St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-10-22
RULED BY MONEY
Hollow Pretense Of Gov. Mer-
piam That He Is the Farm
er's Friend.
Ills Record Shows That He Has
Been Their Bitterest
Enemy.
Iudge Wilson's Bill to Protect
the Farmer From SWind-
ling Agents
Was Voted Against and Bit
terly Opposed Always by
Merriam.
Lysander Cook Tells How
Merriam Worked to De-
feat the Bill.
Let Farmers Choose Between
the Records Of the Two
Candidates.
A friend of the farmer.

DdI Is NIldG NJOf. MeIIldH las DIO-
fessed to be.
The records show that he was any
thing else. They show that he was al
ways arrayed on the side of money
power against the farmer. The jour-
nails of the legislature show that when
ever Judge Wilson was engaged in an
effort to secure legislation for the bene-
fit of the farmer and taxpayer, William
r. Merriam was busily and generally
secretly engaged in an effort to defeat
that slegislatioD. The following Incl
dent, all of which is matter of record,
will show where Merriam's sympathies
have always been:
In the fall of 1882 prosperous farm
er of Southern Minnesota went to Judge
Wilson's office and asked him to defend
him in suit brought to recover money
on note. The farmer insisted that he
never made such a note and knew
nothing about it. Next day another
farmer came in with similar case, and
so on. until five or six men had retained
udge Wilson, all in the same kind of
OuuSC w ISOu Ln0
notes and made up his mind that
the signatures were genuine and there
was fraud somewhere. He also ascer-
tanned that all of this paper, amounting
to about $4,000 was held by one man
in Winona. The investigation was con-
tinued until finally the whole story
came out. 1t appears that swindler
was travelling through southern Mime
sofa with various patent rights. He
would agree, for instance, to leave with
well-to-do farmer patent binder TO
be sold on commission, the farmer to go
to no expense, but to sell the patent, if
possible, deduct handsome commission
and remit the balance. A contract was
then made out and signed, and out of
this contract the swindler cut prom
lss0ry note. The note was disposed of
before maturity, and as against an in
nocent third party the farmer thus
swindled had no defense. Judge Wilson
law that farmers were every year being
swlndled in this way, and when he went
to the state senate in the session of 1888
he determined to
Remedy the Wrong
by new law. He accordingly intro
duced Senate File 236, Feb. Is. The
title was:
"a bill 10 declare bills, notes and other ne
gotiable instruments obtained by fraudulent
representations or articles, void in the hands
of other persons"
Judge Wilson pushed this bill vigor-
ously, and as 1t was an apparent benefit
not only to the farmer, but to every
class, it passed the senate without op-
position and went to the house. Here
III nupf with 81
whispered about:
''The banks are trying to defeat that BILL"
Investigation was made, and finally il
was discovered that the opposition to
the bill came from w. r. Merriam. then
member of the house. William r.
merriam. who now poses as the friend
or the farmer, was the man who labored
bard to prevent the passage of this bill
That was IN 1883, before the ambition to
be governor had entered his head.
But his opposition proved futile and
the bill passed the house. But even
then the effort did not cease. A resolu-
ton to recall it was passed, and there
was determined effort to reconsider
the passage of it. William r. Mer-
ram was the prime mover
In this effort. But Judge
Wilson was on guard and had a resolu-
tiOn adopted by the senate demanding
the return of the bill to the senate. 1t
became law, and the farmer is now
protected against the swindlers who
infested the state.
This is the law secured by Judge Will
son. William r. Merriam voted against
1t, and worked against it. These are
matters of record. The senate journal
for 1888, page l54, shows the introduc-
tfon Of the bill; pages 274-5 shows the
passage of the bill, every member of
the senate voting for 1t save one. The
house Journal, pages ~54S-9, shows its
passage in the house, w. R. Merriam
voting against it.
What friend of the former and of
the people is William r. Merriam!
Lysander Cook. of Good Thunder.
Blue Earth county. was a member of
the house at the time, and was i'm no
Sltlon to know of the opposition of Mer-
rlam, and of all of its details. He makes
the following statement:
MIR. Cooks Statement.
"During the session of 1883, Judge
Thomas Wilson, while in the senate,
introduced bill for the benefit and
protection of farmers. This bill met
with the vigorous opposition of William
il. Merriam and his friends. | refer to
the bill which provided that note OBJ
tanned by fraud could not be collected i'm
the hands of third or any other partv.
1t will be remembered that prior to that
year it was very common thing for
cloth peddlers, lightning-rod venders,
patent oats men and like schemers, to
20 through the country and take what
was pretended to be orders, but what
really and in fact were promises to
pay" certain sums, for which noequiva-
lent or fair equivalent was ever rem
dered. These notes would afterwards
turn up in the hands of some banker.
money loaner or broker, and the
farmer, if he had property at
tachabie, would be compelled to
pay them. The swindler who OBJ
tanned these notes always made big
profit, and the man he sold them to also
got big margin, two and three times
%hat he got i'll legitimate transactions,