The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-11-18
That Infamous Document.

ment which the officers of the Mankato
commercial bodies were led into signing
by the republican congressional commit
tee:
To the Business and Professional
Men of the Second Congressional Dis
trict: The enclosed resolutions of the
Mankato Business Mems association and
the Mankato Board of Trade, represent
ing the entire body of business and pro-
fessional men of the city of MankatO
are respectfully presented to you for
your consideration. The men compos.
ing these organizations feel that the en-
actment into law of the pending bills
for the establishment of a parcels post
would prove disastrous to every city
and village in this district, and would
also be in the end very great injury
to the farming community as well.
1t is we'll known, however, that pow
erful interests are at work to secure the
passage of some kind of a parcels post
bill by the next congress. The business
men of this district should take very
decided and active interest in this mat
ter and see to it that their desires in
this matter are made known.
Congressman McCleary is against the
parcels post bills and we have reason to
believe that the big mail order and cata-
logue houses of Chicago, Philadelphia,
and New York contributed to the fund
which was raised to defeat McCleary
for denomination.
Of course this matter means a great
deal more to the business men of this
district than it does to Mr.. McCleary
and if we are to expect his continued
support in this matter we should see to
it that in every city and village in this
district McCleary gets practically SOL
id vote of endorsement. He has already
taken his position on the side of the
local retail dealers of the district
against the powerful and wealthy cata-
logue and mail order people, but if we
expect him to be active in our interests
we must be active in his. He will look
to the vote of the villages to see if the
position he has taken is endorsed by the
people of the villages or whether they
are Indifferent on the subject. We
therefore urge you to use every endeavor
70 cao,,ro for MoClaoru N 70, l,y
unanimous vote in your town. This is
purely a business matter and politics
should not enter into it. Vote and work
for your own business interests and
those of the farming community sur
rounding you. Very respectfully yours.
]. w. ANDREWS, MD.
President Board of Trade
BENJAMIN TAYLOR,
Secretary Board of Trade.
j. B. RICHARDS,
President Business Mems Association.
JOHN B. OGLE,
Secretary Business Mems Association.
The Free Press does not believe for
one moment that the gentlemen who
signed the circular believe that money
was contributed by the catalogue houses
to defeat Congressman McCleary for re-
nomination. The charge that money
was contributed for that purpose is pre-
posterous. We cannot understand how
one of the gentlemen who signed the
above can take any stock in the allega-
ton because he claims to have supported
Mr.. Miller for the nomination, and be.
ing business man he would hardly
have been in favor of Mr. Miller, know
ing that he received aid from the cata-
logue concerns. This business man, hav-
ing the reputation for honesty and in
tegrity in business as well as in politics,
would not for moment 60 back on the
stand taken by him previous and up to
the primaries. Under the circumstances.
The Free Press is of the opinion that
this particular gentleman as well as the
others fell into a trap set for them by
the willy politician who represents this
district in congress. 1t will be remem-
bered that during the campaign prior
to the primaries Mr. McCleary was at
tempting to secure the signatures of
other neutrality-suspicious. of the cloth
to certain document, but this we'll
laid scheme failed ingloriously. The
ministers proved to be too shrewd and