The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-03-17
Secretary Fitzsimmons Replies to
the Attacks of Party
Organ.
ELECTION LAW RESPONSIBILITY
Statement of the Associations
Connection With the Pending
Measure-Ac tivity in Prima-
ries and Party Councils.

| In reply to attacks made upon the organ
ization by Republican organs and poll
| ticians, John T. F'itzsimmons. secretary of
| the Jefferson Club Association, has written
the following:
The desperation of the Republican party
in St Louis is the only imaginable cause for
| the mysteries which the partisan organs are
having at the mere thought of the jefferson
| Club Association.
| In the three last campaigns the Depub
| licans strove to regain control of the
| patronage in this city and to continue their
corrupt administration by work,n; u2 a
popular frenzy against the Neabit law anl
the police law. But the matter-cf-fact Gil
| Zens of St. Louis would not be deceived.
They put an end to the shamelessneza
which prevailed so long by routing from
office the Republican party which was tn
guilty cause of the city's disgrace.
AS the Republican party has little to ~
of view in the coming spring electi on. it is
| endeavorifg through lis newspapers, TO
cas-! some of the slime. which still lngs
| to itself. upon the Jefferson Club Assoca-
ton and the members of the police force
| The Nesbit law and the police law are too
abstract for a campaign Of personalities
Thrice armed is he who hath his quarrel
just" Conscious of the power of this
| truth, the jefferson Club Association fears
not the venomous assaults of Republican
| organs. Rather 1t invites attack well
knowing that only the truth hurts. and that
| there is no truth in the wailing paragraphs
pieces.
If one were to believe the utterances Of
these organs. the jefferson Club Associa-
Nesb law and the '1 poli ts P Iaw Il there's
upon swallowed the Democratic. party
| whole. and now 1t runs primaries and makes
l a Offf
to the ward nominations for the House Of
| Delegates and the City Central Committee.
| crimes. the Jefferson Club Association Is
| said to have organized various branches
which have for their object the corruption
less of race or color or previous co.d!tion
of servitude
So reads the indictment against the JEFF
ferson Club Association. a body of men in
| corporated by decree of the Circuit Court
OF the city Of st. Louis. But. fortunately
for the liberty OF men. indictments do not
always stick when put to the test OF trial.
because they are based on the evidence Of
prosecution only. review of the true
Club Association will give the lie to Re
publican accusers. Is 1t fact that four
years ago the Jefferson Club. whose for
| tunes were at an extremely low ebb went
| TO the Legislature for certain force laws eN-
| presslv contrived to put the club in full con-
it also fact ' that GeaSe Ii in SentckS
| gave the cue to the fraZzled-out remnants
of the Jefferson Club in the small apart
If the jefferson Club ASSOCIATIONS. four
years ago. was the weakening 1t is here rep
resented to be. it could not have had infiu-
| ence sufficient TO induce a Legislature TO
pass important laws affecting the conduct
| OF elections and the regulation Of Police
department: II is matter of pride that
/ today the voice of the association is suf-
ficient1y potent to be heard in the counsels
! of the party in the city, State ard nation;
but four years ago 1t was confessedy
| OF 10 al
authorship of important legislation The
statement is sself-contradictory. AS mat
| ter OF fact, the Jefferson Club Association
never proposed the simplest piece of lecis-
lation until. through a representative com
mittee. 1t drafted an election bill the past
winter and had the same presente: to the
present Legislature. The Nesbit law md
the police law not measures to lie
ASHAMED Of, and this plea in abatement of
| spirit of Sinking blame. for no blame at-
taches: no matter who were their authors
But the readiness of the Republicans to
tell campaign lies appears in this instance
Article xvii of the bylaws of the Jaffer-
son Club Association SAYS:
This association shall not. as an association.
ofhce before nomination or appointment
ssadn s Sa s 9a 6s s This
of the Democratic party.
| These provisions of the bylaws prove
that the jefferson Club Association could
not. even if 1t were so disposed take part
In the primaries of the Democratic party
Hence it has never had anything to do
with the nomination of candidates at large.
or in wards and districts. The association
has never taken hand in party fights
| 1t reserves all its energy and resources for
| fighting the Republican party in general
elections. Whipped and beaten, the Repub-
lican party now realizes that fact and
through Its organs 1t is pouring out the Walls
Of its wrath upon the champion OF the
D Tno aatsr5 party in in this city
| Association Is the Board of Directors
Among the members of that body are
Breckenridge Jones. George j. Tansey, r
r. Ballard. William Druhe and Zach W
| Tinker. These gentlemen attend meetings
regularly and are cognizant of all impor-
tant acts done in the name OF the associa-
ton. They would not tolerate course of
conduct which would truthfully warrant
1.-THE Of the accusations now made for CAM
| paign purposes.
AS to the so-called branches, they have
no connection with the Jefferson Club AS
ISOLATION. The latter organization, while
use of the name of Jefferson and does not
want one. But the name Jefferson means
something to the simplest intelligence and
the title Jefferson Club Ia admittedly one
to conjure with. In the matter of name
the jefferson Club Is far more fortunate
than the now infirm and tottering Mer-
chants League Club. Even In the days of
ton aped the big club at Eighteenth and
Olive streets. by taking its name. The rea-
son was that the name meant nothing ex-
cept league of merchants who dealt in
the goods and with the money and the honor
OF the city of ST. Louis
| JOHN T. FTTZSIMMONS,
Secretary of the Jefferson Club Assocfa-