The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-10-22


At the station the editor Of the, Daily
Press mounted to the top OF q freight car,
and made a brief speech. explanatory OF the
purposes Of the gathering. He was cheered
to the echo, and yet nobody expected 10 see
Sioux Falls, the largest city in the two ia,
South Dakota. Victory would have done
the city no good, and defeat worked 1t no
harm. 1t was simply a fight made because
Sioux Falls people didn't propose to have
lots Oh little places In line, while the largest
city In the State was left out.
II kept in line to the last.
:, IL was very amusing to a stranger to see
the ODD ways In which local pride manifest
ed itself. The oldest was when every other
man you met wore a necktie with "Sioux
Falls Tor The Capital printed on its front
Prohibition was an Issue, and a real one.
because the advocates Of the mt asure had
the liquor interest to fight Sometimes Ia
the East men come to think that the liquor
interest Is very much like the money power,
the Greenbackers were In the habit OF inyit-
be polished off In three rounds, but In the
West it has a real existence. and tried TO
make a fight. did make a fight, and very
likely might have won IL 1t had been content
to have made a fair fight; but at the last
there was altogether too large registration
for the place, an over-production OF voters
not to be accounted for. and the popular in
diguation led to reaction calculated to help
on the prohibitionists.
No third party was In the field. nor was
ure. and yet the fight IN Its favor was kept
up to the close. The Call, a daily paper, was
started in the interest Of prohibition, and
managed with ability, IL with too much Wig
or. Sam. Small was imported from the
South and spoke all over the State.
And such speeches as he made were never
heard In a political campaign before. or ever
likely to be again. No more to be reported
than any other disjointed, unconuected talk
would be, and yet they had q marvellous ef-
feet wherever he went. A Sioux Falls paper
tried its hand on report Of one Of his clos.
ing speeches, with this result. "Mr. Small
said the devil is able to floor the greatest of
human intellects, and that 1t Is Of no use to
argue with his badness, inasmuch as argu-
ment Is his special field. This statement
perhaps explains why Mr.. Small bimself
assertions. @ Mr., r. Small i made I'll the s Campaign H
attractive, and perhaps saved the prohibito-
~ amendment
Election day brought everybody out In
Sioux Fall. In fact they could have hardly
been said to have been In for some days, for
politics was the only thing attended TO ex.
cept building great blocks-the word Is used
in the Portland sense this time. The polling
places were crowed from morning until late
in the afternoon. The w. G. T. u. took
very active part in every wald, and the
oCuOOi CLliuIbn WtIc lOIm6u III HUG, anu
marched about the streets. They halted In
front of every polling place and sung SONGS
the burden Of which was, "Vote for prohi-
bition." The walls of the polling places
were covered with the prohibition notices.
and once in while one could hear, "Hurrah
for Neal D0w," not always token. howey-
or, that the shouter was vigorous prohibit
Zionist, as some of the Maine men who didn't
vote that way, seemed to feel called upon to
honor the the distant chief Of the prohibito-
ry movement, but good many Of the cheers
for Gen. Dow were meant to do honor to the
to the cause and the leader.
The amendment was adopted, and when
the laws are so changed as to reach the case,
the liquor traffic will go out Of sight, and the
signs will come down from over the doors OF
the saloons.
Minority representation was defeated. and
well 1t might be for against in was directed
some Of the best work Of the campaign.
Some OF the scenes at the polling places
when the meaning Of a YES or mo vote
regarding that measure was explained to the
voters, will bear reporting at any rate one
will.
Voter-l don't understand this minority
representation business. What does 1t
mean.
Leading Citizen, (who believed that to the
victor belongs the spoils)-n means that II
all paties will be elected to the legislature and
Voter-(Doubtingly) That seems to me to
be about right.
publican ticket.
Voter-I always do that.
Leading Citizen-Then your vote would
help elect one Of the Democratic candidates
Voter-lPerplexed) Say it over slow. III
yote-the-Republican ticket / help -elect-a
Democrat.
Leading Citizen-If this provision OF
the constitution Is adopted such will be the
case.
Yoter-Put in no for me.
One Of the strangest things about this
election was the fact that the best citizens,
and the men OF the greatest social distinc-
tion were at the polls all day. Even Judge
Tate, of the great firm of Pettigrew & Tate,
spent almost the entire day at the ward
room, where he was accommodated with q
chair. and where he explained the minority
representation business to several hundred
OF his perplexed fellow citizens.
:, AND when the result was announced, Tor
the first time in the history Of the world
everybody had something to rejoice over,
and nobody was quite defeated, for III a fell
low didn't want prohibition In his, or was In
favor OF minority representation, or would
have liked to have seen Sioux Falls made
the temporary capital, or even would have
rejoiced over Democratic victory, still he
could say that his candidate for United
States senator had been by the work of the
day put beyond the reach Of defeat, and
Frank Pettigrew had been the leading issue
OF the campaign after all. The next day the
fight was forgotten, and the city resumed Its
old driving, pushing, busy air 1t had worn
before 1t had turued its entire attention to
politics.
There never will be another such an elec-
tiOn in South Dakota. The next time poll
tics won't be divorced from party, and there
will be no such era of political good feeling.