The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-09-16
LEEDY TALKS TONIGHT.
The POpuIfst and Democratic
Candidate For Governor
Will Make His First Campaign
Speech to Topeka People.
An Opportunity for Citizens and Vot-
ers to Make Up Their Minds What
Manner of Man He Is.

John w. Leedy, the PopuIist and
Democratic candidate for governor
will speak this evening at Hamilton
hall. Senator Leedy came down from
Manhattan early this morning and
was up at Populist headquarters shak-
ing hands and talking with those that
called there. When asked what kind
of meetings he had been having dur
ing the campaign that he was making,
he said:
Il have no reason to COMPLAIN
have as a rule had all the people to talk
to that I could make hear and when
man gets as many people out to a
meeting as can hear him he surely
ought not to complain. The interest
seems to be quite general. have not
had a great deal of experience on the
stump, having never spoken very much
before the campaign of two years ago,
but I think the attention is much bet
ter than it was two years ago.
What are the prospects of POpulist
success as compared with two years
ago?''
oh, they are much more encOurag-
ing. have been pretty much through
the western and central part of the
state, with the exception of the north
west as Garden City, as far north as
Minneapolis, as far south as Yelling
ton and clear to Missouri on the east
ern side of the state and am now en-
gagged in filing in the towns between
and prospects everywhere are hatter-
ing. I won't be able to get to all Of
them but I will be able to get to most
of the counties before the election.
have about forty days yet and it is the
Ev7tc hot 7 71l Ia
day from now on.
7 spoke yesterday at Manhattan.
1t rained there in the morning, but we
had Union hall filed in the afternoon
and in the evening it was packed. I
was much pleased with the prospects
there and they tell me that we will
carry that county.
What vote will the state ticket get
compared with the electoral ticket ?"
There will be very little difference,
much less than I first thought. When
the state ticket was first put up I
thought there would be some Repub-
Hcans that would vote for Bryan that
would not vote for our state ticket, but
after the Republicans jumped on them
and called them anarchists, repudia-
tors and such names and accused them
of being dishonest a great many OF
them have concluded to vote the whole
ct will run nearly as strong as the cleo
tora1 ticket.
1T is surprising how many Re
publicans there are that are going to
support Bryan. I was going through
Butler county the other day and had
to stop at Augusta. I went after some
thing to eat and when 1 got back I
found a committee from the Republi-
can Silver club of that place They
fO1 oP+ Io5
of voting our ticket and that they had
come around to see what kind of a
man was. I found out that when
they started to organize the club they
refused to take in any members other
than former Republicans. There was
one man there that had been a Prohi-
bitionist and he said that if they re-
fused him admission to the club he
would have no place to go, so they
made an exception in his case and they
have a club of 95 members, "a of whom
were former Republicans and one for
mer Prohibitionist. The Populists and
Democrats have another large club
there besides, and so it is all over the
state"
How many gold Democrats have you
found in your travels?''
Il saw Sam Kimble yesterday, and
he is the first and only one that have
been able to find"
What effect will the proposed Bry-
an and Watson electoral ticket have if
it is put up?"
I don't think they will have any eff
feet upon the result. I have not heard
anything that would make me think
otherwise. I was out at Abilene with
Mr.. Watson. He spoke there in the af-
ternoon and I spoke in the evening.
The people out there said to me that
while they were in favor of Watson,
yet the matter had been settled in the
convention and the action of the con-
VentiOn had not been appealed from;
that nothing could be done in the mat
ter now. There was no protest about
the action of the Abilene convention
and if there is to be any now its action
was taken so long ago that the statute
of limitations has run against it. Per-
haps a great many of the PopuIists
would rather have had Watson than
Sewan but the electoral vote of this
state will be cast for Watson if it will
do him any good any way nd that is all
that he can ask. I don't think that
Watson will come back to this state''