The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-09-02
ADDRESS BY MALLGREN.
St. Peter Candidate Talks to Voter.
of North Mankato.

St. Peter Candidate Talks to Voters
of North Mankato.
About seventyfve voters of the vii
lage of North Mankato gathered in the
public hall on Belgrade avenue last eve
ming to meet the three candidates for
county offices, who had come to call
upon them, and all seeking republican
nomination for office, William Mallgren
for clerk of the court, Philip Peterson
for sheriff and John Webster for treasur-
er.
Mr.. Mallgren, the speaker of the eve
ming, was introduced by F. B. Swain.
Mr.. Mallgren spoke for about an hosr
and half during which he held the
closest attention of the audience. He
was very well received indeed and the
frequent bursts of applause were both
general and hearty.
Mr. Mallgren's topic for the evening
was "True American Citizenship" which
subject was treated in a paper which he
read. He lauded the American govern
ment; extolled the stars and stripes; de-
nounced anarchy and anarchists; emu
merated the races out of which the bone
and sinew of the American nation is COM
posed; declared that the moral con-
science of the people makes the Ameri-
can banner the ''banner of the free;"
condemned all political corruptionists,
singing out doc" Ames and his crew
in particular; praised the purging work
of Joseph w. Folk in Missouri; urged
the voters to express themselves on the
railroad tax proposition at the polls in
November; declared that the railroads
hope to defeat this measure in the fall
by keeping the matter as quiet as pos
sible, that the people may forget to vote
upon it; and earnestly advocated the re-
election of Ole Peterson of Bernadotte
to the legislature, Charles R. Davis to
congress and Theodore Roosevelt to the
nations chief executive office.
Mr.. Mallgren announced after reading
! his manuscript that he had written the
same last Sunday, and that this was
! the first delivery of it. He promised that
| it would slide out very smoothly before
the campaign was over.
The latter part of Mr.. Mallgren's
speech was devoted for the most part
to his own candidacy. He argued that
Gust A. Blomberg had held the office
! of clerk of the court long enough, hav-
| ing been in possession for thirteen years.
He said that four years ago Mr.. Blom-
berg had promised that if elected then
he would not again be candidate for
{, e-election. Now he comes out and
asks for the office notwithstanding that
promise. He had published in The st.
Peter FreePress long list of testimonials
ly all of these testimonials had been
signed by people outside of the county.
+, Mr.. Mallgren said that his own testi-
monials were from the people of st. Pc
ter
! Mr.. Mallgren said that if Mr.. Blom-
berg had performed the duties of his
office well, he had been paid for it. Now
it was time for him to step aside and
not think that he held the office by life
tenure.
| The speaker read out number of his
own testimonials, all vouching for his
honesty, the following being among the
signatories: Philip Dick, the st. Peter
clothing man, employer of Mr.. Mallgren;
Rev. NJ. Wahlstrom, pastor of the
Swedish Lutheran church at st. Peter;
John A. Johnson, a familiar name now;
County Attorney A. A. Stone; Geo. T..
Olson, st. Peter lawyer; Congressman
c. R Davis; and Henry N. Benson, city
attorney of St. Peter.
Among other arguments that the
speaker advanced for his candidacy were
that he was not going to distribute CT
CARS about the polls on election day;
that if any man did that for his oppo-
nent it was paid job; that Mr.. Blom-
berg had been known to attend to state
office work, leaving the duties of the
clerk of the court to his son; and that
Mr. Mallgren himself could not do this
as his son was only five years old.
The remainder of the address was de-
voted to an explanation of the primary
law
Mr.. Mallgren will speak on Tuesday,
Sept. 6, at the Tongren school house.