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About The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 1904)
Vol. XVI. LINCOLN, NEB., SEPTEMBER 8, .1904. No, 1G OUR. mm YORK LETTER Weekly Letter on the- New York Situation by Hon. Henry M. McDonald. Editor Independent: In this, - the first of a series of weekly letters, which I shall be glad to write you until the close of the campaign, relating to the political situation in the eastern states, and more particularly the state of New York, I think it may be of Interest to your readers to briefly state the polit ical conditions existing in this state. The state ot New York polled for presidential candidates in 1900, 1,535, 043 votes. The total electoral vote of the United States for that year was 13,874,970 so that this state jpolled more than one-ninth : of the entire electoral vote. The magnitude, of this Vote indicates the vast'amount of work required to canvas the state, and also the small 'percentage of Votes which is needed to-shift the electoral vote of the state from the republican to the democratic column; or vice versa. The managers of " these parties recognize fully the importance of the vote of this state. The democrats unhesitatingly acknowledge that Mr. Parker can not win without, the state, while on the other hand the republicans, although they claim' that it is possible that they can win without the electoral vote of New York, at the same time concede that it is probable that Roosevelt will be defeated if he loses In the empire state.. Consequently this state will be the hardest fought portion of the bat tlefield of 1904. Both parties knowing this are using the 'most strenuous ef fort to advance their canvass in this state. - - ? Referring to the closeness of the vote of this" state in a normal elec tion, I may say that we have not had an election in which the republicans and democrats gave fair expression to their natural party preferences since 1892 until' 1902, when ex-Comptroller Coler, of this city, ran as democratic candidate for governor. Mr. Coler was -entirely acceptable to the radical dem ocrats, or Bryan men, having, sup ported Mr. Bryan earnestly in 1896, and 1900, being in the first mentioned year the largest contributor to the cam paign fund in this state. On the other hand, Mr. Coler being a New York banker, coupled with the fact that national issues were not prominent in the campaign , of 1902, secured, practically all of the so-called gold democratic vote, which defeated Mr. Bryan in this state in both 1896 and 1900. In a poll of 1,357,873 votes, Mr. Coler was defeated by only 8,803 votes, which "plurality was entirely caused by local fight which Senator Hill had on his hands in Albany, Rgns selear and Clinton counties. It" will be noted, a change in the vote of less than two-third3 per cent would have elected Mr. Coler. This poll, as I have indicated, shows the closeness of the vote of the two great" political parties of this state. ; , , The managers of these parties, real izing this closeness of vote, view with great concern the organization of an independent party. Radicals of this state more especially the most earnest supporters of Mr. Bryan in the two last campaigns, knowing the pivotal position of the state, and believing it their duty to stand for radical princi ples under any and all circumstances, have determined to organize a peo ple's party in the state, for the pur pose, . not . so much of defeating Mr. Parker, although it is believed that will be the result, of the organization movement which will in 1908, or at the latest in 1912. place an exponent of Jeffersonian democracy in the pres idential chair. . I say, , organize a people's party, since that party which polled in this state in 1892, 16,429 votes, and in 1894, 11,049 votes, passed out of official ex istence in the state !n 1896, since no people's party candidates were, as was the case in many other states, nomi nated in the last mentioned year, in the state. Consequently, the party did not poll 10.000 votes in this state, vhichvote is necessary in order that a party may claim a place on the of ficial I allot. - ; a In order to secure such a place 'again, the stale statutes "require the verified signatures of not less than fifty voters in each of the sixty counties of the state, and in addition a sufficient num ber of such signatures to make up. a total of 6,000. As a matter of fact, in order to guard against the failure of any county petition, through the at tack of the democratic managers upon the validity of some cf the signatures, which attack will surely be made, it is proposed to obtain not less than 100 signatures in each county, and not less than a total aggregate of 10,000. Your readers wiir see at a glance tire vast amount of work and the very consid erable expense involved in this under taking. Directly after the masterful speech of acceptance of Mr. Watson, delivered at Cooper Union, this city, on August 18, preparations began to be made for putting the above ticket in the field. . ; With this end in view, and