Daily Kennebec journal., 1896-10-17
LET INDIANA ALONE.
She IS Safe and Sound in Mckinley
and Hobart Column.
The peopje Nave Been Thinking and Have De-
cidsd Tor Themselves.

am told, as / travel toward home
that some people in the East are dis
turbed about the late political news
from the Hoosier state, and that they
are uneasy as to the result here on
November g. If that be true, 1t would
be well for the doubling ones to com.
straight to Indiana. l venture to say
that they could be convinced in sin
gle day that the state is as safely fol
Mckinley as is New York, though, OF
course, the majority will not be even
nroportionately so large. To class this
with the states that form the pivotal
battle ground in the Presidential con-
test is to betray entire ignorance of the
conditions that prevail, and that must
be apparent to all who seek to know
the facts. This is no battle ground
The battle in Indiana, so much of one
as there has been. is over, though q
good deal of guerrilla fighting is still
kept up by the defeated ones. The
fusion" ON Presidential electors, ar
ranged after a week of bitter conten-
ton, is of this character: 1t gives the
Bryan Watson crowd five electors. The
deal is recognized as a last-dtch effort
Ai>'Ns
that it will prove disastrous to Bryan
There are a number of hard she'll
Democrats in this state who were born
live and want to die in the party faith.
They have stuck to Bryan because he
has had the party trademark on his
candidacy. The mongrel electoral
ticket now offered. though, has no bet
ter claim to Democratic regularity than
the Palmer Buckner ticket, and the
latter is therefore going to gain num-
ber of hard shell" votes that hereto
fore have \stuck by Bryan. though
wincing under the burden.
1t is an old saying that Indiana is
Won and lost again half a dozen times
in each Presidential campaign, and
that it is an even thing as to which
side will be the last winner No doubt.
when the politicians on both sides have
their way. this is always the case, for
party lines do not affect the desire OF
political managers for red-h hot fight.
with both national committees rivalins
each other in their offers of aid. The
politicians. however, though they have
organized meetings and distributed lit
erature in the routine way. have had as
little to do with the formulating and
solidifying public sentiment for Mcl<in-
ley here as in any Eastern state. The
people have done their own campaign
ing. and. from what | can hear in a
hurried trip through several cities of
the state, they have gone about it in
their own way. One cannot find the
impress of the usual campaign commit
.eeS work on the situation as it exists
in this state today. That is why | be-
lieve it beyond the power of political
agitators and sensationalists to change
ii in the next two weeks.
The sentiment that has been created
for Mckinley's candidacy is not OF the
character that campaign managers
reach. 1t represents the thinking. CON
servative element, largely in the cities
who act in politics according to their
own light They have made converts
when conversion was necessary in THEN
business houses and similar places of
daily meeting with all classes of peo-
pie, and that kind of work, so unusual
in Presidential campaigns. has made
Indiana an absolutely certain Mckin-
ley state. if there can be any certainty
al all in politics. 1t has brought to the
surface an intense feeling against tho
Bryan candidacy Those who know the
facts. and yet profess to doubt their
logical and certain results, do SO for
reasons that should not impress Ma
tional Chairman Hanna. A few of these
old-style politicians are left in Indiana
to cucumber the real active workers ot
both parties, and they dislike to see {.
national campaign closed without the
usual demoralizing accompaniments of
the last-day canvass in "A pivotal
state. These people are responsible FOX
the impression that has somehow
reached New York, l am told, that In
diana is uncertain. The current here
is strong for Mckinley as it ever was
stronger, in fact and find few doubt
that it will continue in that direction
until the polls close.
Yet. as | have said Indiana no doubt
has been won and lost again several
times during the progress of othei
Presidential campaigns Ii is state
Of politicians. 1t has always managed
to keep it's national politics so evenly
| divided that no one could ever tell the
winner until the ballots We're actually
counted The state has not given any
Presidential candidate majority OF
the votes since the Greeley campa ign
| Three times it has gone Democratic
| for Tilden in 1876. by 5515 plurality. and
! for Cleveland in 1884 by 6512 plurality
| and in 1892 by 7125 plurality-and twice
| it has gone Republication Garfield
in 1880, by 664l plurality. and for Harri-
| son in 1888 by 234S plurality. 1t gave
| Grant 22.215 more votes than Greeley
| Thus in the last six Presidential con
tests Indiana has alternated from ono
| party to the other, giving its electora
vote three times to the Republicans anC
and three times to the Democrats: an6
| in each case it has done so by such mar
row margins on the total vote thai
| pluralities. and not majorities. carried
the day. No politician could have
asked for more evenly balanced state
| 1t is different now however The In
! diana plurality for Mckinley next monti
over Greeley-if indeed it will not go be.
yond those figures. though only the mos
] enthusiastic claim that. ! do not get this
i assurance of a great sweep from Chair.
man Gowdy of the Republican state com
! mittee. He is a farmer-p politician ana
they are the hardest kind of politicians
from whom to get information. Watkins
customs them to solitary habits. ant
Gowdy avails himself of a chairman',
prerogative to have and to hold n mono
poly of the information such as ii is
that comes to headquarters.
Former State Chairman Huston W. r
n ~ Of