Evening star., 1896-10-06
REPRESENTATIVE TOWNE.
He is Liable to he Defeated in His
Fight for Reelection.

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
MINNEAPOLIS, October 8, 1896
In perhaps no other congressional district
in the country Is so fierce a battle raging
as that now devastating the sixth Mime
sofa, which has Duluth for its metropolis,
and Charles A. Towne, the brilliant young
silver apostate. for Its Congressman.
Elected in 1894, as a republican who had
given no hint to the electors of his silver
predictions, Towne last summer made q
dramatic exit from the republican camp,
simultaneously with Senator Teller. A
young man of brilliant Intellectual at
ta:nments. and with gift of oratory not
less entertaining and vastly more logical
than that of Bryan, he has found no diff
Guilty in giving the widest publicity to the
claim that his district Is back of him in the
step he has taken. and ready to send him
back to Congress for another term. So
certain has Mr. Towne been of success tina [
he has been touring through the country
making Bryan speeches and giving only
| cursory attention to the canvass at home.
But while he has been thus engaged, his
| former republican friends have not been
| idle a moment. They have put in such
| steady, enthusiastic work for Judge Page
Norris, the no less brilliant young Viz
| ginian who is the nominee in opposition to
TOwne. that the district which was suppos-
| ed to be safe for the fusionists is now con-
ceded by the more conservative of them to
| change Is needed than the fact that Mr..
| Towne has come back to his district and
| has Cancelled all outside engagements. He
| at last realizes the necessity for getting
/ down to business.
| Personal Element In the Fight.
There is a personal element which enters
| into the fight that makes 1t more earnest
and possibly more bitter than the ordinary
| silver VS.. gold controversy. AS has been
| limited, Towne's former political friends
feel that he did not deal fairly by them
| and they have made 1t a personal purpose
! to encompass his defeat. They are work
ing early and late to accomplish that pur.
| pose. The vortex of the whirlpool is Il
Duluth and st. Louis county. The silver
! men claim that If they can go out of thai
| county with 5000 majority, they will carry
the district, while the gold men say they
must have at least 1000. 1t is for tha
margin that both sides are contending. Two
years ago Towne carried the district by g.,
900. which Is rather more than its norma
| republican majority. But the men wht
| were fighting him then are opposing hin
Eow, and with few notable exceptions
his friends of '94 are his enemies of 9ti
In the west end of the district Morris bid
fair to get many more than the averag,
number of republican votes. There is
heavy German vote in Stearns and Bentol
counties which will go to him, and in Sher
burne, Mile Lacs, Wright and Anoka he i
leading strongly. So that Towne's hope lie
in his own home county and those ada
cent, containing the big iron ranges AM
mines The range vote usually swings on
way quite heavily, and it is an open secre
that the republicans claim to have cor
rallied it. The Morris men expect to leav
st. Louis county with as many votes a
Towne receives. If they do. their candida t
will surely win. Towne must prove strong
er than the Bryan electoral ticket to wiI
and unless there is radical change In cor
ditions, it now seems probable that he wi
| lose his seat