The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-07-20
DEMOCRATS RATIFY.

American industries and American la
Dor"
DEMOCRATS RATIFY.
Ex-senator wilkinson and Lars M
Rand Address a Shiny At
tended Meeting.
The great ratification meeting which
the Democratic club has been advertis
ing for a week or more came off Saturday
night at the opera house Ifthe mana
gers of the affair expected to have full
house, and they did SO expect, they
were greatly disappointed. A vast ex.
panse of empty seats stared the speak.
ers in the face throughout the evening
The Germania band had been hired to
scare up crowd but not even its music
had any charms, for although ii played
in the street and in the building mum.
Der of times the crowd did not increase
The time for beginning the demonstra.
ton was delayed half hour in the vain
hope of an increased attendance, but
when finally the speakers and few To-
cal Democrats marched upon the stage
there was an exceedingly limited audi.
ence scattered throughout the rear OF
the house. Many of these We're Repub.
licans who were attracted through curl.
osily. Few young men and no ladies
were to be seen. Tie excuse that rain
was feared could not apply. Portraits
OF Cleveland and Thurman decorated
the stage as did also two American flags
The bandana had been banished. The
tall, slim figure of ex-senator Wilkinson
was the first to appear on the stage
closely followed by the short, chubby
form of Mr.. Rand.
When Mr.. w. b. Davies, chairman Of
the Democratic club, stated the object OF
the meeting there were but fourteen
persons in the parquet by actual count
and less than half dozen others after
wards moved into it from the rear.
Throughout the evening little knots OF
two, four and half a dozen arose and
struggled out Of the building.
Lars nj. Rand, assistant city attorney
of Minneapolis, was the first speaker.
He was received with little futter OF
applause. Indeed, the slim attendance
cast such chill upon the spirits of those
present that it was mighty hard work to
get up any applause during the evening
and that little was of a very perfunctory
kind that fitted but momentarily across
the audience and then died away.
Mr.. Rand is very short, chunky man
with a rather fiorid face, wears his hair
pompadour and was clothed in q black
broadcloth suit. He spoke in a forcibie,
clear tone of voice which he
emphasized by violent nod
ding of the head and bending forward.
He opened by predicting that Mug.
wumps would increase this year and ex.
pressed himself glad that there would
be no mudslinging. He then reviewed
and compared the achievements of the
various candidates. In speaking oil
Harrison number of exploded charges
were made under the shield of "they
say" so and so. A reference to his
CHR csc record didn't raise the expected
applause. The charge that Mr.. Rand
considered most damaging was that
"they say" that Harrison once said
when a riot of laboring men was taking
place, that he favored calling out the
militia and shooting the rioters if neces.
sary. The speaker could not find any
charge to make against Morton. He
greatly lauded Cleveland and said that
he had carried out every reform which
he had promised and even others which
the party did not think it possible to
accomplish. He admitted that all his
appointments had not been satisfactory
He attempted to defend Cleveland's
pension veto record and spoke of his
industry and thought that it had saved
hundreds of thousands of dollars be.
cause the heads of departments should
have respect enough for him to work
themselves and save some clerk hire
After making this wonderful announce
ment the speaker took up Thurman.
This subject aroused both the speaker
and audience. They forgot all about
Cleveland and for the first time there
was some real enthusiasm shown. The
real head of the ticket was proved
There wasn't so much to defend and
whitewash. The speaker made rather
frequent use of such catchwords as polit
lea. jobbery, monopoly, etc., but they
didn't "catch" worth a cent. He Their
took up the platform of the two parties
and devoted the remainder of his speech
to the tariff. He accused the Chicago
platform of declaring for an increase Of
tariff on the necessaries of life and fav
oring free whiskey and tobacco. This
matter caused him to get considerably
wrought up. Not being complete mas
ter of the language he often said that
which he really didn't mean. For in.
stance he once referred to an article al
having Al tariffs imposed upon it, in.
stead of a tariff of AZ per cent. He
made many wearying explanations o.
the working of the tariff and really
proved that it wasn't such very bad
thing after all. During this time many
left the room. He ended up by declar.
lug that the Democrats did not want
free trade and that the Mills bill only
made a reduction Of seven per cent. in
the tariff. He was sorry that he did not
have time to review the splendid re.
cords of Minnesota's three Democratic
Paul. Mr.. Rand spoke for an hour and
a quarter.
Ex-senator M. S. Wilkinson, of Wells
was then introduced and was received
with applause. He devoted himself
wholly to a discussion of the tariff and
an attack On the position taken by the
Chicago platform. All the old familiar
threadbare arguments were presented
and no new ones brought out. During
the course of his remarks q great many
men left the room. Mr.. Wilkinson is
too we'll known a figure on our streets to
need any description. Age is beginning
to tell on him and the fire and enthusi.
asm that in campaigns quarter of q
century ago marked him as one of Min
nesota's best stump speakers is now
nearly extinct. His head is crowned
with the SHOWS of time and his once
powerful and resonant voice is consider
ably cracked. Still his appearance at
tracted considerable interest, more es-
pecially as he is mentioned as proba-
BILE candidate for congress from this dis
trict on the Democratic ticket. His
speech was verv mild and was entirely
free from the partisan rabidness that
occasionally got into Mr.. Rand's address.
In the course of his remarks he read
an item which appeared in Fridays
FREE PRESS referring to the stand taken
by him on the tariff question when he
was u. 5. Senator. In answer to this he
that at the time the war broke
out he was in favor ofthe highest protec-
tive tariff to secure the constitution of
his country. After the war he had favor
ed reducing the tariff and he said he had
been for tariff for revenue only in the
senate as now. The tariff plank in the
RI publican platform of this district was
III 1870 the same as that in the present
National Democratic platform. Upon
that platform he was in that year max
ing Republican speeches. The burden
of the remainder of his speech was that
agricultural districts needed a reduction
of the tariff. He said that no Democrat
ic convention had had the courage to