The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-04-05
COLONEL CAN'T BE
MADE TO COUGH UP
Republican Committees De.
mand for 81, 900 Is Turned
Down by Wright.


campaign committee are dangerously
near to the parting of the ways, and 1t
is all because of an effort to levy a
campaign contribution of $1,000 on Col.
Wright He has refused-violently and
with heat at first, and with grim de-
termination now-to honor a demand
for any such large sum, and threatens
to fire his committee and run his own
campaign, independent of his asso-
ciates on the ticket and of the exec
utive committee Of the local Republican
organization.
The committee had a meeting on
Saturday, and after canvassing the
situation decided that $1,000 was just
about the amount that Wright should
stand for as his assessment for the
campaign fund. The committee hest
tated for some time before fixing 81, 900
as Wright's share of the cost of munic-
ipal glory, but as he is the central fig
ure in the play now occupying the
local political boards, the conclusion
was natural that he should be willing
to put up the largest amount of any
candidate on the ticket.
Then the committee hesitated again
before apprising Wright of its deci-
sion. AS one member said, it was not
very pleasant task to ask a man for
a cool thousand dollars just for the
honor Of a nomination. But the inevi-
table finally occurred and one man
with more assurance than the others
finally was found to break the news
to Wright
Col. Wright's reception of the touch
was out of all proportion to the frig-
idity Of the proposition. He suddenly
grew Warm-some of his enemies say
for the first time in the campaign-and
he broke forth into a torrent of high
talk. While he expected to be held up
by the committee for a substantial do
nation, he was not at all prepared for
any such proposition as had come from
the committee, and he did not hesitate
to say that he would never pay 1t.
Il won't stand for It," the colonel is
reported to have declared, with a voice
trembling with suppressed anger. TT
is an outrage. No Republican candi-
date has ever been asked to subscribe
such an amount as $1,000 to his own
campaign fund. 1 didn't ask for this
nomination. 1t was forced on me by
the young men Of the allied Republican
clubs, and it is not only unfair, but it
- 1OOU0Iy 10 suggest ludI L give up any
SUCH amount for the running Of the
campaign. I will blow the committee
first and run my own campaign rather
than submit to it,
Then the colonel intimated that there
were men on the ticket who stood q
much better show than he of being
elected, and he made tnvidiOus COM
Parsons between his assessment and
those Of some of the candidates for
NJ rio 10 FOL
lot and he said things that even the
press committee did not approve.
The committeeman made but feeble
replies to the outburSt of anger of the
candidate for mayor, and the situation
is still entirely In the air. The wise
young men who have tried to stick
up the colonel for his roll are still
standing pat and the colonel is meet
ing them at their own game. The re-
suit is that the candidate and the sub
committee Of the executive committee
are scarcely on speaking terms and the
committeeman are standing about with
hungry eyes watching the prosperous
looking colonel out of corners Of their
eyes and wondering when he will yield
to their desperate effort to shake him
down."
While it is conceded that the county
commissioners had lively session yes
terday and the Republican members
of the board were a long way from
unanimous on almost every matter that
came before the board, it is said that
at Republican caucus held just be-
fore the meeting the Republicans on
the board were without division on
one point
The charges of Col. Frederick P.
Wright, Republican candidate for may
or, made at a Second ward Republican
gathering, that there had been graft in
the building Of the Ramsey county jail,
and that this was one of the reasons
why the present tax rate is so high,
was considered at the commissioners
caucus. It had been thought proper to
take some official cognizance Of
WrightS wholesale charges of corrup-
ton in the almost solidly Republican
board, and one Of the members of
| the board, 1t is said had prepared a
| resolution to be adopted and present.
| ed to Col. Wright and the committee
which is supposed to be managing his
campaign. The resolution cited the
| history, SO far as the general public
has ever been able to learn it, of the
| jail transaction, and repudiated in bit
| ter terms Wright's insinuation that
| there had been profit for the members
| of the board of county commissioners
| in the financial arrangement by which
liz OOoA1lS gu IllC JoIA anu The puDl1C
| paid for it. The resolution was sup
| ported by two or three of the members
most intimately affected by Col.
| Wrights wholesale charges, and some
pretty vigorous language was used in
the discussion.
The story goes that the resolution as
| presented was unanimously adopted
| by the Republican commissioners as
| sembled in caucus, but when it came
time to present it to the public eye in
the form of it's adoption by the mem
| bers Of the board, they weakened and
decided to not draw the public into the
| night between the warning factions of
the Republican party in ST. Paul.
The resolution was therefore sup
| pressed, but the fact that it had been
| framed and adopted was common talk
about the court house yesterday, and
it was pointed out that Col. Wright
and his advisers would as certainly
| take the hint to drop the Jail discus
sion as though the resolution had been
formally adopted by Republican mem
bers of the board and an engrossed
copy laid on Col. Wrights roll top desk
The second registration day for the
| city election is April 10, and the diff
ferent party managers Of the local
| campaigns are taking the fact into
| consideration in arranging for the
| meetings of precinct organizations.
The Democratic city committee Is