St. Paul daily globe., 1890-09-19
Opening Of the Campaign by
the Farmers Alliance
Candidate.
The Number of Men in His st.
aa1 Cloud Procession Very
no Large.
How Many Votes He Will Get
20 Is a Question Of the
Future.
Mr.. Gilman Does Not Desire
.#R al to Run Independently
d, for Congress.
Special to the GLOBE.

Special to the GLOBE.
ST. CLOUD, Sept. 1S.-St. Cloud is as
fiat as a -topographically 1
mean-for there is no f1atness in its
industries. 1t is one of the most ro-
bustous young cities in the state, filled
with people whose thrift is only
equaled by their hospitality. But the
site upon which the town is built,
and all the country around,
is a sea level. You can't get
a view of the city from any one point.
In order to see it you have got to go all
over it; yet you are repaid for the trip.
The villages of Arcadia could not sur
pass it i'll neatness and loveliness, as it
nestles down here amid the verdure
of field and forest. to be the crown
jewel of our Minnesota prairies
This is an unusually bustling time for
st. Cloud. 1t is the season of the an
nual Central Minnesota fair, and in ad-
dition to the attractions ordinarily Incl
dent to such occasions, this has been
made a kind of political convention by
reason Of the announcement that the
three candidates for governor were to
be present on successive days
and address the people. The
fair promises to be eminentlv
successful. The exhibit and the races
and the other fair features are good, and
the attendance on the opening day is
away ahead of anything in past years.
But with it all, there is more politics
than fair. Candidates big and little are
plentiful, and more people are dis
cussing tariff and railroads and DOODLE
ism than are talking about agricultural
exhibits. The opening day of the
fair was assigned to Candidate Owen.
and formally inaugurated the political
campaign of 1890 by making a speech in
advocacy of the claims of the Alliance
party. Gov. Merriam was to follow with
a campaign speech to-day, but rain pre-
vented, and to the disappointment of
the people of old Stearns, the banner
county OF Democracy. Jadge Wilson
will be unable to attend, being detained
by important business engagements
which cannot be cancelled.
! Sydney Nj. Owen, the Alliance candi-
date for governor, who spoke to-day, is
a striking looking man. He has an in
tellectual face and finely shaped head,
and talks a good deal as he looks. |
suppose there never was a candidate
before the people of Minnesota who had
a smaller personal acquaintance
than Mr.. Owen, yet his physique
is good introduction for him. He is
man to make d good impression on any
audience, for he wins his way by the
courtlineSS of his manner and by the
faultlesSness of his speech. The pierc-
ing black eyes and the youthful face
are supplemented by hair and mus
tache of snowy whiteness. He is man
of robust frame and | would judge that
both his conscience and diges-
ton are kept in good repair
Mr. Owens style of speaking is wholly
argumentatiye. He makes no effort at
rhetorical flourishes, and yet some of
his sentences are as ornate as it is pos
sible to polish the English language.
He shows inexperience i'll political cam
paigning, yet think by the time the
canvass is mace he will have learned to
mingle humor and anecdote with statiS-
tical research sufficiently to entertain
the most cosmopOlite audience.
Mr.. Owens speech yesterday was adj
mitted by all to be an exceptionally
able and forcible presentation of Alli-
ance doctrine. 1t bristled with statistics
compiled from the most authentic
sources, and they made an awfully bad
showing for Republican domination.
The three deformitieS of the body poll
tic which engaged his attention were
first, the tendency to conceal property
from taxation; second, the robber tariff.
and third, the watering of railroad
stocks. He demonstrated by census
statistics that up to 1860 at no time was
the aggregate wealth OF the nation more
than 20 per cent in excess of the pro-
perty listed for taxation. Now it is more
than 800 per cent i'll excess. In other
words, while the aggregate wealth of the
nation is sixty-fve billions there is only
sixteen billions subject to taxation.
The other fifty-four billions are hidden
away in the Golfers of the mlllienaires,
who have accumulated their wealth
under the operations of the protective
tariff laws.
Mr.. Owen portrayed the protection
tariff policy by an apt yet homeiy illus
tratiOn which conveyed his meaning to
the most obtuse mind in the audience.
Suppose" said he, that one of your
st. Cloud merchants should make this
kind of a proposition to the people of
Stearns county: Here, l have a con-
tract l want all of you to sign. 1t
provides that you shall pay me 45
per cent more for my goods than l am
now getting. This will enable me to
pay you more for your farm products,
to pay my clerks and employees better
ter prices to the tailOrS and the shoe
makers. So you see the contract is for
our mutual benefit. come up and sign it."
You take the contract and examine 1t and
you find that while you are obligated
to pay the As per cent increase on the
price of goods, there is no obligation
compelling the merchant to pay you
more for your farm stuff or to increase
the wages of his employees. You call
his attention TO this omission, and in a
fretfui sort of way he insists that you
shall sign the contract because it will
enable him to do so and so, if he is
inclined that way. Would you sign
Not a bit OF it. And yet tnat
is precisely the kind of contract the
American people have been signing for
the last thirty years, Obligating them
selves to pay the manufacturers all in
creased price for their goods, and the
people getting nothing in re-
turn excepting bare promises
that are never fulfilled And
to-day, through their representatives in
congress, they are about to sign new
contract more stringent and more ridic-
lilous than the former ones. Down In
my heart of hearts believe the Ameri-
can people are the biggest fools on the
face of the earth.'
Mr.. Owen regarded the system of
watering railway stocks as the grossest
of the three detormitieS on the body
politic. Again he brought statistics
Into active play to show the extent to
show the disproportion of railway
wealth to the actual amount invested in
railway construction. He paid glow
ing tribute to the utility of the railway
service. and spoke of railroads as God
given bounty. Yet the railway manag-
erS step in between God and his child
rem to rob the latter of the blessings
their Heavenly Father intended to be-
stow.
The speech occupied an hour and
twenty minutes in its delivery; yet,
under the circumstances, the attention
OF the audience was phenomenal. 1t is
always Il difficult matter for speake:
to hold ali outdoor audience, and this
difficulty Is increased when there are
so many other attractions as one will
find at a fair. Although his speech was
largely made up of statistical and his
tOricai matter Mr. Owen kent the midi