The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-09-16
Situation Is Wholly in the Dark and
Few Are Bold Enough to
Pick Winners.
DUE TO PERSONAL WORK
OF SCORES OF CANDIDATES
Large Tickets Will Make Canvass
Slow, and Complete Returns Are Not
Expected Before Thursday-Bitter
Fights Result in introduction of
Questionable Campaign Methods.

IHe uTSI primary electlOn Tor the
nomination of county, legislative and
congressional candidates in Ramsey
county will be commenced at o'clock
this morning.
The work of sitting out, by popular
vote, the candidates of the two lead
Ing parties, which have the primary
ballot to themselves, promises to be
arduous, and the complete corrected re-
turns of today's primary will probably
not be in the possession of the public
earlier than Thursday morning.
There are 150 candidates to be voted
for, and the canvass of the vote cannot
under the law be taken up until after
8 o'clock tonight, when the polls will
close. The partisan ticket will also
add to the labor of the canvass, and
the judges of few precincts in the city
will have completed their work before
breakfast time tomorrow.
1t is generally believed that the vote
will be heavy that Is, in comparison
with the expected primary vote in
most portions of the state. ST. Paul
is expected to cast 80 to SS per cent
Of its total vote, while the generally
accepted average for the state at large
is~65 per cent.
Candidates Are industrious.
The reasons are numerous. Perhaps
the most potent factor in getting out
the vote lies in the large number of
candidates on both sides of the political
fence. Every ward and almost every
precinct in the city is represented ON
one or the other party tickets, and
some very pretty and decidedly ag-
gressive fights for nominations have
been waged in both parties. Even the
weakest candidate on the ticket has a
personal following, as was demonstraH
ed at the spring primaries, and the fell
lows properly classed with the "also
rams" may turn up with more than re-
spectacle totals when the vote is polled.
The voters at large have not, except
the immediate supporters of a few
marked candidates. shown a great de-
gree of enthusiasm, and might be ex-
pected, were 1t not for the strenuous
campaigns majority of the candidates
have made, to forget about the prima-
ry election. AS it is, few voters have
been allowed to escape without making
UP their minds about the comparative
claims of the contending candidates in
their own party, and today no man in
possession of a franchise will be left
in peace until he has registered and
voted.
Few Unpopular Offices.
Few nominations have been allow,
ed to go without spirited contests, and
still fewer to go by default On the
Democratic county ticket County At
torney Thomas r. Kane, County Treas
urer Peter Metzdorf and County Sur
veyor John B. Irvine have no opposi-
ton for denomination. On the Repub-
lican ticket County Superintendent of
Schools Montgomery and County Com
missioner James Powers have neither
opposition for nomination nor Demo-
cratic candidates in the field seeking
to oppose them after the primaries.
Those are the only places on the coun-
ty ticket allowed to go by default, and
in both instances Democrats will be
nominated after the primaries by the
committee.
places on the county ticket are the
contests for nomination for clerk of the
district court and sheriff The results
of the Democratic race for the clerk
of courts nomination is generally con-
ceded a hopeless puzzle. Vessel,
Schurmeier, Hall, O'Reilly and Wag-
ener, all naturally strong men, have
put up strong fights for the party
preferment. 1t is generally believed
that one of the quintette will be the
recipient of a landslide, but even the
puzzle editor has not dared give a
line on the identity of that one. The
Democratic fight for the nomination
has been in refreshing contrast to that
made in the Republican party.
Employ Dirty Tactics.
ord Ina irn hay1f io
too well known as gentleman in poll
tics to be charged in the public mind
with the anonymous circulars that
have been used in this fight, but he
has been the target of some of them.
Taken all in all it has been one of the
dirtiest political messes the Republic
an party has aired in many long day.
In public the candidates have advanc-
ed arguments, logical enough and clean
enough, but under the cover of plain
envelopes and unsigned cards, work
that would bring a blush to the cheek
of thief has been resorted to.
The Republican fight for the shriev-
ality nomination has been not so bad,
but 1t is tainted with questionable
methods. Little things like threaten
ing laboring men with the loss of their
positions IL they did not modify their
zeal in behalf of the labor candidates;
night crew whose duty 1t was to COW
er up the opposition cards and posters
and the circulation of the report that
one of the candidates had been bought
off are samples of the Republican
craftsmanship displayed in the two
handed game.
On the Democratic side the fight is
and has been clean and
dignified. Anton Miesen, Charles
Houck, Patrick Murphy and Michael
QuigIey are the contestants, and they