in order that a close canvass of the state may be made by the people's party, county organizations have been effected In all counties in the state, in which cities of importance are located. Some of the strictly rural counties have -also been organized,- and the organization work is being vigorously pushed in the remainder of such counties. In prosecuting the organization of the counties, some significant results have developed. For example, in Chau tauqua county Ernest Cawcraft, the secretary of the regular democratic county committee, resigned some two of the party, as to further a politicalJ weeks ag0 organized a new couuty committee and ha3 already, secured the pledges of -about 1,000 democrats to vote for Watson and Tibbies. Mr. Caw craft writes that the regular demo cratic county committee in his county is practically disorganized, and that the same results will be achieved in three or four adjoining counties within the next thirty days. c r i New York' countyi which polled 346, 542 votes in 1900, or about a two-fifths greater vote than the state of Ne braska In that . year, has ' organized with a county committee of forty-five, vuich number will be gradually i in creased to about seventy-five. The 'of ficers'", of the county committee are Ijouis B Parsons, chairman; H..C. S. S'timpson, . vice chairman John R. Waters, treasurer; W. J. Fitchett, sec retary; and George M. Everett, ser geant at arms. An executive commit tee, composed of seven members of the county committee, has also been elected. The officers of this committee ate M. G. Palliser, chairman, 100 Wil liam street. New York; H. C. S. Stimp son, secretary, 25 Broad street, New York; and John R. Waters, treasurer, 46 Cedar street. New York. Additional members o the committee are Ed w a-.d Polak, S. G. Levy, John J. Young, II. M. McDonald, George W. Thorap-s-oa. and L. B. Parsons. A convention .will be held upon the 12ta Inst for the nomination of a full electoral and state ticket. Immedi ately thereafter, signatures will be ob tained for the verified petitions, which I have described. , As indicating the concern which a people's party movement vin this state is exicting among democratic party managers, I may say that cx-National Committeeman Chairman Jones of Ar kansas, ex-Secretary Walsh of Iowa, National Committeeman Johnston of Kansas, and. other prominent Bryan democrats, who until within the past few days have been entirely ignored by Taggert, Sheehan, McCarren, Ni coll and Belmont, who have been in exclusive control of national demo cratic headquarters, have been hur riedly summoned to New York, and are now installed at democratic na tional headquarters In many instances on fat salaries. These men are en deavoring in every way to check the movement in this state for the organ ization of the 'people's party. They will not, however, succeed, as the men leading the ' movement can not .be bribed, cajoled or coerced. They are in the contest to the finish and fully expect to poll from 25,000 to .50,000 votes for Watson and Tibbies. Preparations have been mad! to put a full electoral and state ticket in the field in Connecticut. These, tickets, which have been partly, made up, will be fully completed within the next ten days, .' . , "- A convention has been called for New Jersey, to meet at Long Branch on September 10, at which .a full peo ple's party tlckeC both electoral and state, wfll he nominated. . The outlook is, certainly very en couraging, and bpdes well for the fu ture of the country. henry m. Mcdonald. New York, N. Y. , Jiidge Th drill's Cedl To Arms Tells Why He Will Vote For Watson and Tibbies. Asks Dissatisfied Dem erits to Call Another Convention Immediately "following the Cooper Union meeting 'at New York, after reading, Mr. Watson's speech of ac ceptance, Judge Tharin of Washington wrote Mr. Watson the open letter which appears below. Since that time Judge Tharin, after carefully consid ering theituation, has come to this conclusion: That a call should be made for a national convention some time during the latter part of this month, signed by every dissatisfied democrat who is up in arms against the Parlcerizaion of his party, whose signature can be secured, the conven tion having for its object the ntter re pudiation of what was done at St. Louis and the' formal endorsement of Watson and Tibbies. In a recent letter to Secretary De France of the national committee Jmtee Tharin says: "The strategic movement Is this: The rapid arrangement of a (radical democratic convention' to repudiate that of St. Louis and to re-adopt the democratic platfurm of 1900, and then to endors T. L Watson, etc.. and ad journ to work Individually for our can didate. . "Your commllte will confer upon mo th. greatest favor by at once as-ntx-lailn'X with my humble nam at many other name as ohlblt mi as to ofit ths acceptance of I loose volt and Parker as to tlm it polh!, and, anvhow, to nt through with the convention bv November. "that sir, look at the apathy now nUKtiatln th Mood of the demo cratic party! Th reatft event of the world