St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-08-28
The MERRIAM RING
Will Control Minnesota if
Nelson Should Chance
to Win,
For That Reason H. G. Stor-
dock Will Oppose His
Party.
Ignatius Donnelly Says Mel
son Is Not In IL This
Time.
Wisconsin Democrats Conf
dent of Scoring Big
Victory.

A distinguished looking gentleman
who wears Blaine button on the lapel
of his coat. talks in eulogistic terms Of
Ben Harrison and denounces the head
of the state Republican ticket at the
same time. was encountered in the
lobby Of the Clarendon by GLOBE re-
porter yesterday. He was none other
than II. g. Stordock, the well known
Norwegian Republican, who served
as warden of the saltwater prison
under Gov. McGill. Mr.. Stordock
is Republican of long standing. and
yields no little Influence among his
thousands of friends throughout the
state There is no personal luminosity
in his antagonism to knute Nelson-for
he has known the latter almost from
boyhoOd, and has always regarded him
as a personal friend. Mr.. StOrdOck'S
chief reason for boiling the head of his
party's state ticket is that he believes
the election of Nelson means the con-
tinuation OF Merriam ring rule. He
never did harmonic with the ring, aud
doesn't propose to swing into the bad
circle at this late stage of the game.
Every state institution" declares
Mr.. Stordock. has been surrounded by
a ring ever since Bill Merriam came into
power Nelson is Merriam 5 candidate,
and the people know ii, and for that rea-
son he cannot be elected. The Mer-
riam ring must be broken up. and
there are plenty of good Republicans
who will lend their hands to wrecking
the machine this fall. Two years ago
the people III my district gave nearly all
their votes TO Owen, and very few of
them did so because they were Alliance
men. In fact. hundreds vino did not
belong TO the Alliance voted for Owen
simply to repudiate Merriam and his
queer political methods. They hoped to
defeat Merriam by voting for the Alli-
ance candidate two years ago, but this
year they hope TO defeat Merriam by
voting for the Democratic candidate. l
have known Dan LAWYER for a good
many years, and | know that in case he
is elected we will have governor who
will be free from all corporation and
monopolistic influences. He is capable
of giving US a clear and honest admin
istration. If the Republicans hope to
capture the Norwegian vote because
their candidate happens to be Nor
wegian they will be sadly disappointed.
The NOrwegians OF the state do not like
the manner i'll which the nomination was
given to Nelson by the Merriam ring
they regard it as an insulting bid for
their votes on purely clanish ground.
The MerriamiteS have mistaken the
Norwegian voter for clanlsh igno-
ramus who is blind to all party prin-
ciples. When it was given out by the
Pioneer Press and other Merriam
mouthpleces before the convention that
Knute Nelson would be nominated in
order to swing the Norwegian voters
who deserted the Republican party two
years ago back into line. more than one
good Norwegian citizen felt the
insult. Just as II the only
thing required to catch the
Norwegian vote was a candidate OF
their own nationality. The Norwegian
voters of this state are American citi-
Zens of intelligence, and they look to
principle first and cianishness last. If
they believe man is associated with
corrupt political ring they will not vote
for him, even if he is one of their own
cOuDtrymen. have heard a great deal
OF political talk III the northern part of
the state, and from what l hear L am
inclined to believe that Nelson will not
poll as many votes as Merriam polled
two years ago-in an off year. be-
lieve the Republican national ticket
will carry the state, but l
do not anticipate equal success
bet on the result would place it at even
money on LAWYER against Nelson. l
AIN almost certain that Bobleter will
not be elected. l have heard great
many voters say that they will vote for
all the Republican candidates except
Bobleter. They seem to think that he
has been in Office long enough, and that
this is the proper time to take his
scalp"