The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-06-17

iIOt SIlIp IS pTdcIlcaIIy OF very little ac-
! count, except from the fact that Ohio
IS one of the few remaining states
which habitually elect a governor in an
off year, thereby giving the minority
party (Which is the Democratic party
in Ohio an advantage which it does
not generally enjoy elsewhere in the
north. In period of 80 years, covering
10 elections for the governorship, there
nave been only four Democratic COVER
nors of Ohio: William Allen, elected in
1873; Richard NJ. Bishop, elected in 1877;
George HOadly, elected in 1888, and
James E. Campbell. elected in 1889. No
Democratic governor of Ohio has been
elected for a second term; Allen, Hoad-
ly and Campbell, all denomination, were
defeated. The electoral votes of Ohio
have been cast uniformly for the presi-
Dental nominees of the Republican par
ty since its establishment. Yet, not
withstanding these facts, there is
vigorous contest this year, as hereto
fore, for the Democratic nomination in
Ohio. Why? Ohio is not less a Repub-
lican state now than it has been here
tofOre. At last years election, under
political conditions about the same as
exist now, the Republican plurality was
G1,000. The Democratic party in Ohio
has been, to a great extent, disrupted
by Organism, and the Republican party
has been in even greater measure bene-
lifted by the administration of an Ohio
man as president, for the popularity
of William Mckinley has been great in
Ohio and is greater now than it even
was before.
Both United States senators from
Ohio are Republicans, the state admin
istration is Republican, a majority of
the delegates to congress are RepubIi-
can, the chairman of the Republican
national committee is an Ohio man, and
since the date of the last election some
substantial Ohio Democrats have re-
tired from politics; others, ex-senator
Brice among them, have died. The
peculiar feature of this years Ohio cleo
ton is found in the Importance of its
large cities, which have been gaining
enormously in population, and in the
anti-corporatiOn acts of some officials.
The present governor. Mr. Bushnell,
broke away from his Republican asso-
ciateS at the big Hanna fight for Sena-
tor in Columbus. The attorney general,
Mr.. Monnett, whose controversy with
the Standard Oil concern has brought
him into considerable prominence, is a
Republican. Mayor Jones. of Toledo
Municipal Ownership Jones-is a Re
publican, and was elected to his pre-
viOus term of mayor on the Republican
ticket. Previously, heretofore. radical
projects in finance or administration
have been undertaken in Ohio by DEM
ocrats. The Republican party of the
state, the conservative force in Ohio
politics, has arrayed itself against VIC
lent, radical and sometimes incendiary
plans and methods, and in the encOun-
ter between the two the Republicans
have almost invariably won.
In the memorable election of 1877,
however, they look contrary course,
espOusing the views OF many discon-
tented radicals and declaring their
sympathy with the conditions of the
honest and industrious laborers who are
willing to work, but remain unemploy-
ed, or are employed at wages made
quate to comfort and independence" In
the ensuing battle they were over
whelmingly defeated by a Cincinnati
business man nominated on the Demo-
cratic ticket for governor, though at
that period Hamilton county, which in
cludes the city of Cincinnati, cast only
50 600 votes, and CuyahOga, which in
cludes the city of Cleveland, cast only
Is, 900 in a total of 555, 900. The present
vote of Hamilton county is $1,000, and
of Cuyahoga county IS, 000 Both Gin
cinnati and Cleveland have Democratic
mayors, and the projection of any such
issue as municipal ownership or state
regulation into this years contest would
have the effect only of sOlidfying the
Democratic forces in the large cities,
and it is in the large cities that Ohio
Republicans look for their ma jorities
and usually get them. The country
districts of the state, and especially in
southern and central Ohio, are strongly
inclined to the Democratic party, and in
the presidential election of 1896 Bryan
Ohio, and in ten other counties was
defeated by a small vote only in each.
It was full vote, presidential year,
and an Ohio Republican as standard
bearer of the party, but despite these
disadvantages Bryan and Sewan pOlled
40 per cent of the vote of the state, and
outside of it's large cities their proper
ton of the total vote was little over
so per cent.