Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, November 01, 1908, HALF-TONE SECTION, Image 17

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    Omaha
unday Bee
PART III.
A Ppr for th Hwii
THE OMAHA DEC
Best t1;. West
IIALF-TOIIE SECTION
PACES 1 TO 4.
VOL. XXXVIII NO. 20.
OMAHA, x SUNDAY
MORNING, NOVEMBER 1, 190S.
SINGLE COIT FIVE CENTS.
The
ONE DAY CAMPAIGN ROUNDUP WITH ALBERT W. JEFFERIS
Busy Honrs of Handshaking and Personal Appeal to the Voters at Their Work and Incidents that Show the Popularity of the Man Among All Classes of People
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AT THE BLACKSMITH SHOP.
OU'RE all right, Mr. Jefferta, but
I "Would not vot for you It I
had a vote. I think your party
la horrid." Thua apoka a young
woman at th David Cola
creamery.
Y
"sw. inixi nuai Kgnm on my iwuuuk
Thar la a brand new baby girl at my
house. Arrived early thla morning," aald
Harry Viner id the Union Paclflo freight
office.
"Oh, Just a minute, Mr. Jefferla. Wa have
little (iub up our way nut ao little, either,
for that matter, and it you could slip me
128" There were many of thla kind of
would-be touchea during the day.
It miy be a phyalcal Impossibility for a
candidate for congress to meet all the
votera in a dlatrlct ao largo and pop
ulous aa the Second frnbraaka, but
when the poll are cloaed Tuesday Albert
W. Jefferla will hare come aa near
achieving an Impossibility aa any man haa
yet done. To enumerate the number of
hands ha haa shaken would require the
constant attention and unremitting In
dustry of a first-class public accountant
and would be a task equaling the compil
ation e .' a directory of Douglas, Washing
ton an, I Earpy counties. If there la any
thin 1:1 personal acquantance and none
Will driy that there la "Big Jeff" will
sweep Into victory with an unprecedented
majority. '
In thee atrenuoua times the candidal
AMONG THE
for office rises wlh the lark to nab th
political worm and on the day when the
romarks quoted above were made to him
Jefferla was antlr aa early as anyone ex
cept possibly the drivers of mtlkwagons.
Bank presidents may have been, probably
were still vs.ea) ng a last forty winks, but
ti a rest cfythe world of laboring men of all
kinds was already hard at It.
Continuously for the next ten hours, ex
cept a half hour at noon, the candidate
as to be shaking hands, and mixing gen
erally with hla future constituents while
accompanying friends pinned buttons on
men alieady won by the personality of the
republican nominee, and endeavored by
sVeepiAg silent not to destroy the good Im
pression he had made.
There was a wicked and vicious ambition
on the part ot a couple of t)iee friends
to see how Mr. Jefferls would shine at
kissing a baby, for this may be held to
be the most sever ordeal which the can
didate for political office literally faces.
No , of course, that Jefferls Is altogether
Inexperienced, he has babies of his own,
and mighty pretty ones for that matter, but
It would conceivably make soma difference
whose baby he was klaalog. However, th
aforesaid malevolently disposed were
doomed to disappointment, the nearest to
a baby encountered during a long day
bring Master Wendell Culver, a 4-year-old
lesident of Clerinda, la., who was in charge
of his aunt. Thla must have been the sav
ing factor. The mother of aa lovely a little
boy would surely have Insisted on It. Other.
s Pf , W -ip M.. p"
' - ' - - "v - -- - '- -
wise the only juvenile matter of the day
waa the meeting with the young father of
a very young baby in the railroad frleght
office a proud, but not too proud parent.
But If any little mother had been en
countered who had put up her offspring to
be kissed, Jeff would probably have been
game.
Ha who would go out en the highways and
bywaya. In office, shop and factory in pur
suit of the often elusive vote, must needs
have a number of qualifications, a genial
smile, a warm grip of hand, a pleasant
word. If ha have what ia called charm,
natural magnetism or whatever it be, so
much the better, but th most potent
quality of all and the most necessary en
is an earnest liking for his fellow men of
all agea and stations. It is doubtful if th
average voter knows th intricacies of a
question of banking, finance or tariff, he
may be, th chances are, little posted en
th history of national or ven local poli
tics, but he is mtghtly acute at telling
whether the man who la approaching him
is on th level In th matter.
