The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-10-15
OUTLOOK IN OREGON
BOTH PARTIES ARE VIGOROUSLY
CLAIMING THE PACIFIC COAST
STATE.
FIGURES FOR THE CLAIMS.
REPUBLICANS ADMIT THAT THE
STATE is VERY
CLOSE,
BUT EXPECT GAINS LATER
Members of Both Committees Make
Lengthy Statements Regard
ing the Situation.
BUT EXPECT GAINS LATER.

IN oregon Will admit that II the elec-
ton for president of the United States
had occurred two months ago the
states four electoral votes would have
been cast for Bryan. Today it is diff
ferent. The Popocrats of course are
still of the same mind, but not so with
the Republicans. They say the longer
the election is put off the greater will
be the vote for Mckinley. The most
conservative of the Mckinley leaders
say the vote, were the election to occur
today, would be very close, with a
small but respectable majority for their
standard bearer. Nov. 3, however, they
look for an old-time Republican ma
jority, and one which will leave no
doubt as to the proper column for Ore
CONS electoral vote, when the college
meets to say officially who shall sue
ceed Grover Cleveland in the highest
Office in the gift Of the people of these
great United States.
The campaign is the most thorough
and most energetic ever conducted in
this state. Nothing is left undone
which the leaders think will advance
the interest of their respective candi-
L
after Speakers by the score and lit
erature by the bushel basket are sent
out. There is no section of the state
which has been overlooked, and no.
where has a speaker, no matter what
his politics, wanted an audience, nor
a pamphlet, be it of gold or silver, a
reader. In the larger cities, and par
ticularly here in Portland, crowds daily
congregate at certain corners and lis
ten to the would-be orators and ex-
ponents of American politics and the
financial history Of this and other coun-
tries. So great is the interest mani
tested that business is greatly inter
fered with. This is especially SO in
the country towns, where men leave
their business to ventilate their opin-
ions upon the issues Of the day, and
tell why this or that candidate should
be elected in order to save the country
from perdition. In Portland the police
whose beats are in the business dis
tricts have a difficult time keeping a
passage way open. Portland has a
Populistic mayor, the immortal Pen
noyer-and as most of these street ora
tors advocate the election of Bryan.
he has taken no steps to abate this
nuisance
There has been much to do over the
action Of the secretary of state in his
certification of presidential electors.
This action was made known a day or
two ago. The secretary has over
ridden the advice Of the attorney gem
eral. In thus acting the secretary has
become party to the political fight.
There has been a contention between
the National and Bryan Democrats as
to whether the word Democratic"
should appear on the ballots after the
names of the fusion candidates. An
injunction was served upon the secre-
tary, enjoining him from forwarding
his certification of the fusion candi-
dates as Democratic" to the county
clerks, but the secretary had already
registered and mailed to the different
county clerks the certif1cation. 1t is
probable that each of these officials
will now be enjoined from printing the
word Democratic after the names of
the fusion candidates.
There was another surprise in the
publication of the secretary's action.
This was that M. L. Olmstead's name
has been dropped, and that of w. H.
Spaugh substituted in the list of fusion
candidates. 1t is said Olmstead re-
signed last Friday. Spaugh is the reg
ular nominee of the state Populist con-
vention. He was one of the candidates
who would not submit to the fusion
scheme, and would not get out of the
way. Neither has he filed any Gre
dentials, either from the Bryan Demo-
Gratis or silver Republicans, yet it ap-
pears that he is the nominee Of these
parties.
Today I visited the various head
quarters for a statement as to the out
look in the state from their respective
standpoints. The members of the Re
publican state central committee spoke
very freely in a general way, bat would
not be quoted collectively or individ-
ually, as saying anything other than
that Oregon was safe for Mckinley and
Hobart. For anything further 1 was
referred to Judge Carey, as the best
posted Of the more conservative Re
publicans. His written statement, to-
gether with that I secured at the BRYAN
headquarters, are given herewith:
REPUBLICAN FIGURES FOR TT.
Oregon has often been considered a sill
yer state by those unfamiliar with her local
political issues. Even many persons living
in Oregon, who take the vote in the state
elections of 1894 and 1896 as a guide and
fail to consider various circumstances that
have Influenced the vote in those elections.
sentiment during the present campaign, NAV
fall into the same error. There is no doubt
whatever in the minds OF those who are
managing the politics of the Republican
party of the state that Oregon viii cast her
electoral votes for Mckinley and Hobart
There may have been a time, not Ions
since, when, upon the single issue of free
coinage of silver or the gold standard Ore
gon would have given a considerable ma
ority for free coinage. Ii this was ever
true 1t is certainly not the case now.
The combined vote of the Populists and
Democrats in this state. both In 1894 and in
1896. exceeded the Republican vote. This
was when there was no fusion between the
former two parties, and 1t is piausibly ar
have but one electoral ticket in common
and particularly as many Republicans in
the state are pronounced silver men, the
silver ticket will win. But. in the first
place, many Democrats and not a few Popu-
lists will vote for Mckinley. The Demo
cratic state central committee has with
drawn the four electors nominated by the
state convention OF that party and have
new set Of electors to vote for Bryan and
Watson. Those composing the better eIe-
ment in the Democratic party. who are as
radically opposed to Popuiisfn as the Repub-
llosns are. resent this action, and will not
support the ticket. The administration !,
or Cleveland" Democrats and, indeed mosi
of the prominent men OF the party. openly
assert their iny Tion to support Mckinley,
and some OF L \ have taken the stump IL
his behalf. The protest was feebly heard