Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-11-07
the ELECTIONS INTERPRETED.

Inc reactlOnary forces won. mat
is in short the whole story of last
Tuesday 8 election.
In Ohio the democrats had been
forced by Tom Johnson to take ad-
vanced grounds on the questions of
the day. The position of the party
was really more advanced than the
platform showed, for Johnson's opin-
ions were taken as the platform, and
it was we'll known that in some par
ticulars he was moro radical than the
official utterances of the party. Mark
Hanna, on the other hand, represented
the ultra-conservative element of his
party, the "stand patters" who regard
it almost as sacrilege to suggest
that there is room for reform any
where in state or nation. Mark Han
ma wants all talk of readjusting the
tariff even by it's friends hushed down;
he wants no new legislation whatever,
except the ship subsidy bill. Nowhere
in the nation was the issue between
the progressive and the reactionary
forces more clearly outlined than in
Ohio. And the result? The greatest
majority that republican ever re.
ceived in Ohio; Johnson beaten by
about 125, 900 votes; Hanna's majority
in the legislature four times as large
as the entire vote OF the opposition.
What does this mean? Simply that
the goldbug democrats have Joined
hands with Hanna to Danish the
troublesome Cleveland mayor who in
sisted on dragging in issues that did
not suit the plutocrats. The entire
republican ticket received q part of
this vote. About five thousand of the
plutocratic democrats scratched only
Johnson, IN order to make the rebuke
more emphatic Others refrained en-
tirely from voting, as shown by the fact
that in spite of the most active cam
paign ever put up in the state the to-
tai vote was less than in the "otf.
year" election four years ago.
johnson is eliminated as q presi
Dental possibility, and with him go
the issues he represented.
Maryland and Kentucky went demo-
cratic by large majorities. A demo-
cratic senator will succeed McComas
from Maryland. The democratic ma
jority in Kentucky is the largest one
for the last fifteen years. The "solid |
South can again be relied upon by
the democrats, on account of the race
question being again brought to the
front by the acts of Roosevelt. And |
the victory In Maryland places Sena-
tor German in the. front ranks of the
democratic hosts. He many not be
the candidate for president-is not
likely to be, because the issue he most
prominently stands for is not popular
in the north. But he will he the power
behind the throne, and on all vital
q questions affecting the nation he is as |
ultra-conservative as Hanna himself.
New York City goes democratic by
Is, 600 votes, in spite OF the opposi-
ton of almost the entire press of the
city, the interference OF Roosevelt,
the attempt to make the opposition
ticket appear to the democrats as a |
ticket and to the repub-
licans as a republican ticket whose
defeat would be taken as rebuke to
the administration, and the open re.
bellion of the old boss of Brooklyn,
Hugh Mclaughlin. There was really
no issue in the campai gn except party
names. The result means that when
reform suggestions are eliminated
from the democratic platform so that
the plutocrats will have no reason for
using their wealth to influence the pur-
chasable votes or leaders New York
City is IS strongly democratic as ever