Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-11-22
A REPUBLICAN NOW.

J. r. Norman Says He VIII Support
the Republican Candidate Hereaf-
ter and Live"
j. R. Norman, editor of the Northern
Iowa Educator (of Albia), and who
was the nominee of the peoples party
for congress in the Sixth district this
year, has come out sQuarely for the
republican ticket In last weeks is
sue of the Educator he publishes the
following card, which speaks for it.
self.
For sixteen years we have been
wandering about this country, work
ing to perfect and build up a reform
political organization that could not
oe engineered and run by the rings
and the machine. When we broke
away from the republican party in De-
cember, 1884,the party machinery had
fallen into the hands largely of the
rings to such an extent that the re-
publican politicians in New York and
elsewhere were able to trade such
men as James G. Blaine, the great
statesman, for such man as Grover
Cleveland, the last rose of summer,
who almost wrecked this government
by his second term of Office, on a
guarantee that he would give the peo-
pie the most liberal legislation that
they could hope for, and the people
well remember the legislation and
what followed. In the meantime we
had tried to believe that the demo-
Gratis would do better if given another
opportunity, and this led us to sup
port w. j. Bryan in 1896, altho we
were much out of sorts when we
found out that Thos. E. Watson, the
great royal reformer, was to be turned
down for such man as Arthur Sew
all, Bryan's running mate in 1896. In
this campaign just closed, we mad
faith that the boys who had been de-
ceived in the so-called Bryan reform
movement, would come back into the
peoples party and vote for its nomi-
nee, but instead of helping to rebuild
the party up, by voting for its presi-
Dental candidate, they failed. At
least 200 members of the peoples
party in Monroe county alone voted
the republican ticket straight, while
some others were influenced to vote
the democratic ticket with but few
scratches, which has placed the popu-
list standing SO low in Iowa, and es-
pecially in Monroe county, that we
feel assured that these men wish to
return to the party that they voted
with in this campaign, which is dis
gushing to man who has in the past
paid most all of the campaign ex-
penses from our much limited funds,
to rebuild the peoples party in south
ern Iowa, and now as we feel that much
of the cause has been removed that
led us to withdraw from the republic
an party, together with the fact that
we have no more time to devote to
building UP another reform party for
the office hunters to trade for seat
at the pie counter, and as the boys,
who we were associated with in the
peoples party movement, have gone
over largely in this campaign, to the
republican party, SO we have conclud-
ed to come over with them and swell
the number one more. as our people
seem to endorse the present admins
tration, and since the Abba Union has
become the favorite publication for
the democratic Office holders in this
county, and was given the preference
over so-called democratic paper, the
printing belonging to their party, this
seems in my Judgment an evident fact
that they knew who they were giving
their printing to, and we think that
the Abba Union is no more the friend
of the republican party. This fac
leads us to feel assured that here is
good field for a republican newspa-
per. We therefore will in future sup
port the nominees of the republican
party for Office in whatever way that
we are able, and ask all Of our friends
to do likewise. Respectfully,
~. R. Norman.