St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-11-28
The Election Of Maj. Baldwin,
and Just What It
Means.
Against Great Odds, the DEM
ocrats of the Sixth Fought
and Won.
Without Money, and Arm ed
Only by Right, the Day
Was Carried,
And the Largest Congress
ional District in the State
Is Secure.
Special to the Globe.

DULUTH, Mimi, Nov. 27.-The Sixth
congressional district of Minnesota was
the field of a great political battle in the
late election, and the victory of Maj.
Baldwin, the Democratic candidate for
congress. is one that is worthy of more
than a passing notice from the party
throughout the state. The Sixth dis
trlct is one that has marked character
iStics of its own. 1t is the largest con-
gressional district in Minnesota, and its
area comprises over one-third of the en-
tire area of the state. The Father of
Waters has its source in the western
boundary of the district, and flows
through it for 800 miles, almost to the
Falls OF st. Anthony. 1t has lake
Marine Coast Line
of $50 miles. 1t extends from the Can
adian boundary to Carver county. and
from Lake Superior to the counties
that border on the Red river. Of the
largest is st. Louis-the largest county
in the state. ltaSca and Beltrami are
each nearly as large as st. Louis. In
the southern and western part are rich
agricultural counties, including An
Okla, Wright, Sherburne, StearnS, Ben
ton, Morrison, Todd and Wadena.
The remaining territory is largely a rich
pine country, and from 1t comes the
pine that floats down the Mississippi
to supply the Minneapolis mills, to say
nothing of the mills at Little Fails, st.
Cloud and other numbering cities. From
the forests of st. Louis county comes
the pine for the great mills at Cloquet
and Duluth.
1t has been persiStently preached by
the Republicans that this district. eSpe-
cially st. Louis county. naturally de-
ponds on the tariff laws for protection
might share the plumber, as it were.
They have
Sneered at the Idea
of liberal tariff policy as something
that may be we'll enough for the gran
gers on the prairips, and have pro-
claimed it from the houSetops that this
northeastern region. with its great lum-
Der and iron resources and its future
manufacturing destiny at the head of
Lake Superior, depended for its ulti-
| mate success upon high protective
tariff.
The election of Maj Baldwin in such
district and in the face of the circum-
stances that stood against him is re-
| markable. -Four years ago the counties
that now form the district gave Har-
rison plurality of 4,05l over Cleve-
| land. With the great increase i'll the
population of st. Louis county, the
strongest Republican county in the dis
trict, it might naturally be expected
that the first election following the
formation of the district under the new
apportionment would result in the
choice of Republican. and the nomina-
ton of strong and popular candidate
like Judge Searle certainly tended to
boz Strengthen tlae Belief.
But the Democrats went at their work
with that sublime faith which always
characteriZes them even when they are
doomed to defeat. They meant to
capture the Sixth district at the start
and hold it down as future Democratic
stronghold. The result is known.
Baldwin's plurality is not very large
only 265-but it will do for the present.
and the man, or rather the Democrat.
who is not satisfied with it is hard to
| please. During the campaign Baldwin's
friends felt anxious and nervous in re-
gard to the vote of the mining and
numbering camps in st. Louis and ItaSca
counties. They did not know what might
hit them in those dark regions. A gov
ernor of Minnesota was once elected on
| fraudulent votes cast there. Another
spot that caused some uneaSineSS was a
railroad camp near the Canadian bound
! airy in the inaccessible WlldS OF Cook
| county, where Gov. Merriam recently
! established voting precinct. 1t was
reported that the railroad graders. num-
| bering some six or seven hundred Ca
| nadians, would be voted at that point.
| AS to the rest of the district, the
| Democrats Asked No Odds
| of ANYBODY. They had friends enough
! in charge to take care of their interests
and protect their rights at the poll s.
| The alleged detection to SearleS i'll
| Stearns county created no alarm, and
nobly did the gallant Democrats of that
royal county respond to the confidence
| that was placed i'll them. The secret of
the victory is that the whole Democratic
party in the district was fighting. 1t is
but just to say that the management of
BaldwiD'S campaign was in good hands.
| There was a lack of money to work
with. and the amount raised and ex-
| pended to pay necessary expenses was
| ridiculously small. The chairman of
the committee, Il. L. Hudson, of Du-
lutb, made the best fight he could with
the means and facilities at hand, and
the committees i'll the other counties
worked hard with him. Hudson is re-
| markable worker and organizer, and
| his work is as able and systematic as il
| is vigorous and tireless. Every point
was closely watched, and every possible
| precautiOn taken to prevent an ambuS-
| cade in the woods. Wherever there
| was danger reported safe man, or as
| many as the occasion required, was sent
with instructions to
Camp Right Alongside
] of the enemy and stay there until the
| vote was polled. counted and the re-
| turns sealed. When the smoke of bat
1 tie cleared away, as the editors say.
/ the expected Republican majority from
/ the camps was not forthcoming. A
I thousand majority was promised them
1 from the Vermilion range. They got
/ less than $50. The railroad graders in
/ Cook county got bluffed and only forty
/ five votes were cast in that precinct.
! The Democrats got out of the Mesaba
] range in fair shape, while in Itasca
1 county they came out with clean ma
/ iority. How it was done, the RepuD-
! llcans have not yet been able to eX-
/ plain.
| The Republicans carried st. Louis
! county, and yet it was a comparative
| defeat for them. Four years ago the
! vote for president gave Harrison 1920,
/ Cleveland 1,9l4; Harrison's plurality
3,Ot6 This year the county gave Har-
/ rison 5,l57, Cleveland 1856; Harrison's
plurality 1,571. The gain IN the vote.
/ as compared with four years ago, is
! nearly all for Cleveland. Over his own
in 1883 Harrison gains only 237, while
Cleveland gains 1,672; in other words,
| his
Vote Is Nearly Doubled.
OF the 1862 votes cast for Donnelly
for governor, it is quite likely that as
| between the two great parties nearly all
| of them would 20 to the Democrats, SO
| that the Republicans practically have
no majority left to back them in the
| future.
Baidwin's election is cleaa-cut Dem
| ocratc victory. Here, in his home, he
received only few scattering Repub-
| lican votes. Searle's vote in the county
was 4.3332. Clough. for lieutenant gov
| ernor. received 1927; Brown. for secre-
| tary Of state. 4,363; Bobleter, for treas
| urpr. 4,449; Chiids, for attorney general,
| mt fn y