St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-05-25
after The LOAN.
SOOTHING SOFT SOAP FOR
MR.. MERRIAM.
The Innocent Victim of Loren
Fletcher's Wicked
Deals.
AS Speaker of the House He
Proved Himself the Friend
Of the Farmer and
Laboring Man.
AS Lamb-Like, Guileless, Art
less as a Maiden of the
DeWy Meadows.
St. Paul Dispatch, May 10. 1888.
CONVENTION SHADOWS.


vention of the Republican party may be
fruitful either of great and lasting in
jury to the fortunes of the Republican
party, or of enduring good to the party
and the people of the entire state, ac-
cording to the measure of wisdom dis
played by the delegates.
There are three gentlemen whose
names will come before the convention.
and to whom their respective followers
express unqualified attachment All
three are well known to the people.
Each has political record behind him
which is capable of the fullest scrutiny,
and two of the three, as business men.
are known throughout the state. The
third has no business career to point to.
unless it be that of officehOlding in the
name and by the grace of the Republi-
can party.
The conditions attending the present
convention are in many particulars SIM
liar to those which attended the Repub-
lican convention that met in this city
two years!ago. Mr.. McGill is now. as he
was then, the candidate of the machine,
at whose throttle stands now, as
he stood then, Loren Fletcher.
He is opposed now, as he was
then, by the commercial, industrial and
agricultural interests of the state, fact
which now, no more than then. appears
TO give him or his hackers the slightest
concern. No one has faith in him but
the office-hunters and office-brokers,
and they claim to hold the nomination
i'll the hollow of their hands.
McGlllS last nomination was brought
about by corrupt bargain and sale.
The chief danger which attends the Re-
publican party now is the name which
brought it to its knees two years ago,
when McGill was nominated. His nom
lnatiOn was at the last moment made
possible by deseItion and treach-
cry OF the country delegates. Gibbs,
who is now McGilPs railroad com
missioner, was then a candidate him
self for governor, as was also Lieut..
went down as Gibbs went up. and
who is now, unhappily for the people,
out OF public life, while Gibbs re-
lies upon McGill's denomination to
keep him i'll his present place of dictat-
ing reasonable rates" to the railroads.
VIII Albert Scheffer's very ardent
followers from the agricultural regions
now play the same trick, either with or
without his assent. as Gibbs did two
years ago, and combine with McGill to
beat Merriam at all hazards? Aye.
there's the rub! The thing will Ger
tainly be attempted, and if Albert
Schetfer desires to maintain his reputa-
ton for rectitude in public life, he will
see that it does not succeed.
What was the consequence of a like
political diclSer two years ago? The an
swer clearly fOretells what consequence
SlXmOnthS hence is certain to follow its
repetition now. McGill is still more
Wretchedly tarred with the stick of po-
lltlcal j0bbery and Office-brOkerage now
than he was then, and his nomination
would be as much of disgrace and as
palpable case of barter and sale as it
was then.
These are facts. They cannot be got
ten away from. The Republican voters
of this state want no more of Mr.. Nc
Gill. He is political stooI-pigeon. and
he has made his living off the people
and the party for altogether too long
period to warrant his being allowed
to make it for two years
longer. William r. Merriam's con-
duct in the last legislature proved him
to be the friend of the farmers and of
the iabOring men. That fact is unde-
niable. His labors since on behalf of
the state agricultural society, as its
president. have made that fact patent
to those who did not watch the
pioSIcSS VI JHe leglSlatlOn OF
the last session. If he is
to be beaten in the state convention he
will be beaten in an open and honorable
fight, or else the Republican party it.
self will be beaten. If Merriam is made
the victim of Loren Fletcher's deals on
behalf of his man McGill, and the Dem
ocrats have sense enough to make de-
cent nomination, the chances are ten to
one in favor of Democratic success in
the state.
Either Mr.. Schefer or Mr.. Merriam
would be fitting nominee of the Re
publican party. The latter, however.
has the advantage of standing squarely
on the Republican platform, while the
former goes into the convention han
dicapped by the crude. ill-digested
expressions of political principle
which have emanated from the
Alliance committee, and the meaning of
which is not known even to their
authors. Mr.. Scheffer, if he were Just
to his surroundings and associations
would stand square-toed in his oppose
ton to McGillS nomination. and would
. not allow it to be said of him. as it is
said on every street corner, that he is a
party to political combine" with Nc
Gill. in order to prevent the nomination
of William r. Merriam.