The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-12-06

and the Socialist Democrat party, that
were misled and for them, the blunder
was very natural one. Such a man,
wishing to vote the straight Democratic
ticket, would just glance down the ballot
and put his mark wherever he saw the
word Democrat, and let it go at that.
The attempt of Republican papers to
represent Democratic voters as a lot of
ignorant ounces for making such
blunder, comes with very bad grace. OF
course, the kind of voters that the Re-
publicans up on the iron range vote
''early and often" in droves like cattle,
couldn't make such a mistake although
they wouldn't recognize their own name
even if they saw it in eighteen-inch~let
tiers on a billboard; they always have
one of the faithful go in with them to
mark their ballots for them. And for the
rest, the Democratic voters compare very
favorabIy in intelligence with the Repub-
licans. OF the foreign-born voters the
Germans and Scandinavians are pretty
well divided between the two parties.
These people as a rule are quite well edu-
Gated in their own language and have a
fair knowledge of English besides, and
it was just among these that the most
of the plumbers were made
The fact is most of the voters in the
state, Republicans as well as Democrats,
had never heard of Lucas or his party.
In Chanhassan village, Carver county,
Heatwole polled votes, SchalIer 25, Van
SAINT 3, Lind 20. Five votes for governor
were thrown out on account of being
marked for both Lind and Lucas, but
there is not a single man in the village
who is aware of having voted for Lucas
or who had any intention of voting for
him. In some cases it even seems that
man looking to place his vote for gov
ernor on the ballot, saw the word Demo-
crat after the name of Lucas and with
out stopping to look at the name, put his
mark opposite, thinking that he had
voted for the regular nominee of the
Democratic party. Thus, in Rush Lake,
Otter Tail county, ten votes were polled
for Lucas, yet there is not single man
in that town who had ever heard Of
Lucas or his party, or had had any in
tention of voting for him.
1t seems that tne per cent of votes
thrown out for the above reason was par
ticularly heavy in the German settle
ments out in the country. These people
are staunch church members of the Luth-
eran or Catholic church, and as far as
they know anything about Socialism they
abhor it, as is natural from the bitter
fight that is going on in Germany be-
tween the churches and Socialism. These
German farmers make up a large per
cent Of the sturdy, thrifty, welI-to-do tax
paying element of the state and they had
every reason to expect that the law
would protect them against such an i'm
position. The question naturally arises,
why didn't it, and the answer is a very
simple one. The preparation of the bal
lots lies in the hands Of the secretary Of
state and that gentleman, Mr.. Berg, is
Republican. When a certain man from
Austin petitioned to have his name put
on the ballots as an Independent Repub-
lican candidate for some office, he was
promptly turned down, for that might
| have deceived Republican voters. There
were just as good grounds for refusing
a Socialist-Democrat a place on the bal.
lots, but Mr.. Berg did not see it that
way-for very evident reasons And Mr..
Berg had absolute control of the matter
and there was nothing to be done about
it. 1t was not possible to secure through
the courts, mandamus, ordering Mr..
Berg to take the name of Lucas, as So
cialist-Democrat, off tie ticket for
the simple reason that the secre-
tary of state is a part of the ex-
ecut:ve department and the judiciary de
partment (courD has no power to issue
a mandamus against the executive de-
partment, as brought out in the case of
! the state of Minnesota VS.. E. w. Dixie,
Minnesota Reports, volume 20, page 1863.
Neither was there any other way to Sc
cure redress in this matter.
And now the Dispatch comes out and
SAYS that Lind was defeated because
the Democrats didn't have sense enough
to pick out on the ticket the name they
wanted to vote. 1t is in the contempla-
! ton Of Democratic ignorance illiteracy
and stupidity that the lessees of the
Democratic party grow frantic Demo,
Gratis haven't sense enough TO vote a
Democratic ticket when they get one
in their hands," Such Language does not
improve matters for the Republican
party. In fact, ii is equal to a public
confession, that they have succeeded by
piece of political trickery to thwart the
will of the people from What an over
whelming majority OF from 10000 to
10000 intended that it should be. If The
Republican leaders propose to have i,
stand that way before the public, very
well. The Democrats can afford to let
it go at that