The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-11-14
NEEDs INVESTIGATION.

| Some interesting information was de-
veloped by the canvass OF the returns
in California, it being demonstrated
that the Populists there quite gener-
ally voted for Mckinley.
There was confusion about the count,
and in some sections, including many
precincts in Alameda county, the Pop
ulist and Democratic ballots were tall
lied separately This separate count
has enabled the politicians to figure out
how the parties voted, and they find
that a large proportion of the Popu-
list vote went to the Republican elect
ors. The detection of gold Democrats
was slight, the Republican majority be-
ing built up by the Populists.
The chairman of the Alameda Demo-
cratic county committee says of the
showing made:
That means simply that the Demo-
Gratis stood by their ticket, and every
Populist voted for the Republicans.
They have been bowling about our not
fusing with them, but il looks to me as
if they did not fnse with us. Here we
have scattering precincts in Berkeley.
various parts of Oakland, in Alameda
and all the way down the country to
Haywards. They are all alike, giving
about the full Democratic strength in
these districts, while the Populist vote
rarely gets over 20. They simply did
not fuse with us at all, and that ma
jority was not made by Democrats that
deserted at the call of those goldbug
Democrats, but by Populists that voted
the Republican ticket. What was more,
those PopuliStS voted the Republican
ticket straight.
We do not have to rely upon Demo-
cratic opinion in, getting at the sig
nificance of the disclosures. for Chair
man Manse of the Populist committee
agrees, in the main, with the statement
made by the Democratic manager. He
says:
1t certainly looks as if there had been
a large desertion from the Populist
party There is large silent vote in
the Populist party that has simply
gone back to the party from which it
originated, and 1t became Republican
this year in this county. The mem
bers of the Populist clubs fused hon
estly, but that was all that did hap
pen. The returns as they have been
disclosed here show conclusively that
the Democrats stayed with the fusion
ticket in Alameda county almost to a
man, but the Populists deserted. Ev-
erything indicates that the Democrats
lost little by assertions of gold Demo-
Gratis. / am sorry for the result. The
true Populists stood by the fusion
ticket.
No explanation of the matter has
been offered, but it seems likely, from
the figures that have been given in the
San Francisco Examiner, that the Pop
ulist detection was sufficient to ac-
count for the Republican victory in
that state. There was a large Popu-
list vote in California two years ago;
a perfect fusion was effected this year.
and there was no reason why it should
not have given the state to Bryan if
it had been adhered to. 1t is possible
that the influence of the middle-o f-the-
road element, headed by Tom Watson,
was responsible for the bad faith man
ifeSted, but that is point that has not
been and may not be determined.
1t is possible that there was some
kind of an understanding in the doubt
full states under which the middle-of-
the-road men aimed to square accounts
with the Democrats for the refusal to
retire Sewall. Such an arrangement
would account for the results in Ore
gon, Kentucky, the Dakotas and Indi-
ana, and perhaps in some other states.
The matter is one that calls for some
quiet, thorough investigation on the
part of the Democratic leaders.