The situation Is at bottom on of per
sonal pride. If a candidate be Insincere,
if he does not at heart really like to meet
the men he Is meeting, these same men
know it in a second. "Aw! He don't give
a for us. He is simply trying to run
a Jolly. He can't put anything like that '
ever on me." That la -the way and the
BUILDERS.
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JOKES
A DEMOCRAT.
correct wy In w
hlch they
argue In such
cases.
Now, K. W. Jefferla happens to be blessed,
among other qualities, with as earnest and
honest a feeling of human fellowship as
any man in the state of Nebraska, and for
this virtue he will in large measure owe
hla triumph Tuesday. Not one of the hun
dreds of thousands of men whose hand he
haa ahaken in these weeks of the campaign
doubts that Jefferls was telling the truth
when he said he was glad to meet him;
not one of these, republican, democrat,
socialist or prohibitionist. In whom was not
bom at the instant hands clasped a gen
uine feeling of friendship for the candidate,
even If he was determined on principles
net to vote for him. It may be remarked.
In passing, that experience has shown that
the principle which will stand up against
personal acquaintance and liking baa an
unusually firm backbone.
One of , th first places visited on this
particular day was th blacksmith and
machine shop on Harney street owned by
Andrew Murphy it Son. . It was here that
Big Bill Heerley, he of the mighty sinews,
foreswore allegiance to all other candi
dates and enlisted forever in the Jefferls
cause. He quite naturally, however, turned
down one request made to him.
"You couldn't let me have that arm?"
asked Jefferls, admiring the play of thick
swelling muscle.
"I need It myself In this business," an
swered Heerley, who Is known to Italian
friends as "Blgga da Muse,"
"They are mostly democrats In this shop,"
aald Rod Murphy, a nephew of Andrew,
ui a republican himself. "Jefferls wUl
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COUMISSIOK DISTRICT
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... . r - . $ jj
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WITH THE FTJEIGHT HANDLERS.
nevertheless get M per cent ef the demo-
crats here and, of course, all the republl-
vans wtli tally for him."
Politics may grow a trifle hectlo even
In these daya, -but the time has long gone
by when ail the candidates on eaoh ticket
acowled at the opposition when by chance
they met. This feeling has, fortunately,
been burled In the aame grave with the
spirit which led a man to buy hla sugar of
a republican grocer, his clothes of a re
publican tailor, engage a republican doc
tor and was burled by a republican under
taker (the reverse case is, of course, also
true). That this Is so was Illustrated In
the meeting of Jefferls' and one Peter
Bowland, who is vainly seeking a place In
the atate assembly on the democratic ticket
Alas, poor Pete, we know him well!
Some precious minutes were spent with
out corralling any votes, while Jefforis
snd he exchanged the greetings of the
season and Inquired with apparent inter
est ot what the other thought of his own
chance. Unbounded optimism seemed to be
the keynote and all was merry as a mar
riage bell.
Progress down the street was resumed,
but progress is not a good term for it,
some word which suggests an infinitely
slow crawl, the celerity of a snail. Mr.
Jefferla was not dawdling and 'procrastina
tion ia no. In him. But how can you
make over a block an hour when fifty to
100 men catch your eye and rush up with
outstretched hand to ask earnestly for as
surance that you will be elected. More,
over, each and every mother'a son of them
stayed to tell In language of fervid earn
estness the fact ttua he was "for yoii
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GREETS THE GIRLS.
Mr. Jefferls, first, last and all the time."
"Mr.' Jefferls" was not nearly so often
the address as "Jeff," however. Some
quite young men used the title aa was
v fitting and respectful, but with" most, the
shortei1 sppellatton was the preferred, for
have they not known him as Jeff from
years ago when they played base ball to
gether and Is it not anyhow indicative of
a spirit at which no candidate for office
would sniff.
But all the men who wanted to take the
candidate aside for a minute to tull him
of that little club which could be swung In
line If Jeff would only come scross with
126 or so, all these Invariably began with
"Mr. Jefferls."
In spite of the many and far from un
welcome delaya experienced, Jefferls did
cover much ground. He visited t many
great mercantile houses, freight yards and
factories, and .the curious fact Is that he
would have had to visit them all, even If ,
he had not so Intended. For there was
not one place among the many where
some one In office window did not see him
first and raising the window or rushing
to the door, 1 beckoned him In. Cordiality
waa no name for It.
