St. Paul daily globe., 1892-03-18
PRIMARIES TOMORROW.
They Should Be Quiet, but There
May Be a TussIe.

May tc a luSSIe.
At present there seems no reason why
the primaries of tomorrow night should
not be very quiet. There are no bitter
contests, aud the primaries Will prob
ably pass off as smoothly as The sessions
of a well -oiled legislature railroad COM
mittee. 1t is frankly admitted by both
G. M. Foote and p. b. Winston, both of
whom were, short time ago, candidates
for the honor of going to the Chicago
convention as the delegate at large, to
which this district is entitled, that
they have agreed on that little
master. Mr.. Winston is to have no
opposition for the place of delegate at
large. In return, Mr.. Winston or his
friends are To offer no opposition to Mr..
Foote for place on the Chicago delega-
tion as a representative of this congress
sional district. This is the arrange
ment. and, if lived up to, the primaries
will be quiet and unintereSting. But
there is feeling in the minds of some
of MIR. Foote'S friends that the mayors
friends are not ''toting far" Last
night there was another little meeting
of Democrats in the Office of G. K. Cam
eron, in the Guaranty Loan building.
The men who met there have always
been avowed Winston partisans. They
met to talk over the situation and to lay
out plans for work III the primaries.
1t is not believed that Mayor Winston is
sanctionlng any movement to injure Mr..
Foote, but the Foote men fear that some
of the mayors friends, acting on their
own hook. are laying plans to show
Foote that he does not stand well in
Hennepin county. If such be the case,
there will be some fun at the primaries
tomorrow night. If the little cOterie
that met in Mr.. Cameron'S office con-
template any snch action they are max
ing mistake, is the belief of the con-
servatye men of the party who take
no part. and have taken none,
in the preliminary skirmiShing. The
temper of Hennepin county Democrats
is not at all favorable to the growth of
petty quarrels in the party. The side
that starts it will be the loser. Should
the iil-advised friends of Mr.. FOote and
Mr.. Winston get 10 struggling for the
control of the county convention, one of
these two men will be left off the delega-
ton to Chicago, and it would be not at
all strange. under such circumstances,
if both should be dropped. The party
will not have to send out search war
rants to find men. and good men, willing
to go to Chicago and represent the senti-
ment of the voters of the county with
out SQuabbling.
A good many sober minded Demo-
Gratis are firmly convinced that Il few
amateur statesmen, aided and abetted
by Republican press, are unduly eX-
-aggerated the Importance of the clrcu-
lar headed ITO Inspectors and Elect
ors," ordered printed and sent QUO to
the precinct committeeman by the DEM
ocratic county committee. The point
has been raised and commented Oh at
length-in the Republican papers-that
the circular does not conform in all re-
spects to the ballot law. The circular
instructs the committeeman to see that
the officers of the caucuses are sworn,
and gives other information about the
manner in which the caucuSes should
shall be conducted. This is taken to
he usurpation of authority on the
part of the committee because the elec-
ton law now in force ignores the pri-
mary election entirely. The fact that
the election law does not provide how
the primaries shall be conducted is all
the more reason, in the minds of Il good
many, why the proper authority should
adops some rule Because there is no
state law prescribing how farmer
shall build fence around his wheat
field is no reason why that farmer
should not build the fence that is best
adapted to his purposes and needs.
Only one portion of the public is con-
cerned in the primary elections that
will be held tomorrow night. Since
the state law says nothing OH the
subject, it is manitestly the right
public to prescribe how the primaries
shall he held. In this case, the county
committee is the representative body of
the Democrats of Hennepin county. AS
the representatives of the party, the
county committeeman have the right to
say how the primaries shall be conduct
ed. That is all the committee has done.
And it has not prescribed anything that
can be fairly objected to. The circular
sent to inspectors and electors only lays
down such rules for the holding of the
primaries in the best and safest manner
possible.
The Cleveland club will take hand
in the primaries tomorrow night. But
the Clevelanders will not be in any
fight. They are in this case, as in every
case, working merely iii the interest of
reform. The club has voted to instruct
all its members to see that at the pri-
mary elections the names of all persons
voting be registered with their resi-
dences. The club is determined to pre-
vent packed caucuSes if possible.
The first ward has produced another
aldermanlc candidate for the shoes now
filled by Aid. MCGOWAN. The new as
pirant for aldermanic honors is Maurice
Ring, son OF Martin Ring. the county
committeeman from the First ward.
Young Mr.. Ring has a good many
friends in the First, and he may be-
come dangerous opponent of Aid. Nc
Gowan.
Following are given the location of
some of the polling places where prim-