St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-05-23
JUSTICE TO M'ClLL.
The Old Plea Of Four Years
Ago Fails to Enthuse
the Boys,
But the Ex-Governor Will Be
Satisfied if Nelson Is
Defeated.
Lieut.. Gov. Ives Will Be the
Legatee Of the MeGill
Influence.
"Jack" Diamond, Of Blue
Earth, Will Come Back
to Democracy.
Justice to McGill. a"

Justice to McGill."
Strange and almost ineXpilcable as it
may seem in politics, as well as i'll re-
ligiOn, a cry or refrain that las some
| thing of the sentimental in it has a Won
derfui power in it. 1t Ofttimes reaches
| home and WINS more than half the bat
tie. In the memorable struggle between
Merriam. Scheffer and McGill for the
Republican gubernat0rial nomination in
| 1888 Gov. McGill found his strongest
supporters among those who believed
that as it had long been the custom of
} the party to give each chief executive q
denomination and second term, it
would not be fair or just to make an eX-
ception in the case of GOV. McGif. At
| that time the cry Justice to McGilP'
was a drawing card, and won many del
egates to the standard of the then chief
! executive.
This year the McGill managers are
making use of this plea, thinking that
they will be able to make it cut the
same figure in the contest as in 1888;
but, while many Of the fellows who hope
to share in the division of the spells in
case of the nomination and election of
the ex-governor have confidence in this
appeal, it is plain that the ether candi-
dates have no fear of its effect. One of
the leading Republicans of the state.
who is, by the way, an ardent supporter
of the Little Norwegian" in speak
ing of this the other day, said:
1.-The Republican party owes Mr..
McGill nothing. and the old claim that
he was entitled to denomination four
years ago, while it may have won him
few votes at that time, will have 10 in
fluence this year. OF course it is too
early to make any predictions as to the
outcome atsthe present time; but l will
make this predictions: tbatif Knute Nell
son is not nominated joel +. HeatwOle
will be. | place the candidates in the
field in the following order as regards
their relative strength among the Re-
publicans of the state:
''First-Knute Nelson.
"Second-Joel P. Heatwole
''Third-Lieut. Gov. G. S. Ives.
''Fourth-EX-G Gov .McGilL"
But the followers of Gov. MeGill do
not agree with the Nelson men and are
exhibiting a great deal of confidence in
their ability to make their leader the
winner. In this it is unnecessary to
state they have the hearty and enthuS-
iastic support and cooperation of the
ex-governor. No one is more firmly of
the opinion that Mr.. McGill has been
miSuSed than Mr. McGill himself. He
feels that he was treated shab5ily four
years ago, and he is hungering and
thiTSting for the Vindication second
nomination for governor of the state
would give him; he does not, of course,
FOR fha nff1nn ar nnrnnicifOc
other thing that makes Gov. McGill
anxious 10 take a hand in this years
contest is his desire to square accounts
with Gov. Merriam. He has an I'M
preston that the present CHIEF eXecu-
tive of the commonwealth desires the
nomination of Mr.. Nelson. and this is
sufficient for Gov. McGilI. He is a can
didate, and will proceed to capture all
the delegates possible.
Will Mr.. McGill be able to carry any
considerable number of counties?
More than the opposition are willing
to cOncede him. When Mir. McGill was
governor he made great many enemies
among the office seekers. He had not
half enough offices to go around: some
of the disappointed aspirants said that
the number was not even half so large
as the number of men to whom he, in
promised good, fat positions. There
perhaps was never as great a number
of applicants for state Offices as con-
fronted Gov. McGill in January, 1887.
Nearly every countp in the state had
from one to halT-dozen candidates, and
every man who failed to secure the Of
fee he sought turned I'D i'll the Mer-
RAM or Scheffer ranks two years later.
Their influence was very great, and the
few men to whom offices had been
given were totally unable to counteract
their influence.
McGilPS appOintees were faithful,
however. and stood by the r chief to the
end, with the SOLITARY exception of
Railroad Commissioner John L. Gibbs.
who cIambered on to sthe Merriam band
wagon when he saw that the cause of
Gov. McGili was hopeless. The others
stood firm, and are among the. enthusi-
astic supporters, of the ex-governor. In
the contest of 1888 Gov. McGill may be
said to have had the support of those
who believed that under the uSage5 of
the party he was entitled to second
term as we'll as that of his appointees.
This year he has the. supporter the
same elements, although the first class
has been largely diminished In the last
four years.
During the two terms of Gov. Mer-
riam he has antagonized a great many
of the offlceSeekerS, and to man al
most they are against Mr.. Nelson on the
theory that Gov. Merriam faYorS him.
In case. however, that Mr.. Nelson's
nomination becomes impossible, there
are two candidates whose forces may be
depended upon to combine. They are
the friends of Lieut.. Gov. Ives and Gov.
McGill. In this event the Heatwole
delegates and the Nelson men are very
likely to come together, although the
Mortified editor is not very great ad-
mirer of Mr.. Nelson.