Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-10-25
THE FIRST VOTER.

THE FIRST VOTER.
This year there are a great many
young men who will cast their first
vote for president at the election on
November and many of them are
asking advice of older voters as to
how best to cast their ballots. They
want to get started right but appar-
emily many are unable to form opin-
ions for themselves, to pick out from
the conglomerate mass of newspaper
arguments the real truths. One young
man who found himself in this pre-
dicament. Joseph l.. Coleman, of New
burgh. N. Y, has received carefully
prepared answer and one which can
be read with advantage not only by
young men and first voters, but by
everyone who wishes to know how
best to cast his vote this fall. Mr..
Coleman's letter follows:
"23 Water Street. Newburgh. N. Y.
September %, 1904.
Dear Sir:
Il write hoping you will find time
to answer and enlighten me as to how
should vote this coming election. 1t
will be my first vote for president. and
| value 1t next to my life, for it means
either full or empty dinner pail to
me. l have tried hard to find some
sound conviction by reading the daily
journals, but apparently they are striv-
Ing to see which one can lie most sor-
didly in their criticisms of party and
candidate. therefore appeal to you
Tor some sound reasons why 1 should
vote the republican ticket, and wish to
add that with all my strength and
mind endorse your president in main
tanning the army and navy and the
progressive government we have en-
joyed for the past eight years.
Hoping the best candidate will win
remain,
Sincerely,
Joseph L. Coleman"
This inquiry came into the hands
of Charles H. Duell in New York. and
his answer is one that can leave no
doubt in the minds Of those who read
it. His arguments are concise and to
the point. his logic is practical and
plain and his conclusions are of the
kind whose correctness can not be
doubted. The answer follows:
October 6, 1904.
Joseph L. Coleman, Newburgh, N. Y.
"My Dear Sir:
Your favor of recent date, stating
that at the coming election you will
cast your first presidential VOTE and
asking for some good reason why you
should vote the republican ticket has
been referred to me for answer.
''Tha sons MANI, ava ,+,o--
why you should start right by voting
the republican ticket, yet 1t is impossi-
bic within the limits of an ordinary let
ter, to state even briefly all of them.
Here are few of them:
First: You should vote the repub-
lican ticket, because the record Of that
party for the fifty years of it's exist
ence has been so uniformly honorable
and consistent that 1t is today crown
OF glory to every man to say that he
was one Of its founders, and has con
tinued to act with 1t to this day. 1t is
privilege to any young man to come
into such an Inheritance. No other
party has existed in our country for
that length of time, but it's honorable
members have at some time or other
been obliged to admit that its princi-
pies were vicious and It's candidates
unworthy of their support.
Second: You should vote the re-
publican ticket because that party was
organized to make this the land of
free men, free soil and free speech.
Having accomplished its purpose, it is
the party best fitted to preserve them.
Third: You should vote the repub-
lican ticket because the party is op-
posed to free trade and free silver, and
has consistently stood for protection to
both labor and capital.
Fourth: You should vote the re-
publican ticket because man is
known by the company he keeps, and
no man Is in bad company who is
member of the party of Fremont and
Lincoln and Grant and Mckinley and
Roosevelt. All good men are not re-
publicans, nor are all republicans good
men; but the vast majority of republi-
cans are men of good repute. Look
about in your own community and see
whether this is not true
Fifth: You should vote the republi.
can ticket because it's candidates now,
as in the past, are honest, able cour-
ageous men. AS has been said what
more could any mother and father ask
than that their son should follow the
same high ideals as Theodore Roose.
welt has followed, and live the same
honorable, loyal, pure life as his has
been.
Sixth: You should vote the repubu.
inly hot