The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-11-01
ALREApY DECIDED.

One Of the greatest presidential cam
paigns In the history of the country Is
fast approaching it's end. 1t has been
fought out purely on questions of poIit-
ical principle, and has been free from
all offensive personalities, as it has been
men in the heat Of political fray will
resort to to influence or control the votes
of their fellows.
The voter who has not as yet decided
how he is going to vote deserves to be
disfranehised. The voter who at this
stage in the contest Will permit himself
to be directed by the opinions or prefer
! enees Of others is poor stick at best
The party managers still go, and will
continue to do so, on the assumption
that votes may yet be changed or de-
cided convictions InstilIed into the waver-
ing voter through the influence of what
others may say or think. It is not for
those who are unfamiliar with party
management or are inexperienced in the
influences found most effective with vot-
ers to say how far such a view is cor
rect. But in this, as in all elections, the
managers seem TO be sustained in their
view in this respect
None now seriously disputes the prop
osition that the Rum, iRomanism and
Rebellion" cry of the Rev. Mr. Burchard
was the chief influence in defeating
James g. Blaine. Yet currency was not
given to that cry in certain sections
until Saturday before election. 1t is be-
yond dispute that the Homestead riots
operated in 1892 as the Burchard episode
did in 1854. Yet the trouble between
Andrew Carnegie and his employees had
not eliminated in the Pinkerton trouble
until a short time before the presidential
election took place.
In this campaign at the present hour
the most frantic efforts are being put
forward to control the vote of the unin-
formed or the uncertain voter The IA
vorite resort is by representing, or mis-
representing, as the occasion seems to
tends to vote, or what his convictions
are as to the result Of the contest The
betting room is another influence very
often resorted to- Men dislike to be
on the losing side in any contest And
so all sorts of bets are made, or said
to have been made, indicating that the
result will be favorable to one or other
candidate. So far has this influence been
brought into play IN this campaign that
in many instances those said to have
accepted bets which involved heavy odds
against their candidates, like Mr. Crok-
er, for instance, have undertaken to
deny that any such bets have been
made
1t is not so much in the nature of
compliment to ex-President Cleveland
that his views have been so persistently
lied about of late, as it is to the shame
and diseredit of the voting population
that Mr.. Clevelands opinions, or the
opinions Of any one other man, should
be regarded as of such supreme concern
as lllcil Ll1Sy 6tIS SAO6ClSQ 10 INtQ6nc6
large bodies OF voters to vote as he In
dicates his preference to be. Yet 1t is
beyond all denial that were Mr. CIeve-
land to indicate fully his views of the
present political situation and to state
his preference as between the two lead
ing candidates for president, his action
would operate very strongly In favor
of the candidate whom he favored.
In spite Of the unsettlednees of popular
opinion in such contests as that now
prevailing, and of all the efforts which
are being put forward by party man
agement, the fact is nevertheless that
the election is already decided, and
that nothing short of some exceptional
happening, such as those which marked
the two presidential campaigns Of 1854
and 1892, can effect the result between
now and next Tuesday.