hav been Midden. Victory even prolabl to eiiterprMng t tlv Ity, when tut pt J IndlhVreitf would otherwise leave opportunity unappro priated. ' ' ---j, : "Your committee can doubtless find enough names of dissatisfied democrats who vculd issue the call. Dissatisfied democrats , would respond. The con vention would ensue. From the time the cali was made until the true de mocracy speaks, repudiates St. Louis, and with a democratic platform en dorses our candidate, the conditions will change more and more in the right directions, and victory itself would be in reach, if activity keeps the start after beginning." ( Judge Tharin seems cognizant of the fact that a large number of dissatisfied radical democrats would come out openly for Watson and Tibbies if they were certain that others would step out and stand with them. Ills plan for holding an unofficial and Informal national convention to repudiate Par ker and endorse Watson, Is to afford the opportunity for thousands of these democrats to step out together. Ev ery radical democrat who is either actively or passively in rebelllou against the Parker -llclmont- Hill crowd Is Invited to write Judge Thar in (addressing: U. S. Tharin, 1220 IVnna ave N. V, Washington. D. C.) Riving him authority to inn the pro poned call. Jtidise Tharin'n open letter to Mr. Watson Is one of th classics of this campaign. Head It and rtnelve new Inspiration: Till: "OPEN LLTTKR." WalinfiUonf H. .. Aug. 1 Hon. Thomas K. Watson. My Ifc-ar Mr: Your a perch of acce plane I open lfor ni In lh column of th Washington Pof. Th present writer did all h could to ten! front thU anomalous town to the 8t. Louis convention xl delegate Instruct! (of William It. Ileartt. On the eve of the assemblingof that non descript "convention," it1 came to my mind (how I need not say) that the "two great parties" were one and the same anti-Roosevelt party and that a change of men and a continuance of the "republican" system of Wall street plutocracy, had been secretly agreed upon for years before the time came for making nominations. Roosevelt was the wolf whom the republicans caught, as was , very well said by the gentleman from North Carolina, whom his captors "could not hold on to and could not let go." So they held on to him at Chicago in ofder to let him go at St. Louis. The mute fctander turned out to be a pat-stander for all the republicans are concerned about Wall street plutocratic supremacy by the sagacious expenditure of money. When I saw the monster protruding his horns from the womb of the St. Louis convention, I was ho disgusted that 1 immediately renounced all party affiliations and became a social demo crat, a Christian socialist. My Intense Americanism exposes me to the criti cism of these socialists whose "coun try Is the world, and not America." I believe that I ought to have waited longer; and my present purpose Is, In view of the tremendous confusion causer! by the St. Louis abortion, to tvU and correct my own action. Surely when such a sotmrsault has been iTpt rated by Uio pretended democrat at St. Louis, I am JustlfltHl in taking a hoImt ond t lunula and In hit i nit! with tit tru4 American -rial democratic party, t.: th jho P tatty, Renerally known as popu I! ffii. Ctlirs tuajr m In ttti ti an ctju, worth following. lUt ranltdats of th ppullst or tnr th popV pir!y ar to all hih'Ms and purMs tolKtlviau for IMipular ovrrlj5nty. tadtvtdtulUts for democratic liberty and patriots for the restoration of sovereignty in practice to the sovereign people of the United States. Another rpason for mv oresent ac tion is the Fabian policy of the social ists, who seem to think that to seize upon the opportunity of 1904 is "op portunism" and it i3 a tre-son to so cialism in its international capacity to anticipate their world-wide revo lutlon by an American victory, " Another reason is that the class consciousness of the socialist's is ua American. Here we are "one people" and as such declared our sovereignty and independence This was recog nized by all the nations of the earth. A citizen of the United States is the peer of the crowned head of any coun try In the eastern hemisphere and this is , the consciousness which ought to array the entire people in the people's party against the art I racialism which seeks to classify our population Itto an upper stratum of a few plutocrats, a middle stratum of well-to-do', and a lower stratum of the producers of the wealth of which they are to be deprived by class-con. loudness of the European kind, as If the peopte ore subjects, and their oppressors the on man power and Its historical concom itants. I tntlte all American fltUns who are of the truth and who aplr to the '"Keneral welfare," In contra distinc tion to th wdfare tf th KnraU. to crowd to th polls and tot for Wat son and Tibbie, as th next president nd vice president of thu I'nltM Slates, Th Jtuddisnc of th blow will crvstallU all good titUcnt on th nlde of ontltutlottal Hborty, and Uiatlon In all wholseaom direction! mut ftillow to l othlintly rtfcutl by th tul'f ciccuUve without rfr