St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-11-02
Pr. Lyons. Local Forecast onicial.
KNUTE NELSON.

kNUTE NELSON, as a gubernat0rlal
candidate, has proved great surprise
to his political foes and bitter disap-
pointment to his friends.
The return of WILLIAM ID. WASH
BURN to the United States senate and
the election of WILLIAM K. MERRIAM
to the gOvernorship awakened the peo-
pie of Minnesota to a realization Of the
Republican party's true character.
They at last understood that its con-
troll was vested in a small coterie of
plutOcIats, and that the highest hoEors
in its gift were at the command of the
moneyed interests representatives.
KNUTE NELSON was nominated to
still the feeling of popular Indignation
which ring rule had excited, to stem the
revolt which had spread far and wide
against the selfish domination of wealth,
ana to call back to their allegiance the
$4,000 men who had left the Republicaa
ranks and enlisted under the banner of
the Alliance.
NELSON was counted on to compass
nil these achievements. He was a Nor
wegian, and it was expected that the
Scandinavians would listen to his voice.
He made some pretenSe of being
farmer. and it was thought that the
agricultural class would trust and fol
low him. He had fought the battle of
tariff referm on the floors of congress,
and il was believed that this would give
him some right to play the role of the
Rnti-monopolist and the friend of the
masses. KNUTE NELSON had an extra
ordinary reputation as a campaigner,
and the Republican managers dreamed
Of him as knight in armOr riding furi-
ously to victory. The Democrats, too,
feared him, and said that the enemy
had put forward its strongest man.
But as gubernatoral candidate
KNUTE NELSON has proved a failure
In the cities he has excited no enthusi-
assn. Thousands of Republicans in st.
Paul and Minneapolis who Loyalty sup
ported Mr.. MERRIAM at the last cleo
ton will vote for Mr.. LAwLER next
week.
In the country districts he has made
no impression whatever on the fifty
thousand men who revolted two years
ago from the Republican party. He has
worked hard early and late, but he has
inspired no confidence in his hearers.
A farmer who had no words of denunci-
alton for the wheat ring was not of the
sort to appeal to the agricultural class
An ant-monopolisT who apologized for
his work on behalf of tariff reduction.
and defended the outrages of the Nc
K INLEY bill, was not of the sort to at
tract the taX-burdened poor. Not a
single Alliance leader of prominence has
returned to the Republican fold in re-
spouse to his persuasive eloquence. Not
single Republican vote which was cast
for Mr.. OWEN in 1890 will be cast for
NELSON in 1892. He has pleaded to
deaf ears. The hosts of anti-monop-
oily stand firm against the Republican
ticket.
A pitiful spectacle KNUTE NELSON
presents in these last hours. An as
founding disappointment to his friends
and himself, filled with chagrin and re-
morse because he has sold his princi-
pies and gotten nothing for the sacri-
flee. wonder that, tired and irritable,
he fights now with his fist instead of
with his tongue. The tragedies of DO
itical life are many, but where shall
we find victim more gruesome to con-
template than the Republican standard
bearer as he goes tottering to defeat?