The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-04-02
THE ARKANSAS sENAroRsHIP.

I'M 1NAAN@4NetAo
II is now certain that Senator James
K Jones of Arkansas was defeated in
the primaries for reelection. The
campaign that eliminated in the pri-
mary election was very hotly contest
ed, both the Senator and his opponent,
ex-Gov. Clark, taking the stump and
visiting pretty nearly every county in
the state. In addition TO Mr. Clark,
Senator Jones had opposed to his can
didacy the candidate for Governor,
Jefferson Davis, who was indorsed in
the primaries by an Unexpectedly large
vote.
II will no doubt be argued in many
quarters that the defeat of Senator
Jones has direct bearing upon the at
titude of the Democratic party with
respect to the national platforms Of
1896 and 1900. The Senator was the
Democratic National chairman in the
campaigns of those years, and was
thus closely identified with both the
candidate and the declarations of
principles. 1t would not be safe, how
ever, to jump Ito any such conclusion.
1t does not appear that ex-Gov. Clark
was repudiator of the platforms, or
that any fight was made on Senator
Jones because of his adherence to sill
yer and Mr.. Bryan. In all probability
the strength of the contest lay along
other lines. Meanwhile it is possible
that Senator Jones may have lost
some little prestige in the more popu-
lous communities and commercial CEN
tiers because of his silver views.
To judge from the reports that have
come out of Arkansas, the chief
causes of the defeat of the Senator
were the charge of duplicity brought
against him and his connection
with the round bale cotton con
Germ. In the first matter, it was al
legged against the Senator that he had
promised ex-Gov. Daniel w. Jones his
support for the Arkansas commission
ership OF the st. Louis Exposition:
that he wrote letters to my Dear
Dan" in February, 1901, in which he
safd he had seen President Mckinley
in his behalf, and that everything was
all right; that during the time he was
thus communicating with Dan" Jones
and assuring him that his appointment
would be made, he was actually work.
ing in behalf of another man, who sub
sequently received the appointment.
Letters in support of the allegations
were read from the stump and Sena-
tor Berry was named as witness.
a fnt. "A ,s,1 H.,
the letters were not without weight.
In the round bale ma tier, the people
regarded the corporation, in which
Senator Jones was largely Interested,
as trust. Mr.. Bryan explained that
1t was not trust. in the ordinary
sense OF the word, but the fact that
the company refused to sell outright
its machines for making the round
bales and charged "a royalty on the
output of the machines, caused doubts
to linger in the popular mind. That
a strong case on circumstantial evil
dence could be made out on the line
that the corporation was trust, was
bad for Senator Jones, and he found
himself on the defensive wherever the
matter was mentioned. 1t is under
stood that recently the corporation has
revised its plan of doing business, and
that 1t now sells the machines out
right The revision. however. came
too late TO aid Senator Jones.
Senator Jones has been in public life
thirty years. Six of these years were
spent in the Senate of Arkansas, six
in the House of Representatives in
Washington, and the remainder in the
United States Senate. In 1896 he
was elected chairman of the Demo-
cratic National Committee which po-
sftion he now holds.