Evening star., 1896-10-15
What Ex-Representative Turner Says
Of West Virginia.
THE SO-CALLED DOUBTFUL STATES
National Chairman Jones Thinks
They Will All Go Democratic.
r Z p o r 7 S RECE EIVED

gtnfa yesterday and reported al democratic
headquarters today. Asked lis opinion as
| to the canvass in West Virginia. he said:
Il have no doubt that West Virginia VIII
| be found in the Bryan column. Two weeks
ago started on my trip. My first impress
sions were distinctly in favor of the re-
| pIbicans carrying the state. 1 frs, went
| to Wheeling. There are about one hun
dred gold democrats there but among the
steel workers and coal miners We have at
least 3U silver republicans 1 covered the
entire northern half of the state. | ,hink
IL Is safe to say there are more than
LSU democratic boilers In the entire stale,
OF which number at least 800 Will vote
Tor Palmer, equivalent 10 staying dt home.
In the twelve counties j visited / have
heard of LOO republicans, lifelong repub-
Hcans. Who viii vote tor Bryan. Carrying
cut this average there will be over 4.srJ
IN the state L think the average will be
exceeded, because in some of ;he other
counties that 1 die not visit like Lewis
| Cpshur and Others, il is conc, ded that
there are two hundred silver republicans in
each county who will vote for BRYAN 4
nave carefully ascertained the feelings of
the men In each county that L visited |
| nave accepted no general statements but
| insisted on names, and have int teryiew-d
a considerable portion of the nunb.r /
SPEAK Of Indeed, the local republicans do
not pretend to claim the state. Ii looks
ike landslide. We will carry the So
| Niiu congressional district by ha
| third by 1880, and the fo irth by y yEi The
nrst is close. but probably democratic
ms Is making no account of the populst
votes There being over 800 supporting
our national ticket.
RAILWAY Men for BRYAN.
I'm view Of the claims of The metronoI-
tan press, three things have surprised me-
: First, the railway emplores are aImos,
! universally for Bryan. On. of them. w,o
knew my name and spoke to me today and
Whom could not recall as having seen
! oelore, told me there were at least ninety
per cent OF the employees of the b. and o.
road who were for Bryan, although rroh-
: ably not ten per cent would say SO cnenly.
i l saw one man from Martinsimrg wno
, knew OF TOUR men employed by that rail-
road who had never voted a acrn,>rat:a
ticket, and We're members of the ckinley
club, but who would vote for Bryan. 4 saw
= To-Day on the train ore of the employees of
the McShane bell factory in baltimore,
where an alleged ballot favoring Mckinley
was taken The other day. He told me that
e N the room In which he was cn.loyed
there We're tweniy-seven workmen,- of
which number twenty-five were tor Bryan;
mat there never was poll taken in the
5 room; that of the twenty-five Bryan vo:es
all had hitherto been republicans. He said
e he did not doubt that at least n, per cen;
OF the mon in that factory would vote tor
Bryan, although IL was worth a mans Job
TO say so. He gave the names of many
men that would be unfair to use If they are
l
Another Surprising Thing.
[ Another thing was yet more surprising.
t Every travelling man but one tha, | met in
| Wheeling, and nearly all that l met west of
: | Martinsburg. were Bryan men. Today a
s | travelling man who had been the road
thirty-cne years tod me that at least ~
" | per cent of the travelling men in West Nir-
| ginia and more than that west Of that
point were for Bryan. He called my atten-
:. | ton to the fact that there was in Baltimore
a Bryan Commercial Mems Club numbering
800 members no account of which has
| crept into the papers. He says in all the
| years he has been on the road he never mas
seen the commercial men SO nearly unaai-
y nous for any candidate as they are now
/. for Bryan. At his suggestion took
4 poll of the travelling men the train
. | there were % men, 10 for Bryan. = for Nc
| kinley, one Of whom said We needed more
e money, and would express no opinion.
: This was entirely casual and entered into
o at the suggestion of my friend. And he
10 | said IT was no more than an average poll
of any similar number of travelling men,
He said that the reason the papers
81 claiming SO many travelling men for Nc
Al kinley was simply on account of a few
II | travelling men for New York houses who
Is had not been long on the road and were
:" anxious to rush into print and call them
Il, selves representative travelling men
x The So-CaIIed DoubtfuI states.
ID The condition of the canvass of the So
!. democratic headquarters in Chicago, it is
n claimed, shows a substantial basis for the
2 confidence expressed by Chairman Jones
as that the election of Mr.. Bryan is now as
sured. Ii is said at democratic headquar-
Il ters that reports this week from the alleged
doubtful states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan
and Minnesota all favorable. The
II democratic committee of Michigan" they
III say, ARE as confident that Bryan will carry
m Michigan that Colorado and Texas Will
l CT hair aie z-nfa for RFNa In
j. Minnesota the democrats now speak with
10 confidence in majority for both Lind and
Bryan. Chairman Wall estimates a safe
majority for Bryan in Wisconsin. In lndi-
ana the conditions are constantly impror-
ing, and the last poll of the STATE shows,
q, giving all the doubtful votes for Mckinley.
that Bryan is safe to carry The stale by
10000. Polls just completed in Iowa vary
* former estimates only to make them more
IN favorable to Bryan. showing changes of
,e | from 800 to 800 republicans in each county
:. | to Bryan. These changes in Iowa in the
central and western parts are surprisingly
lie large. In the Council Bluffs congressional
to districts the gains are from 20 10 - per
o. cent of the former republican vote.
a. AItgcId's Claim for Illinois.
Is In relation to Illinois the claim of Gov
er err OF Altgeld that Bryan will sweep IL
OIL linois by tremendous Majority is bcrne
e, out by the recent reports from the state
ID committee and the Cook county commit
:. tee Outside of Cook county the defec-
as tions from the republicans have been great,
I'd and there have been but few losses TO the
lg democrats. Sufficient accessions have he. n
received, in the opinion Of Chairman Hin
r. richsen and Governor Altgeld, to warrant
lg the claim that Bryan will come to Copk
~ coLnty with large majority. In Chicago
IL ii is claimed that Bryan will get dd.tpo
al out of the G0,OO votes cast by orga 1izeG
at labor, every reputable labor orga MIA
tion in the city is supporting him. Based
upon estimates made this week the demo-
cratic managers believe and ASSERT THAI
Chicago will give Bryan as great ma
es jority as it did Cleveland in 1892, the fig
n ures then being $1,000. This year :he
mr. conditions are even more favorable. There
is now complete fusion between the popu-
oi | lists and democrats. The populists cast
as 10000 votes in Chicago two years ago, and
or there are at least 251U republicans in Chi
IA cago enrolled today in Bryan clabs. No
ne one places the detection of soId ds,a-~. :
efi a:.Y,e u. * i .t . .,.i--.... o.. =
I iilg cser TO the Drya" stanoaIG 70. 49,,