusiasm will not be allowed to control the convention. The question is one of grave importance and should receive careful and candid consideration.
On all other questions the convention will doubtless be a unit. It will probably condemn the Democratic party for its free trade destructiveness and fix upon it the responsibility for the financial disasters which have overtaken the country since Cleveland was inaugurated. The removal of the moderate protective duty on lumber should be denounced as a blow at the staple industry of the Puget Sound country and in favor of the lumber industry of British Columbia.
“It is to be hoped, however, for the good of the state and the party that the local enthusiasm will not be allowed to control the convention.”
In 1894 the fight was over free silver; the party that could agree on judges and tariffs nearly split over whether to demand unlimited coinage of the white metal. Swap 'silver' for any modern litmus-test issue and the dynamic is instantly recognisable — a regional enthusiasm threatening to capture a state platform.
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