Evening star., 1896-07-30
PlNGREE IN THE LEAD
Race for the Gubenatorial Nomination in
Michigan.
Activity Among the Republicans
Place Taken by silver as nm Issue
Holding the Primarfes

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star
GRAND RAPIDS. Mich. July IS, 1896
The republican gubernatorial fight has
been reduced to the field against Pingree
with Col. A. T. Bliss at the head of the field
list. Pingree has been making such pro-
gress In his canvass. capturing delegation
after delegation I'm county conventions, that
the old workers and the administration
forces have become thoroughly alarmed.
and all sorts OF combinations and deals are
being resorted to TO head him off The de-
1eat OF Plngree means much to the machine
ana administration. Should he capture the
nomination and be elected, instead of using
the present machine, he would erect one
OF his own, and the old party managers
would be relegated TO a great deal more
obscurity than they are accustomed TO and
in the distribution of patronage and the
shaping OF policy they would have not a
word.
As for the administration forces. with
Pingree in the executive chair, they would
find ii necessary to find other employment,
where the salary might not be so substan-
tial and the work more arduous. With the
machine il is a fight for supremacy, and
with the present ofiice-holders II is a con-
test to hold their jobs, and both clements
Will not hesitate at any means to accom-
pliSh their ends.
Half the Conventions Held,
About half of the county conventions have
been held thus far, and the others will be
heard from this week. Thus far Pingree
is Well In the lead, and he is gaining stead
lily, but has yet far from enough 10 nomi-
nate. The anti-Pingree element is center
ing as much .as possible on Bliss as fts
Moses, and the smaller booms Will be pulled
on as rapidly and effectively as possible
Conant, Aitken, O'Donnel and Wheeler
VIII be accorded the honors of a complf-
mentary vote on the first ballot and then
Will be expected 10 fall into line for the
Saginaw man. But, however willing the
candidates may be to fall into the Bliss line
the candidates will be unable to deliver the
goods in any such quantities as NAV be
demanded by the exigencies of the case
Aitken can control his county delegation
to a considerable extent, and so can O'Don-
nell but the delegations In the trail OF the
other candidates will break away after the
first ballot, and the second or third ballot
will finish the business.
The first ballot will show the relative
strengths of the six candidates. PinRree
and Bliss will be far in the lead, but neither
probably will have majority
On the second ballot the subordinate cam
Gidates may be voted for by their respeo-
tive county delegations, but there will be
a breaking away for one the other lead
ing candidates. If Bliss cannot get the
termination on the second ballot II is pre-
dictcd that o'Donnell will come TO the front
as a dark horse and receive the Bliss
strength ard the followers of some of the
other candidates. The Aitken strength will
probably go ID Pingree. Wheeler's votes
will go to Bliss, or at least a majority of
them are being SO counted. while Pingree
will capture the big end Of the Conant
strength.
The solid % votes from Wayne county,
nearly an eighth of the entire convention,
and which he will control completely as
though it were his own ballot, viii be an
important factor in the contest with the
numerous possibilities for making trades
,t.st iafA- fh4r n.lf 6as4
il Pingree is nominated the entire ticket
will be of the Pingree complexion and the
state platform will ne Pingreeish In its
tendencies. The financial plank In the
state platform will be more liberal in the
dire. tion of silver than the 81. Louis decla-
ration. and II may be so anyway, to hold
the silver vote, although the machine will
insist upon an unqualified Endorsement OF
the national plank.
Pineree md silver.
The silver sentiment has been a great
help for Pingree in his canvass. The silver
sentiment is strong in the state with the
republicans as well the democrats, and
no one realizes this better than the cam
didates for offices in the eighty-four coun-
ties in tie state. The st. Louis platform,
with its gold plank. is not calculated to win
ever the silverites. while the Chicago plat
form is catching them by the wholesale
Albert Williams of Ionia. one of the very
few survivors of the first republican con-
Nent1On IN tnlS stare Pnd one OF the organic
ers of the party, has gone over TO the de-
mocracy In the present campaign. although
he is over eighty years old. j.. :. Watkins,
for years warden of the Ionia house of cor
rection under republican administra tions:
ex-Congressman Wehber, ex-Secretary OF
State E G. ID. Holder. Judge J. G. Rams
dell. Charles r. Sigh and others. promi-
rent and active republicans, have holted the
republican platform and are speaking at
Bryan and Sewall ratification meetings
The Michigan populists will vote for the
Chicago ticket and platform and the silver
wing of the prohibition party will fall into
the same camp.
With tie silver republicans boiling and
the silver democrats, populists and prohi-
bitionists acting together, the republican
candidates for county and other offices are
anxious that a man be put at the head of
the republican ticket who will in a measure
hold the silver vote, and they look upon
Pingree as the man He is pronounced In
his favorable views on the silver ques-
tion and his anti-corporation, anti-ma chine
views are such will catch a lot of votes.
Pingree has workers In nearly every county
who feel that his interests are hound up
with their own, and they are doing all
they can to help him through. The con-
gressional candidates in several of the dis
tricts feel the same way, and most OF them
are giving Pingree the benefit of their moral
support, even though they do not come out
m, or i'm