Mexico weekly ledger., 1903-12-17
REUBEN HARLOW.
Writes an Open Letter to Handsome
Harry Hawes, of st. Louis

r. Harlow, Of Young's Greek, Au-
drain county, this state, has sent the
following open letter to Harry b.
Hawes, Of st. Louis;
i have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt OF yours Of November %,
calling my special attention to your
speech at Hannibal, and asking me TO
send you mailing list Of good Demo-
Gratis provided the speech meets with
my appreciation.
Having carefully read this speech
three Times, the first when | came in
patent inside Of the county paper, then
when 1t reached me from the State
capital, and lastly In pamphlet form,
between tasty yellow covers, with the
frontis piece very handsome face,
under which is engraved the name OF
Harry B. Hawes. II the picture Is to
be taken as part of the speech, then
that much of it has my unqualified
appreciation, and certainly must have
OF every person admiring handsome
ness, wlnsomeness and elegance.
From your letter it would seem that
you have other goodly qualities than a
handsome face, winsome ways and
elegance Of speech, to recommend you
to Democrats, and one of these is that
your fathers, back to the time Of
Jefferson, were Democrats, and In his
time voted for that great friend OF the
people for President. / will not
occupy your time in recounting all the
goodly qualities claimed for yourself
in your letter and speech, for you seem
to be fully aware of them and modest
ly admit them ON suitable occasions
If the Nesbit law you so eloquently
approve is not "a jealous care Of the
right Of election by the people," or II
you have at any time advocated other
than "hOnest and efficient men" for
Office, then you are the first In line to
fall short Of the teachings Of Jefferson
and bring repruach on an honorable
lineage. But when your youth and
the prospect Of long life you have
before you are considered, it is hoped
that II you have fallen short in things
so desirable in Democrats you will yet
have plenty of time to make amends.
THINGS THAT CAUSE SUSPICION.
You will see that, Notwithstanding
your effort at Hannibal, owing to the
notoriety which you have gotten in
connection with the Nesblt law and
the metropolitan police law, there is
some suspicion In the country that
you are not exactly what you have
painted yourself between those yell
low tinted covers. But there are some
things to your credit. You certainly
deserve great commendatlon for hav-
ing given to the people Of st. Louis so
able, honest and efficient mayor as
Mr.. Wells, and speaking from the
standpoint of one who thought, but
did not vote, with him politically in
the campaigns of 1896 and 1900, hope
you and the entire powers at your
command--be 10 the police force or
whatever it may be-in the city Of st.
Louis will repeat the elevation of such
men to Office until their influence will
be felt throughout the entire state, so
that goldbugs will no longer be the
despised Of the earth in these parts
and may hope for political recognition
within the party. Your speech en-
courages me to think that such will be
the result in the near future.
When you shall have decided TO be-
come a candidate for governor, the
Mirror, the Gold Democrat organ, can
then well felicitate itself upon that
exoneration we have always felt would
come sooner or later, even in Missouri.
1t is predicted by some that your sup
port would be confined to st. Louis,
where, by the aid Of the election laws
and police force, you would have COM
plete control of the primaries, but GER
tainly there are some In the country,
like you, SO eternally opposed to Folk,
that you might confidently count up
on some support outside Of st. Louis,
thereby giving Mr.. Reedy, the gold
bug editor land your gubernatorial
hacker, that recognition from within
the party he has so long strived for.
HAwEs's CHARGES AGAINST FOLK.
Doubtless you have heard, though,
that Folk has large following in the
country. There are plenty of men
here now who, having disagreed when
free silver was an issue, are thorough
ly agreed upon the just and faithful
administration of public affairs, and
that none but the honest should oc-
cupy places of public trust.
In both your letter and speech you
say that Folk is not a true Democrat.
Pardon me for the suggestion that this
is not original with you. We had
heard that from Doodle sources long
before you 1900 words were uttered.
But coming now as it does from so re-
spectacle a source, 1t challenges our
You admit his Democracy until the
Of 1902. You say in that
he did not make speeches as
heretofore from the same platform
with you and advocate the election Of
every man on the ticket, regardless Of
the character Of the nominee and from
whatever source his nomination came.
At this time he was engaged in prose-
cutting a number OF bribery cases in
the State, notably among which was
that Of Butler on change OF venue in
Boone county. A few days before the
that case was continued until
after that event. You do not deny
that this same man on trial for brib-
cry, so potent was his influence in the
city Of st. Louis, had dictated a part
OF that ticket. You asked Mr.. Folk
to publicly espouse the cause of But
Ter In that election, yet you do not
deny that Mr.. Folk gave valiant sup
port to the State ticket, and TO every
and reputable man upon
the city ticket.
Folks PROSECUTION OF BUTLER
M WIN moi fhink ~ Hr Enlk had