The Washington bee., 1888-09-15
DEMOCRATS CRAVING
FUNDS IN OHIO.

A TEEL TALE CIRCULAR THAT FELL
IETo. II sTILE HAMS
New York Tribune: The Dpmo-
cratic party in Ohio seems to be in
= ,.aI siculaIly bad way.J. B. Town
srltd, the Chairman of the Ohio
State Democratic Executive Com
mlttpe. came on here recently To
confer with Mr.. Bficp. aud try 10
Get some money, supposlng, OF
course, that the Chairman of the
Democratic National Campaign
Committee would have "A tender
sllot IN his heart for the State that
gave him birth. Mr.BIice. it is said,
was willing enough to help him,
hut German and Barnum declared
it simply criminal TO waste money
on Oaio, when regular Democratic
States were in danger. So Mr..
Townsend was sent back empty
handed. The fir~t thing be did or
getting home. the locals papers de.
clare, was to discharge nearly all
the employees at his headquarters.
The most charitable reason fer this
was that there was no money 10
nav them. Then the desperate
Chairman sat down ani wrote
this strictly confidential circular
letter to the Postmasters OF ONO:
OHIO STATE DEMOCRATIC EXECU-
TIVE COMMITTEE, Columbus. o..
Aug. 16, 1888. - My Dear Sir: Pre-
suming that you would like TO un-
derstand thes ituation in o.. at this
inncture, | write TO you IN strlctest
confidence on the outlook. On a
recent trip to New York and Wash
ington we were deeply impressed
with the necessity of making an in
tense and vigorous fight in o. lnfor-
nation from a high authority con-
vinees us that the greatest atrug-
Ole ever made in American politics
will be fought on Hoosier soil. The
plan of the opposition is 70 colonlze
every possible floating vote from
Ohio i'm indiana. These high in the
councils of the party look to Us to
check this dangerous scheme.
Though hopeful of carrying the
State and placing 1T i'll the Demo
c:atic column our first and great
est object should be to keep every
Republican at home. In order TO
80 this will compel us to incur a
large expenditure OF money. To
obtain this we must look IN other
directions than assessments OH The
State ticket, which, as you well
know. will produce but a meagre
sum. You will no doubt be annoy
ed by requests for donations from
your local committees.
We sincerely regret that we are
forced 10 appeal TO your generosity
tor our committee, the only means
we have thus far received are do.
nations of 500 each from few
PostmaSterS. Letters III the nature
of a demand were sent out last
wear, which necessarily gave of
Tense TO many, and few indlscreet
individuals gave them 10 the press.
Therefore we hope you will give
your most generous consideration.
Letters of a similar character have
been forwarded only To those whom
we regard as the true and tried
friends of the party.
Knowing how well you appreci.
ate the fact that your term OF office
to a certain extent depends upon
this years result, we communicate
with you freely and in strict conf
dence. Anxiously awaiting your
early reqly, am truely yours,
j. B. Townsend, Chairman.
1t seems that there is still one
Republican Postmaster in the
Buckeye State, and as luck would
have it, the circular fell into his
hands, and he was heartless enough
to forward it 10 the National Repu-
plican Committee.