The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-09-27
The Cause Of II.

The most absurd Of great many absurd
statements regarding the Maine election is
contained in the following letter from Frank
Smith, alleged to be merchant Of Saco, to
Chairman Brice of the Democratic national
committee:
enclose you extracts from Daily Standard to
inform you what had to do in the First District
of Maine and to congratulate yourself and COM
mittee on your judgment. We have made gain
Of about 1000 over the vote of four years ago.
Votes were freely bought In sums varying from
$40 70 $50 each. | am perfectly satisfied that the
election cost the Republicans from $50o,000 TO
100000, and still they have lost from 1884.
The statements here are so ridiculous that
it seems almost as if the purpose Of the au-
thor was, to use a bit of slang. Ito guy" Col.
Brice. Mr.. Smith had heard, perhaps. of the
Colonels experiences with the yeomanry of
the West, and how they had filed him up
with fables, and thought he would try his
hand at deluding the chairman. If that were
his purpose Mr.. Smith has reason to con-
graduate himself upon his success, for the
chairman promptly assimilated his story, and
then furnished it to the New, York World
Mr.. smith is perfectly satisfied, he says, that
the election cost the Republicans $685. OO or
100000. Now Mr.. Smith knows, if he
knows anything, that that statement is alb
surdly false, and the charitable view is that
he made 1t just to fool Chairman Brice aud
and show the country how innocent and
easily deluded a gentleman the Democrats
have entrusted with the management of their
campaign. As matter of fact the Republi-
cans had very little money, hardly enough to
pay the legitimate expenses of the campaign,
and as for paying $40 to SIS for Democrats.
in the first place they had not the money to
do 1t with. in the second place the price of
the Democrat who is for sale is very much
less than $40, and in the third place, the Re-
publicans are not in Tho habit of buying
votes even when the temptation exists,
and in this election there was no temp
tation, for the Democratic free trade
platform furnished the Republicans all
the capital needed to carry the State by
large majority. If there was unlawful use
OF money in the recent election the Demo-
Gratis and not the Republicans were guilty
of it. That the Democrats had plenty is
well known. Whether they used any of it
illegitimately we do not pretend to say, but
that the Republicans purchased their ma
jOrity in this district or in this State, or any
part of II, is utterly untrue.
There never was fairer campaign carried
on in this DISCREET or in this State, as far as
the Republicans are concerned, than the one
recently ended. 1t was prominently a
campaign of argument on the part of
the Republicans, and on the part of
the Democrats as we'll so far as we have
any trustworthy evidence. Mr. Reed
In this district, made the tariff the leading
issue, in fact almost the only issue. He dis
cussed the subject in all the principal agri-
cultural and manufacturing towns In his dis
trict. Democratic orators replied to him. 1t
was the subject too almost entirely discussed
by the newspapers. The voters talked of
nothing else. 1t was discussed in the work.
shops, In the stores and around the Preside.
With the campaign in the rest of the State
we are not so familiar but in this district it
was made almost entirely upon the tariff;
and the charge that money entered to any
extent into the result is false and absurd.
We do not have very exalted opinion of the
Democratic party of this district, but we
should be very reluctant to intimate, as does
this Frank Smith, that they can be brought
up like sheep; and the recent election fur
nished not the slightest foundation for such
an intimation. The Hon. William Emery
was beaten on the tariff issue. Possibly
some personal unpopulPrity may have con-
tributed something to the size of his defeat,
though inasmuch as his vote was about
equal to the vote of Mr.. Putnam who was
personally popular there is very little evil
dence Of that even, but the main cause of his
overwhelming defeat was that he stood upon
a platform which looked to ultimate free
trade. There never was a political contest
in which issues played larger part than in
the recent contest in this district; and the
verdict was an overwhelming reputation of
free trade and an overwhelming endorse
ment of protection. Look at the figures. In
1884, year in which the Portland Argus
says the Democrats made no fight Mr. Reeds
plurality was only 915. This year it was
over $500. Two years ago Mr. Reeds plural
ity was but LOO; this year it is
more than double. Personally Mr.. Reed
is not more popular than two wears
ago or four years ago. Undoubtedly since
his first election to Congress a good many
votes have been thrown for him by voters
not in sympathy with him politically ont
of admiration for his genius and his high
standing In the country. But there is no
reason to believe that he received any more
votes Of this kind this year than two years
ago or four years ago. The large unexpected
increase in his plurality can be explained
only on the ground that politically
more people were in sympathy with
him this year than ever before, and
this because he stood for protection
for American industries and American
labor, while his opponent represented a
policy which the people after full discussion
believed would be ruinous to both. This is
the significance of Mr.. Reeds big plurality
and no amount of Misrepresentation or