Willmar tribune., 1900-10-24
COERCION!

SENSATIONAL CAMPAIGN OF. coER.
c'oN AND lNTlMlDATloN.
Wl Discharge Employes for svotins 70,
1syan-see Th.. They ca.ass wi. ),
Jair Means. % They Dstsrmine, 4
Win by Foul-ssnsstionsl Proossdins,
q Sound 1loaey Ls.sse-A New
Burehard-Yallow Bew stsnds for Co
sreion-Bureaa Notes, Etc. ~. .5.s.,. ss
A REFoRM, Press BUREAU. =
ss:3 Sr. PAUL Oct. Is, 1900.
The sensation Of the week has been
the meeting Of the Sound Money League
In Raudenbusoh hall in this city and
the campaign Of coercion and intimida-
ton which was there inaugurated.
The call for this meeting had been
signed BY number of business men,
mainly members Of large wholesale
houses. combines and syndicates, with
hardly q sprinkling Of middle class
business men among them. .s.zrsE,,.
This call came from the class most
directly concerned with the trusts and
money powers that have determined to
secure the election of Mckinley. by
fair means or foul. r.
When Bryan made his triumphal
tour Of the state and called forth such
an overwhelming and irresistible dis
play Of enthusiasm that swept over the
country like tidal wave and carried
everything before it, the Republican
leaders realized that their cause was
hopeless, and seeing that they could
not win by fair means, they deter.
mined to fight by foul, and this meet
ing was one Of the results.
The sentiments of the resolutions
adopted at this meeting were extreme;
but the speakers were positively rabid..
The chief speaker of the evening was
Mr.. Grover, who was certainly plain
spoken enough and left no ground for
misunderstanding as to the purpose of
the meeting. Among other things he
defended government by injunction,
such as was employed on the striking
miners in Idaho. But it was Mr.. Jesse
Gregg of the firm Of Nichols & Dean
that expressed it in all its brutal blunt
ness. Said Mr.. Gregg:
II was in New York last week, and
passing down the street I was surprised
to observe a large banner floating from
a business house upon which was the
inscription: 'Bryan's Travelling Men,
Club, In our firm we have 20 travel
ing men at work, and I do not know
how but one of them is going to vote
this fall, but want to say to you gen.
tlemen that if any one of these travel.
ing men should vote .or Bryan, and I
knew it, would discharge him .imme-
diately. Don't understand me: to say
that I would discharge him for being q
Democrat, would discharge him for
being damned fool. Iwould presume
that any man who didn't have better
sense than to vote FOR Bryan, didn't
have sense enough to represent our
business. >.
The audience received this speech
with ringing applause, and thus ap-
proved the sentiments expressed and
subscribed to them as their own.
The morning papers brought an ac-
count Of the meeting and the speeches,
and soon it became the all absorbing
topic of the streets. Everywhere on
the street corners groups of men were
excitedly discussing it, and, when; the
papers reached the outlying towns and
country districts, kilograms and letters
Of inquiry began to pour in at the
Democratic headquarters from all sides
and very soon it became evident that
in the excitement and interest aroused
all over the state and adjoining states,
this incident would surpass in sensa-
tional interest even the celebrated
Blrchard episode which defeated
B?Bine in '84. = .~s>-~,
Coming in the wake Of Roosevelt's
rabid speech here in the Auditorium,
in which he put, Democrats on a level
with horsethieves,a and made that "a
nous assertion ..~..ss =.
'.They stand for lawlessness and dis
order, for dishonor and dishonesty, for
license and disaster at home, aud COW.
ardly shrinking from duty abroad, =
it,has made St. Paul the storm center
OF the Burchardism Of the present cam.
paign. and shows more plainly than
anything else to what desperate straits
the Republican party OF Minnesota
feels itself reduced. i, g,,,s~. -. ..le a. T
This speech of Gregg's Nharmonizes
wall with Roosevelt's famous or rather
infamous speech here in the .Audito-
rim. aud the passage in Roosevelt's