Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-08-30
CAMPAIGN OPENING.
Last Week a Busy One With Re-
publican Committee.
THE FIGHT IN THE SIXTH DISTRICT.
Major John F. Lacey Already Awake
ening the Voters to the Importance
OF the Issues Of This Campaign
! Silver and the Senate

Des Moines, Aug. 2S.-(Special.)-
Last week was a busy one at republi-
can headquarters. The first INSTALL
ment of the documents which have
been promised for some weeks arrived
and was Immediately sent out to the
different parties thruout the state
whose names and addresses have been
received by the committee. These
documents consist largely of pamph-
lets touching upon nearly all the
Ihases of the questions which will be
discussed during the campaign.
Among other things the national re-
publican platform, the speech of SEN
ator Lodge informing President Nc
klnley OF his denomination, and the
speech OF acceptance by the president
We're prominent pamphlets. There
were several other pamphlets upon the
question of the Filipino instruction,
the right of this government to those
islands, and pamphlets containing a
mass of statistics calculated to answer
all the arguments OF the opposition on
the question of militarism. The tariff
question was also handled in several
other pamphlets, some of which con-
tanned extracts from speeches made
both by President Mckinley and Bry-
an on the tariff question while they
We're members of congress. There
were pamphlets on the silver question,
on the trusts, and in fact on nearly ev-
cry phase of political discussion which
has been brought forth during this
campaign. There were also a large
number of pamphlets in the German
language. These referred especially
to imperialism, militarism and sound
money.
AS soon as these documents were re-
ceived at headquarters, the work of
distributing them began. Packages
were made up consisting of single CO.
pies of each one of these documents
and in this way packages for the indi-
vidual voters were prepared. Other
packages containing number
OF each of the pamphlets
were prepared to be sent to
the chairmen of the various county
committees. In this way, in less than
two days, over 100000 copies of the
different documents were put up in
packages and sent out. No sooner
had this lot of pamphlets been distrib-
uted than another load was received
and it is probable that the committee
will hereafter receive large assign
ments of literature, etc, at stated in
tervals thruout the balance of the
campaign. The national republican
text book has not yet been received,
and the calls for them are increasing
every day. 1t is expected that they
will be received during the coming
week, and as soon as possible, they
will be sent to the different counties.
From synopsis of the contents of this
text book, it is learned that it will be
a very complete compilation of facts
and figures bearing on all features of
the campaign, as indicated by the plat
forms of the different political parties.
In other words, with a copy of this
text book the voters will be able to an
swer all arguments advanced in fav-
or of Bryan and his theories, being
that of imperialism, militarism, and
the issue that is paramount, the free
coinage of silver.
Caring for the German Vote.
The democrats have announced that
they propose to devote practically all
their energy during the campaign to
the persuasion of the Germans, and
other voters of foreign ancestry, that
they vote against the republican party
by reason of their alleged position on
the question of Imperialism and mill
tarism. However, the republican com
mittee proposes to be ready to meet
this onslaught by providing this large
and important class of our citizens
with correct information upon these
subjects. To this end Chairman Wea-
yer, this year so arranged the poll
books, that when properly filled out
Dy the different precinct chairmen and
returned to the central committee, the
committee, would have practically a
complete list of the names and ad-
dresses of every voter of foreign an
cestry In the state. The republican
workers have very generally assisted
the committee in the work outlined by
this committee, and the poll books
have already been received from a
great many of the precincts of the
state. From these poll books now at
headquarters, the committee has COM
piled list of about 5000 Germans to-
gether with quite large number of
voters of other nationalities. These
lists have been placed in the hands of
those in charge of the document room,
and documents in the German Ian
guage are being sent out as rapidly as
possible. The committee has received
large stock of these documents, and
more are expected soon.
The republican county chairmen
who have not yet sent in their poll
books to the state central committee,
should not delay matters any longer
AS indicated above, the committee es-
pecially desires these poll books in
order that the distribution of litera-
ture may be perfected and the docu-
ments and papers sent out as early in
the campaign as possible. The demo-
Gratis are making a very strong effort
to secure the election of their congress
sional candidates in the two or more
districts of the state. These districts
are these where there are a large
number of voters of foreign descent
That these voters may know the truth
in regard to the issues of the cam
paign, the central committee has made
special effort in the line indicated
above.
Chairman Weaver desires again to