Willmar tribune., 1900-11-28

tnrOugn the e1ghty-tWO counties OF the
state.
LATER-The Republican state COM
mittee has refused to accept the
above plan. It has not yet been
decided whether Lind will 60 ahead
with the contest or not.
County Auditor Johnson Explains.
Editor WILLMAR TRIBUNE:
There is a Swedish saying. "Den
som tiger han samtycker.'' s. NOW De-
cause l do not wish to have it UNDER
stood that agree to what you have
published about me in recent issues of
your paper I must break the silence.
You say it was necessary to publish
these letters signed by the ministers
and your comments upon same, in or.
der to set matters Alright before the
public. It seems to me that you have
not set matters Alright. You must
either have been misinformed, or you
must have twisted the truth out OF
shape.
The fact of the matter is this: After
I had learned that the letter signed by
three ministers was out, asked Rev.
Nelson what it contained. He in
formed me as to its contents, and later
showed me copy with the three sig
natures attached. He also informed
me that he had nothing to do with
drafting the letter, that he was the last
to sign it, and also that subsequently
one of the pastors had withdrawn his
name. AS Rev. Nelson was q Repub-
licsn, and as Republicans throughout
the county and they are not all sa-
loon people either, mind you) were
satisfied with their ticket and were de-
termined to win, I felt sure that the
letter in question would create consid-
able i'll feeling among them; and know
ing also the danger of this letters
creating q disturbance in Rev. Nell
sons congregation, I deemed it my
duty to inform him that in my judgment
this letter would not have q good ef-
feet, and I also added that thought
it might not be good thing for myself.
Now if you call this "posing as q
martyr" and "that made the pastor
believe I was in danger because OF the
fight on the saloon men," and "that I
was threatened by the ring that if I
did not make the minister retract, 1
would lose the liquor vote" etc., then
I give it up. Your statement that ''the
poor pastor was compelled to sign
statement" etc. is erroneous, because
he was not compelled to sign any
thing. The fact of the matter is, the
pastor informed me over the 'phone
one morning that he had Withdrawn
his name from the letter in question.
The next day was informed that the
letter with Rev. Nelson's name st-
tached had been widely circulated in
the county, but this could hardly be-
lieve as Rev. Nelson had informed me
that he had withdrawn his name. So
it was decided to interview Rev. Mel
son with regard to; the matter. Rev.
Nelson stated that he had Withdrawn
his name, but that he was informed at
the time that some letters bad already
been sent out From reports which
came to the Republican county COM
mittee, as we'll as the Republican can
didates, it appeared that the county
had been flooded with them. and the
pastor was so informed. After some
deliberation he. expressed his regret
at having signed his name in the first
place, and also stated that at. the time
it was presented to him for his sigma.
ture he had not considered fully what
effect it might have. He also agreed
to sign q statement explaining the
matter. The chairman of the Repub-
lican county committee then issued .
circular letter which among other
things contained, Rev. Nelson's state
ment. This circular was not circu-
lated until Monday, Nov. 5. There
fore your statement that Z dozen rigs
left Willmar on Sunday sis: not cor.
rect. You say further that ''it is in
timated that we (Lawson) ought to
suppress the matter for the sake of tho
church" etc. suppose you refer to
what said to one of the TRIBUNE
staff the other day with reference to
that first letter, and il so your state
ment conveys the wrong meaning. I
referred to that first letter, and to the
time before it was sent out. said
that I thought it would have been the
duty of-Mr. Lawson, being . member
OF Rev. Nelson's church, to suppress
that letter, as he might have realized
that it would do more harm than
|good. You state something about
"parties having cast reflection upon
the motives Of the anti-saloon people
Of Wilmar. . In reply to that I will
say that in my Judgment no reflection
has been cast upon anybody, except
fpossibly upon those individuals Who
Iplanned the scheme Of mixing In the
Temperance question in the way it Was
tdone III this election, In order to reH
the signatures OF the minister's, and
thereby further the interests OF the
i Populist party, =..ss