St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-11-03
RIGHT ABOUT FACE!
The Old Soldiers Pay Their
Compliments to Mr..
Merriam.
The $4,000 Hole in the State
Fair Finances They Had
to Settle.
Williams Sham Battle Racket,
and How It Was
Pk.yed.
His Course Condemned by
Men Cognizant Of the
Truth.
special 10 the Clone.

Special to the Globe.
ROCHESTER,, Nov. at is something
over two weeks ago that, acting under
certain information which l had re-
ceived, | addressed note of inquiry to
certain prominent G. A. R. men of
Minneapolis as to the prevalent feeling
among the old soldiers toward Merriam.
Not but what understood that the q.
A. R. is not political organization,
but the individual members of it are
often potent factors in determining
close campaigns. There has been.
since Nj. Merriam became president OF
the State Fair association, a prevalent
belief among many G. A. r. men that
he was no more a friend of theirs or
their cause than political policy would
necessitate. These letters, writ
ten by old soldiers and residents
of Minneapolis reveal how truly the
millionaire has been adjudged and OF
what nature he considers veteran to
be. Reproduce word for word the re-
plies forwarded to my inquiry:
Minneapolis, Minn.. Oct. 23.-ln
reply to your letter of Oct. 22d, l would
adopted by the G. A. r. as their candi-
date for governor, and in my opinion
he is not their choice, for they are not
satisfied with the way he tried to settle
with the &. A. r. in 1887. In
the first place he wished to settle
the first state fair sham battle
on the basis. OF $1,000 attendance, in
Guiding all of the carriages and buggies
on the fair grounds. Now, every man
vino was there thinks that there were
twice that number there that day. The
amphitheater, which seats more than
15.0OO, he wished to settle on the basis
of 10000. We know that the amphi-
theater was full and that more than
1000 persons stood in front of it on the
track. But we did no have the
selling of the tickets for the state,
though Mr.. Merriam did, and for one.
will never support such aeman for gov
ernor. If Mr.. Merriam runs the state
fair for seven days, and runs it in the
hole for SS. 900, as the treasurer and sec
retary told me he had, on the evening
before the sham battle, what will be
the condition of the state when his term
of office is out if elected. We claim
that the sham battle committee PAID
THIS INDEBTEDNESS and give it as one
of the reasons why we cannot support
Merriam for Office. Yours,
Z. B. HAWKINS.
LETTER NO. 3.
Still another old soldier writes:
Minneapolis, Minn., Oct. 23.-In reply
to your letter as to why MERRIAM IS
NOT THE CHOICE OF THE G.. A. r., will
say that the g. A. r. men have ex-
pressed no choice for either candidate,
being non-political body, but my rea-
sons for NOT SUPPORTING MERRIAM
are, that he was too closely connected
to the state prison ring controlled by
Seymour, Sabin IL Co.; that he favored
contract. prison labor; that he ,patron-
lied prison labor in building his own
residence to the detriment of honest
labor: that III the settlement of the
sham battle matter of last year he
PROVED HIMSELF NO FRIEND TO THE
EX-SOLDIERS;
that believe him deficient in execu-
tive ability in any other capacity than
banking, and that he and the conven-
ton that nominated him perpetrated
one of the groSSest OutrageS ever perpe-
trated in the state of Minnesota Oh Gov.
McGill, one of the best men the state
ever had in office, and this by the use of
money. And why am supporting
Wilson is because he is man of good
moral character, an honest man and a
man of intelligence and great executive
ability, and if elected will be with the
people, of the people ana for the peo-
Pile, and will not be controlled by few
young politicians who only care for the
Spoils of office. And believe that do
not stand alone among old soldiers,
either, in these views. Respectfully,
G.. w. CURTIS.
LETTER NOS.
Another comrade and veteran writes:
Droxypcx,;lIiIlo NIipp Oot 0n 1000
In answer to your inquiry in regard to
the q. A. R. men indorsing Mr.. Mer-
riam for governor, l will say that the
q. A. r. is not political order and will
indorse no man for any Office; BUT
THERE Is A LARGE NUMBER OF THE
OLD SOLDIERS WHO DO NOT LIKE MIR.
MERRIAM BECAUSE THEY THINK THAT
HE HAS BEEN DISHONEST WITH THEM
in his dealings with them in the year
1887. We get up sham battle at. the
state fair grounds, and we were to have
one-half of the gross receipts of that
day. But when we CAME TO SETTLE
WITH Mr.. MERRIAM (the president of
the fair association. he desired us to
settle Oh the basis of $1,000 people ON
the grounds. Now we think that we
can prove to the public's satisfac-
ton that there were at least
INlCE AS MANI SEOPLE OH
the fair grounds that day. The
two short line roads running to the fair
from the twin cities took alone between
$4,000 and $4,000 people. besides all of
those who disembarked from the three
roads stopping at Hamllne, and all of
those who came in carria geS. The
COMMITTEE THAT HAD CHARGE OF
THE BATTLE HAVE NOT HAD A SETTLE
MENT WITH Mr.. MERRIAM YET. We
had to give $4,000 bonds to Mr.
Merriam before he would do business
with us at all, and, although we
have paid all of our bills and fulfilled
all of our promises to him, he still holds
our bond and will not give it up. He is
a PECULIAR friend of the old soldier.
Besides this unfairness on his part, we
believe that he defeated the best friend
we had-Gov. McGill-unfairlv. We
like Eugene Wilson because he is an
honest, talented man, and was soldier
boy when his country called him. Re
spectfully, L. FL. TURNER.
Other testimony, if it were needed,
might be added to this to show the .old
soldier' feeling toward Merriam. Sham
battles, designed to catch their votes,
have not proved so profitable to either
Mr.. Merriam or the state. II. I.C.
A LAST RALLY.
Rochester Celebrates the End