St. Paul daily globe., 1890-05-08
DEMOCRATIC FOR KEEPS.

cleared away, the dead have been
buried, and the wounded cared for, we
are in better condition to take a dis
passionate view of the late municipal
contest, and to measure up the results.
Among the many absurd things said or
done by the Pioneer Press, before and
after the election, there was none more
ridIeulously absurd than the claim set
up in yesterdays issue that the result
of the election demonstrated that this
was clearly Republican city. This
proposition was contradicted by the face
of the returns, which showed the most
sweeping Democratic triumph that has
ever been won by the sturdy Democ-
racy of st. Paul. The attempt to lay
defeat at the door of the Republican
candidate for mayor was coWardly
evasion on the part of the Pioneer Press
of a responsibility that rested largely
upon its own shoulders, as an exceed
ingly lame apology for its own treach-
cry to its party ticket. An analysis OF
the vote will show that, so far from be-
ing a weak candidate. Col. KIEFER was
probably the strongest man that his
party could have nominated. At all
events, he ran ahead of his ticket-a
fact that was partially due to the perse-
cution Of the Pioneer Press. For the
sake of argument, we Will compare
KIEFER's vote with that received by
some of the other leading candidates on
the Republican ticket. KIEFER had TO-
21S votes, while MICH OILS had but 9.17l
and MILLER $500, so that KIEFER was
1000 votes ahead Hf his ticket. Then
compare the figures Of his vote with
those of the vote received by the Repub-
licau candidates for aldermen at large.
KELLER, the highest, had only 1858;
MICHAUD, the next highest. 9.156, while
Col. WILDER, the P. P.'s special candi-
date, came in under the pole with only
S,9S7, OF ,231 votes less than KIEFER
received. Judge BURR, who had the
largest personal following OF any candl-
date on the Republican ticket, was
nearly 800 votes short of KIEFER's vote.
These figures do not argue that KIEFER
weighed his party down to any censid-
cradle extent; but, on the contrary,
they seem to prove that he enabled the
remainder of the Republican ticket to
receive a larger vote than it was legiti-
mately entitled to.
1t is a part of the history Of the cam
paign that Mayor SMITHS majority was
reduced solely by the turn affairs took
after the Pioneer Press began to abuse
KIEFER. 1t was no fault of Mr. SMITHS,
nor Of the Democratic managers, that
this occurred, for it was merely one of
those misfortuues of political warfare
which cannot be guarded against, and
which cannot be counteracted after it
does happen. The Democrats had to
hump their backs and take what came
after the Pioneer Press broke away
from KIEFER.
1t is also worthy Of remark that Mr..
ROCHE, upon whom the Pioneer Press
poured steady fire during the entire
campaign, scored the legitimate Demo-
cratic majority of over 1000: and if
Mayor SMITH had had the same good
luck, he would probably have touched
the 5000 point.
The eyenness with which the entire
Democratic ticket went through is the
best evidence that st. Paul is Demo-
cratic city. It is true that in some To-
calites, as in the Seventh ward, for in
stance, goodly number of Republic
ans voted the Democratic ticket. But
this is Offset by the other fact that in
other localities, as in the Sixth ward,
for instance, an equal number of Demo
Gratis voted the Republican ticket. So
that when we come to even the whole
thing. up, we find that very modest
estimate will make this Democratic C
city by a clear 1000 majority.
Another matter worthy of notice is
that the Democratic vote is so equally
distributed throughout the city that
there will never be any danger of the
Democrats losing control of any depart
ment of the city government so long as
they make decent nominations. The
election of fourteen out of the seven
teen aldermen in the fairest election
ever held in the city is proof of our as
sertion. And with the kind of munich
pal administration that we anticipate
for the next two years, we are fairly
confident that at the next city election
the Democrats will have the full alder
manic represe ntation.
1t will be unanimously Democratic,
and Democratic to the core.