Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-11-12

tho Writer'S are Russians who, as Il rule,
shut their eyes and vote the straight Dem
ocratic ticket. Al the election of iss6 ,ney
gave the fusion ticket an average majority
of so and elected their county officers by
maioriues nearly az large. This year they
nominated a straight Russian ticket. the
opiy exception being an lrishmaH by The
name OF Mulroy, who was made the can
didate for county attorney. The Repub-
licaHs nominated 4 ticket after thc same
hopeless fashion tina. has marked their
course for a number of years. No one
thought it could be elected. but when the
returns came in il was found that every
Republican candidate had been successful,
with the exception of the one Tor county
superintendent. l, Is one OF the mysteries
of the election year. Why the Russians
defeated a Iicket of their own COUNTRY
men, and OF their W selection. is a mat
Ter yet TO be accounted for. The member
Of the legislature is NJ. NJ. Fuller. an. old
soldier and a stalwart Republican.
In the last lesisla lure the Popuiists gerry
wandered the congressional and legislative
districts in 4 shameful manner. Many dis
tricts were courorted into unnatural and
inconvenient form for the purpose of assur-
ing the election of Populist Representatives.
The result is clearly indicated in the cleo
ton returns- In every serryrnandered dis
trict the Republicans made more than
average gains. and in most of them the
Populist candidates We're defeated. The
Fourth congressional district is 4 fair ex-
ample. The district was made as crooked
as q Kansas creek, and after the work had
been completed the Populist politicians
boosted that they had made it absolutely
safe for fusion. But on Tuesday the Re-
publican Won by a majority as large as the
largest congressional ma jority in the state
with the single exception of that in the
First district. where the Republicans are
overwhelming. The ~gerrymander is wrong
Iy named. II should be called the roorback.
Kansas Republicans had a hard time con-
yincing Mr.. Babcock. chairman of the Re
publican congressional committee al WASH
ington, that they had swept the earth. AT
4 o'clock on Wednesday morning. MIR. Joe
BrIstow. telesraphed from the committee
rooms at Topeka, that Kansas had elected
seven Republican congressman out OF the
eight. 1t was an anxious hour with the
committee al Washington. for the fate Of
congress was trembling in the balance. and
Mr.. Babcock wired back: Give us a safe
estimate without any color of enthusiasm"
ta-tly, that Kansas had elected seven Re
publican congressman, and again Mr.. Bah
cock wired back, this time asking: is it
assured, or only an es;imate?" Bristow
was now hot, and he clicked the wires
with this indignant though somewhat eniG-
matte response: Il guess We know a rabbit
when We skin it," But after all Mr.. Bah
cock remained unconvinced. for at 10
o'clock Wednesday morning he told an As
sociated Press correspondent that Kansas
had made important congressional gains,
but that he did not think Jerry Simpson
had been defeated.
1t is obvious from the returns that the
Socialist party greatly overestimated its
strength in Kansas. though it would not
be fair to gauge the numerical standing
of the party by the votes cast for its can
didates. Undoubtedly there are thousands
of socialist IS in ksnsas who cast their votes
for the PopalrsE4icket. Indeed. a strong
socialists, and they bitterly resented the
action of the Socialist state convention in
| putt.ng,a tickettin the field. The feeling
was voiced by State Senator Young. who
| declared that Populism stood for socialism
or ii stood for nothing, and urged all So
| cialists to vote with the Populist party.
| Mrs. Digs, Clemens, Secretary OF State
Bush and others of the prominent social
lists of the state took the same position,
and the result was that Governor Leedy
! received the socialist vote almost intact.
In Crawford county. the stronghold OF the
Socialist organization, Mr.. Lipscomb re-
ceived less than one hundred votes. and in
Bourbon county, another supposed strong
hold. his vote was less than forty. In
Franklin county. where Mrs. Eta Semple
| ]prophesied great things. the ticket re-
ceiyed less than ten votes. and it is not
likely that Mr.. Lipscomb's vote in the en-
| tire state will exceed 400.
So. too. all the estimates on PETERS vote
were at sea. His chairman claimed %
600 votes in the state and PETERS own es-
innate was 15,oDo. The greatest vote re-
ceived by him in any county was cG5 in
| Shawnee. his home. In Franklin county
he was supposed 10 have a strong follow
ing. but the returns show that he re-
| caived but thirty-two votes in all. In
| Bourbon county he is credited with a to-
tai of six. In Douglas county it is but
| eleven. In Crawford, next to Shawnee the
banner PETER county the total was city
| seven. Jackson county gave him thirty
| one, Lyon county about the same number,
| and in some of the counties he had no vote
at all. 1t would be a conservative estimate
| to give him 5000 votes in the state at large.
and by this token another big balloon ex-
plodes.
The Popuiist politicians have come to To-
| peka in considerable numbers with an ex-
PLANTATION of what they cali the stay-at-
home vote. They declare that it was mads
| UP largely of Democrats and Populists WHO
are sick and tired of fusion. They are
more or less bitter against the Democrats,
many of whom voted the straight Republic
an ticket and many more Of whom re-
manned away from the polls. AT the same
time. every Populist who comes to town
admits freely that he knows any number
of Populists who voted the Republican
ticket. there being many precincts in Kan