Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 17.djvu/216

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208 LESLIE M. SCOTT

are said to have wept. It was perhaps half an hour before Mr. Evarts, chairman of the New York delegation, could secure a sufficient silence to move that the choice of the convention be made unanimous."

In the membership of convention committees, the Oregon delegates were placed as follows: Committee on permanent organization, Frank Johnson; committee on credentials, Joel Burlingame ; committee on order of business, Eli Thayer ; com- mittee on resolutions, Horace Greeley; vice presidents of the convention (twenty-six others), Joel Burlingame; secretary of the convention (twenty-five others), Eli Thayer.

The Oregon delegates did not engage in the floor discussions of the convention, but the proxy delegates, Greeley and Thayer, did so briefly. Greeley moved that each State delegation pre- sent the credentials of its members and that any disputes be referred to the committee on credentials. D. K. Cartter, of Ohio, moved "to amend the proposition of a gentleman from Oregon or New York, Mr. Greeley, I am not sure which" (laughter) that all credentials be presented to the committee on credentials. Greeley answered :

"I accept the amendment of the gentleman from Maryland or Rhode Island, I am not particular which" (laughter and ap- plause.)

A short time later Greeley moved for a call of the States for the purpose of appointing a committee on platform, but with- drew the motion in favor of one from Cartter for appointment of such committee, one member from each State, by calling the roll of the States. The motion was laid on the table, pending permanent organization of the convention, and the committee was appointed at the evening session, the objection being that the motion then was premature. Greeley and Thayer urged immediate procedure for the committee, the latter declaring "The State of Oregon is now ready," but the matter went over.

When the committee on rules and order of business reported the order of the roll call, William D. Kelly, of Philadelphia, while defending the recommendation of the committee, that included the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska and the Dis-