Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-10-25


entitled to consideration, repudiatin.
the CARRIED report of an interview
with him, to show the character of an,
the motives that actuated others. ant
as against the letter of one Rev. !. G
Monson "a nonresident of MarshfielO
telling OF the oppression of Uphan
employees, there is herewith presented
the written statement of Rev. c. K
HeiIand, pastor of the only Scandina
wan Lutheran church in Marshfield
ana an interview with Rev. l.. r
Thorn. pastor of the German Lut. IAN
church, the only other Lutheran con.
gregation i'll that city.
This man MOnSon speaks in his let.
ter of the people in and around
Marshfield. for whom | have been pas
tor (WhO) are all labOrers and some OF
them wholly dependent on the Upham
Manufacturing company" thereby ere,
atlnS the impression abroad that he
has congregation embracing many
of the Upham mill men. Very few
people in MarShfield seem to have ever
heard Of Mr.. MOnson until he sprung
into notOriety by writing letter for
the democratic state central commit
I tee. He is not known personally to
either of the Marsnfield Lutheran pas
tors. He lives at Amherst. but he does
pay Il visit to MarShfieId once a month
or 50. Most of the congregation that
he visits thus internationally are
farmers, some eighteen or twenty fam
lilies all told. The membership of this
congregation in Marshtield proper is
three or four, one family of whom. the
IJaastadS, were formerly in the employ
Of the tpham company. and one mem
Der of which still works in the mill.
The one working there has made no
complaint for the benefit of the demo
cratic campaign fund. How much
grievance the other has will be shown
by his own written statement further
along. Monsoon is said by the organ
10 be Il republican. That may be. but
1t was told the correspondent at
MarShtield that he is democrat of a
very partisan type. However, he and
Prof. Stromme. his personal friend,
concocted the scheme to get up the
stuff about oppression. Respect for
the position he holds almost makes it
understandable to attach any Interior
motive to Rev. MOnson'S action. but
there is report current in Amherst
that Mr.. Monsoon had been promised
by the democratic managers the LAP
pOintment as immigration agent for a
railroad corporation that it was sup
posed they could secure.
AS against the utterances of Rev.
Mr.. Monsoon, keeping i'll mind the
facts regarding the extent of his pas
tOrial acquaintance in MarShfield put
the statement of Rev. c. X. Holland,
who has Il congregation at MarShfield.
embracing workers in the Upham
mills. Mr.. Hollands only reason for
making any statement is because he
believes il is disreputable for cam
paign meihodS besmirching the char
acter of citizens to be put to use and
allowed to go unrebuiled. His state
ment is as follows:
Il am pastor in charge of the Sean
dinavian Lutheran congregation of
the city of MarShrield, and to my
knowledge there is no other Scan
dinavian Lutheran congregation in
the city. My attention has been called
to 4 letter in The Milwaukee Journal,
written by Rev. J. G. Monson, in
which the impression is given that the
workingmen of the Upham Manufac-
turing company are being oppressed.
SO far as my observation extends,
there is no oppression of the working
men in the Jpham factory. There is
no such thing here. moreover. as wild
eat money. The whole tenor of Mr..
MOnSOn'S letter gives, | sincerely be-
lieve, Il wrong impression. 1t seems
to me that Il man who only makes Oc-
caSional visits to the city, and who is
even personally unacquainted with
Mr.. Cpham, is in Il poor position to
pass opinion or make statements on
the condition of the company and their
Workmen. We. who reside here and
associate with these people, know of
no oppression. and really believe that
none exists. knowing the conditions
as do | think it is wrong to circulate
misleading statements about 4 reput-
able citizen who happens to BE- Il can
didate for a political office. AS to Mr..
Upham I think he is a gentleman in
the full sense of the term, and so far
as my knowledge goes, his workingmen
say the same. This is what | can sin
cerely say for Mr.. Upham.
sc. X. Heland."
Rev. L. T. Thorn, pastor of Imman-
uel Lutheran church in Marshfield. is
a democrat, and one of the signers of
the MarShfield democratic protest
against the attacks of the democratic
organ upon Mai Upham. When seen
by correspondent he said that he
thought he had already expressed him
self on the matter as fully as need be,
as he was averse of mixing up in pO-
litical matters. However, he reiter-
ated his disapproval Of the method of
fighting the republican candidate for
governor. and said that it was his
opinion that there was no oppression
of the Upham workmen. Mr.. Thorn
numbers in his congregation workers
in the factory and many of them are
democrats. 1t is scarcely necessary tC
ask who of these three men is to be
given credence.
But there is evidence even more con
vincing of the misrepresentation in
the democratic organs string of ''Op
preston" Its recent sensation gives
first in the list the pretended state
mont of Henry JaaStad u is n mis-