Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-03-14

Special Correspondence Of the Chicago Tribune
i DEs MONIES, Ia., March 3.-Those
fellows who carry offices around in
their breeches pockets are coming to
the front, and Gubernatorial candi-
dates are numerous The $1,000 Re.
publican majority in this state throws
all the work Of office-getting into the
period Immediately before and at
the State Convention. A nomination
is equivalent to an election, every
time,-leastwise such has been the re-
suit but careful observer may see
elements now at work in this state
which will reverse that.
AT the close Of the last Legislature
it was generally admitted among the
members that John II. Gear, the
Speaker, was to be indorsed as candi-
date for the next 'Governorship. He
has since that time been q candidate.
Others have also been named: Sena-
tor George G. Wright; Representa-
tives James Wilson and james Nc
Dill Gen. J. B. Weaver; the Hon.
John Shane; s. M. Ballard, of Au-
dubon the Hon. M. T. Williams, Of
Mahaska; Buren, r. Sherman, State
Auditor; Robert Smythe, Of Linn
county, and Gov. J. G. Newbold, ad
interim.
These are good names, and most of
them familiar to the people; but
Wright, Wilson and Shane, positively
refuse to be candidates. DIR. Bal.
lard is reported to have the backing
of Kirkwood's friends, presumably
referring to his friends as developed
In the Senatorial contest last winter.
It will surprise good many to know
that in the bargains and sales made
in that contest, the Gubernatorial
Office was among the conditions pre-
cedent. It remains to be seen how
much foundation in fact there is for
the declarations of DIR. Billiards.
friends. While this remnant of the
Kirkwood Senatorial leaven is work
ing to raise Mr.. Ballard, it should be
remembered that another Senatorial
contest is approaching, in which
section of the State will have hand
which can make more noise, pull
more wires, and manipulate more
combinations, in given time, than
any other section have yet seen in
State Convention. Its representatives
will come here prepared to trade, and
will swap Governors for United
States Senators, or vice versa. This
fact Mr.. Ballard's friends, with their
Kirkw0Od attachment, may as we'll
understand at the start.
Another element at work, and
which will have much to do with the
decision of the Gubernatorial ques-
tiOn, Is the temperance question. II |
has been demonstrated repeatedly |
that the majority Of the republican |
party in this State is in favor of pro-
hibition but lest peradventure such |
q measure as License law should be |
passed by bare majority, the tenn
perance people are determined to
place in the Executive Chair one who
will not sign such a law,-knowing
that if vetoed, it could not get
majority sufficient to set aside the
veto. To this end the State Temper
ance Alliance has been organized and
under the statutes, with
auxiliaries in every county and town
in the State. 1t is proposed to raise
100000, to be 80 invested as to fur
nish an interest fund, which, together
with other donations, will be used to
perfect the organization and carry
out its plans.
This element will be present in the
State Convention, so crystalized and
in such force as it never was before,
The Gubernatorial candidate will be
confronted with queries, to which he
must make categorical and unequivo-
cal answers. Promising this much,
it only needs the application to the
various candidates to judge Of their
probable success. The Temperance
Alliance will not support Mr.. Gear,
lit will support Gov. Newbold. The
latter has also the advantage of the
two-term rule in his favor, and is in
direct line of promotion. Mark you,
| am not passing upon the merits of
any person, but simply forecasting
the probable candidate for Governor
from present surroundings. From
what know of the other candidates
Opine that many of Mr.. Sherman's
friends were pledged to Mr.. Gear be-
fore Sherman was announced.
All things considered it is now
quite apparent that Gear and New
bold have the race between them.
Now it has invariably been the case
in this State that when the time comes
TO vote, the Prohibitionists have COM
promised their radical notions, ac-
cepted the candidate of the party,
md satisfied themselves with saying
that the Republican party is the tenn
perance party of the State. History
itself would give the nom
nation to Gear.
Since commencing this letter, see
it announced that Col. Smythe will
not be q candidate.