Omaha daily bee., 1902-08-22
WHY MERCER oANNoTB BE ELECTED.

editor OF The Bee, of which the fol
lowing is the substance:
For more than twenty-five years have
read your newspaper, but at no time have
known you to stoop lower or resort Ia
more pusillanimous and inscriptions
methods than since you opened your miser-
able mud batteries upon the most efficient
representative Nebraska has ever elected to
congress.
You editorial article entitled "Can
Mercer Be Elected?" is so manifestly a
juggle Of figures that 1 cannot think you
mean It in earnest.
You know Mr.. MERGERS majority over Mr..
Hitchcock in 1898 was 1928. Why, then, de-
liberately falsify the figures and utilize a
blunder Of the county clerk to show tina
MERGERS majority was only 92s7 II you will
consult the official tables published in your
own paper you will see that there has been
an impeachment in your veracity."
Why not print the only figures which can
be taken as a test Of Mr.. MERGERS vote
getting strength, to-wlt: the relative
majorities of Mercer and the heads Of the
republican tickets of the same year?
Authenticated people get red under
the collar on the slightest %provocation.
That is the only conceivable excuse for
this infammatory outburst. At this
time of the year more light and less
heat is desirable. P-usillanlmous in
plain Anglo-Saxon means cowardly.
Their has been nothing cowardly in
the treatment of Candidate Mercer. He
has not been bombarded by miserable
mud batteries, but by missiles that go
home to the main question, whether he
is or is not entitled to a nomination for
a sixth term in congress.
MERGERS manager is very tender and
touchy. Has he seen the cartoon ex-
pressly drawn for Mercer by his Wash
ington artist and turned out in the print
shops of Washington, his real home, for
circulation in this district as a campaign
document? On that cartoon Mr.. MERGERS
superb figure appears looming up upon
a horizon full of public buildings and
his eagle eye is scornfully directed at
three small ours: the foremost renre-
senting the editor of The Bee and the
two hindmost his republican competitors
In the congressional race.
Perhaps Mr.. MERGERS campaign man
ager is not aware of the fact that the
mud batteries of the Washington Post
are belching forth scurrilous cartoons
for the benefit of Mercer, the last Of
which represents the great omnibus
building man emptying a Jug labeled
"Rosewater" into the sewer. These
cartoons fairly represent MI. MERGERS
ideal Of dignitied, gentlemanly cam
paigning, which was also forcibly ex-
hibited In Omaha by William +. Gurley
in the now historic debate. When
asked to enlighten the public about
MERGERS record on public issues and his
attitude on important questions, Gurley
d~erisively sought to demolish the editor
Of The Bee by virulent personalities,
ending up by ~pronouncing the scathing
sentence that be should be clothed in
rags, wear wooden shoes and retire for
the balance of his life to the woods.
That magnanimous Punishment of an
offensive partisan represents Mr.. Mer-
GERS high ideal. Surely he would not
try to repudiate Gurley, who spoke for
Mercer and stood for Mercer.
And now about those juggled figures.
MERGERS manager asserts that 1.-The
majority over Hitchcock in 1898 was
Lips" The editor of The Bee does not
know anything of the kind. On the con-
trary. he stands by his figures and will
pay 500 to any charitable institution in
Omaha Mercer may designate If the
figures quoted in The Bee regarding
MERGERS majority In 1898 are not cor
rect, taking the official report Of the
secretary of state for the year 1898 and
the Nebraska legislative Blue Book for
1900 as authority.
MERGERS manager insists that compari-
sons should be instituted between Mer-
Ger and other republican candidates run
ming during the same years. Such com
parsons would by no means afford a
correct criterion of MERGERS availability
this year. 1t is true that MERGERS vote
increased from 11,4SS in 1892 to 1927
in 1900, but he forgets to note that the
total vote of the district has increased
from 25,090 to 81, 450 between his first
and last elections. He forgets hat the
democratic vote cast in 1892 for George
w. Doane was only 10,3SS, while the
vote cast for Edgar Howard in 1900 was
14,S07. He forgets that If Hitchcock
had received the vote in 1898 that was
cast for Edgar Howard two years later
he would have been elected by a larger
majority than Mercer received in 1900.
MERGERS irate manager persistently
ignores the fact that with the unanimous
support of his party in a presidential
campaign year MERGERS majority in 1900
was just lao and that a change of 1856
votes would have defeated him.
More than 1900 wageworkers in
Omaha and South Omaha viii vote at
the XXI election. A conservative esti-
mate of the number OF workingmen who
vote the republican ticket in this district
is 1900. Unless a revolution of public
sentiment takes place within ninety
days, which is not likely to happen,
Mercer would lose at least four-ifths of
that vote, not counting professional men,
merchants and farmers who are in sym
pathy with w~orkingmen and vote as