The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1900-12-28
Capt. Van SAINT Given His Pass
for the Governorship.
An Interesting Analysis Of the Govern-
mental VOte-Lind Weaker Than
Two Years Ago.
Minneapolis Tribune !:


R. Van SAINT.
The certificate is in the usual form,
showing that Mr.. Van SAINT, by reason
of having the necessary number of
votes is declared elected governor of the
state, his term of Office to begin the
first Monday in January next.
This gives the governor-elect the
right to enter upon the duties of his
! new position Monday, Jan. 7, but it is
the custom that the oath be taken
that day privately and the old COVER
nor allowed to continue to act until
after the public ceremonies, which oc-
! cur the day following at the opening
of the session of the Legislature, before
which, in joint session, the newly
elected governor will take the oath ad-
ministered by judge of the state
supreme court, usually the chief JUS
tice.
After taking the oath the governor
is expected to read or speak his in
augural address, which will be printed
and laid upon the desk of the mem
bers for their perusal when at leisure,
or for purpose of reference.
The result of the vote in Minnesota
this fall demonstrates one or two mis-
takes which have been commonly
made by the general public and even
by men close in touch with public
affairs.
The principal fact revealed is that
the run made by Gov. Lind, while ex-
tremely creditable to him as an indi-
vidual, was not SO alarming as has
been supposed. Heretofore only the
vote for president and governor has
been reported in the public press, and
| it was shown that while Mckinley
swept the state with over n, 600 votes
more than were received by Bryan,
Van SAINT was elected governor wi tn
less than 2, 500 votes to the good as
compared with John Lind.
Arguing from this it has been stated
that Capt. Van. SAINT ran rs, 900 behind
his ticket, or that John Lind ran rs,
600 ahead of his ticket.
No error could be greater. Careful
examination of the returns as canvass
ed shows that both Mckinley and Lind
made phenomenal runs, but that Nc
Kinley ran far ahead of the general
ticket, receiving many Democratic
votes which served to increase his
lead. The only fair way to make a test
is to take the vote upon state officers
and figure out the average vote cast
for the entire number.
Taking thus the aggregate of the
votes cast for the candidates upon the
Democratic state ticket, including
lieutenant governor, secretary of state,
treasurer, attorney general and three
railway and warehouse commissioners,
| it appears that the total vote of all is
! 842, TAT, or an average vote of 100, 392
for each candidate. This can be set
down as the average vote cast for the
Democratic ticket.
| Take the aggregate vote of the Re
publican state candidates, amounting
to 1, 179, 2O8, divide it by seven, the
, number of candidates, and it is shown
| that the average Republican vote was
| 16S, 45S.
Subtracting the one from the other
and the average Republican plurality
amounts to 4S, 066 Subtract from this
latter figure Van SAINTS plurality of
2, 254 and it appears that the governor
elect ran behind his ticket Sd, S12.
This would seem bad enough, but it
is considerably better than the Repub-
lican showing of two years ago, when
by the same logic Mr.. Lind ran about
go, 900 ahead of his ticket. Thus it
appears that Mr. Lind did not run as
well as he did two years previously,
! and not much better than he did four
years ago, when he was also defeated
But even this sort of figuring, fair
as it may appear, is not correct
statement of the case. The only way
| is to take the average Democratic vote
and get the difference by subtracting
it from the vote given Mr. Lind.
Doing that will show that Lind ran
80, 900 ahead of his ticket.
Doing the same with the Republi-
can ticket will show that Capt. Van
SAINT ran behind his ticket only 16, 600.
This shows, if it shows anything,
that just about $4,000 Republicans
voted the Democratic ticket while
some did not vote.
Attorney General Douglas may we'll
be pleased with the magnificent vote
given him by the people of the state.
Mr.. Douglas led the ticket in every
section of the state with more than
$50, 600 votes, or about 10, 600 less than
the number received by William E.
Lee, the Mckinley elector who receiv-
ed the largest number of votes.
In point of fact, if the. vote received
by the nine Republican electors should
be totaled and divided it would be
found that Mr.. Douglas is just abou
Z, 900 behindMcKinley.
Gov. Lind ran ahead of William J.
Bryan about $1,000 and had "a, 600
more votes than T. L. Meighen, can
didate for lieutenant governor, who
was second best.
Another interesting fact is that the
largest number of votes were cast for
presidential electors, the total being