Birmingham state herald., 1896-10-07
ILLINOIS AND INDIANA.


 Governor Altgeld, than whom no one is more reliably and fully Informed as to political conditions and prospects in Illi- nois, wired the New York Journal Mon day last, from Springfield, as follows:
 'I have been in all sections of the state, and I find the outlook very much more favorable than it was in 1892. We carried the state then by upward of 22,OOO ma jority.
 From present indications I will say Bryan will sweep this state by a tremend- ous majority. Hanna's hirelings are mak- ing much noise, but the people are with us"
 This statement of the governor of Illi- nois is confirmed by reports from various other reliable sources that cannot be said to exaggerate in favor of the democratic party In an interview published in the New York Journal October 5, W. D. By mum, the deposed chairman of the Pal merite national committee, said:
 'In the southern part of Illinois I know that the whole country is for free silver. l know from gold democrats that men wearing Mckinley buttons are visiting democratic national headquarters in Chi cago every day and securing free silver literature. which they are distributing to their fellow workmen. A friend of mine, a gold democrat, but who has stayed in the organiza ton, talking to me the other day. said that he addressed meeting of 300 men. The meeting was secret enc of railroad men. The 300 were for Bryan. Of that number more than half wore Mckinley and Hobart buttons."
 What MT. Bynum said in the same in- teryiew of the conditions and situation in Indiana was of much the same character as his observations concerning Illinois, and leaves no doubt that both those states present. in his judgment, very gloomy prospects for the republicans. It will be remembered that this same party, only two or three weeks since, could find no doubt that Mckinley would carry both Indiana and Illinois by overwhelming majorities.
 There are two significant facts in what Bynum says, viz: That these two great states of the central west are lost to Me Kinley and that the labor vote is prac- tically solid for democracy, albeit the in- dividual voters have to mset in secret when they wish to hear the principles of N'>ihDNioSJ dioNuoStu anu wear hchi1iSy buttons to enable them to hold their jobs and earn bread and meat for their wives and children.
 Never before in the history of this re- public has there been such bold, lawless, cruel and high-handed oppression of la Dor by the corporatons-espe the railroads-to force their employees to vote as they-the mployers-dictated and it is no wonder that this coercion is resented by those who are now it's objects. It is not surprising that the laboring men, or ganized and unorganized in the great entire country, will be found at the entire coluntry, will be found at the close of the polls on November to have cast their ballots almost as one man for the great leader of democracy and the people, William J. Bryan, and by their united efforts elected him the chief ex- ecutive of this great republic. All honor to the laboring men who. though forced to wear republican badges and dissimulate in order that their fami- | lies may not be deprived of the necessi- | ties of life, will stand by the democratic | party, and at the ballot box, assert the in- I alienable right of every free American | citizen to cast their ballots as thoir con- | science and manhood dictate. By their | aid and support right will prevail and | the government be wrested from the | shylocks, the trusts, monopolies and com | pines, and restored to the people, to | whom it rightfully belongs. Not only Indiana and Illinois will be safely democratic by the help of the worlSingmen, but other states where they constitute a large and important ele- ment, and not less to them than the great agricultural classes will be due the credit of the perpetuation of republican institu- tion in America.