"Jeff overlooked no bets, as the slang
phrase goes, during the day. Ha passed by
no young office woman merely because
they have not votes, and this may be cited
as an instance of how Intricate a proposi
tion politics la.
"Well, I've got a democratic friend whose
going to vote for you, or have his number
taken away from him," declared a comely
little stenographer in the Allen Bros.'
wholesale grocery house. "That old Shal
leberger was in here the other day and he
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KAIt.TTO BX A CROWD OJ1
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THAT HA NX) GRIP
never took the least notice of us girls.
Burs I want a pin," she added to the of
ficial pin-bearer of the day, "and give me
another, too. I'll see that it is worn."
She got It
The small boy, always clamorous for
pins bearing the Jef ferls physiognomy, , was
not overlooked either, and he may be re
lied upon not to have taken the pin off
when the candidate turned his back.1
In a creamery and dairy supply house
occurred the only rebuff of the flay. A
pretty little girl, badly Inoculated with the
Bryan virus, volunteered the information
that she would not vote for "Big Jeff"
even if selfish men had enfranchised her
sex.
"Why, Viola, are you a democrat!" chor
used her co-workers, and the debate still
raged long after the candidate had left
' that floor. Verily the campaign haa
warmed up somewhat.
The young woman, to whose fidelity of
principle be all honor, was .most assuredly
an exception. In the course of a whole
day's campaigning, which included meeting
at least 800 men, but four Bryan buttons
were to be seen, and an accurate and ab
solutely .bona fide count showed eighty
seven lnslgna of Taft. Of the aforesaid
lonesome quartet, all. but one voluntarily
declared that while they felt compelled to
vote for the head of the ticket well, they
would net like to commit themselves defi
ALWAYS READY TO
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nitely, but they might scratch th ticket
In on important particular.
Many men declined to be Introduced to
Jefferla. This is not so startling as It
sounds, for it waa because a formality of
the kind was quit superfluous "Why. Jeff
and I have been good friends for ten
years" and they seemed proud of It, hand
ing out the Information with a pleased, air
to their less fortunate fellows.
With scores and scores of others, it was
this: "I have heard of you often, Mr. Jef
ferles, and I kind o' feel as if I knew you
before now." To which the candidate made
an Invariably effective reply.
"The railroad boys are with you te a
man!" shouted Theodore Livingston, when
he caught sight of his long-time friend.
"They couldn't be pried away from you
with a Jimmy and a crowbar and they'll
stick when you are up for re-election.'
Mr. Livingston first rsn an engln for
th Union Pacific ut of Omaha in ep
tember, 1867, and kept at it until he retired
with a record a tew years ago. His "Sue
port is worth any man's while, for they
don't make them more influential with th
railroad men than ta he. He chatted In
terestingly of days when he had to slow
up his engine to let hordes of Pawnees
cross ahead of the pilot and when antelope
were as thick as Shorthorns.
"I think there are a good many dem
ocrats : In here," said a member ef the
ANSWER QUESTIONS.
party when they approached th Byrt
Hammer dry goods house. Th democrats
must have all been out that afternoon or
else the speaker h4 the wrong "dope."
Still, a "good mam" U a reiatlv term,
after all, and th two men who wore Bryan
buttons out of the 150 in the building
were a good many compared to other big
business bouses visited.
Jefferls buttons were eagerly snspped up
at the U. S. Supply company; they were
In demand by every employe of the Car
penter Wholesale Paper company; freight
hustlers at the Burlington station and the
Union Pacific yards were even more eager
for them than the clerical staffs In the
mercantile houses, and a supposedly 4nex
haustlble supply threstened to flicker and
go out before the day ended.
But the buttons were only an Incident
Significant ss Is the desire to possess them.
It is nothing compared to the universally
volunteered pledges of support which were
heard on every Up:
"I live across the river and can't vote
for you, but I'll see that somebody does
for me." tt ,
"There sre four of us with votes at home
and every one III be cast for Jefferls."
"I ain't the kind that casts one vote snd
stops there. I'll see that all the boys 1n
my house .do.'
"If there is anbody I can see for you
let me know. Tell nio now or any time.'
These are ouly samples, but tnaJoetlve
(CuaUnued m Pag TnreeJ