The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1904-11-03
REPUBLICANS PACK FRONT SEATS WITH NEGRO sHou1ERs
y 4 STAFF CoRREspoNpENT.

publican star campaigner. hald the!
much-talked-of joint discussion in th
| Courthouse here tonight.
1t was a debate of the old-fashione
sort. 1t called out the old men of bot
parties who remembered the campaign dc
bates OF former years. 1t was house di
vided against itself. ready to applaud tell
| ing points.
lt was diversion. even to the warn
| Green County campaign. for the campaign
is go heated mere in these two representa-
rive districts that none of the local nom
inees was particularly anxious for the de
bate to be held here. So worried we-
they that the chairman of both count,
committees wired TO their respectiv,
speakers. asking them to put off the dis
cussion until after election Both speak
ers could not see their way clear to draw
OH, and so the debate was held
Ihe Republicans took advantage of theil
present control Of the county offices, ant
affixed Walbridge's name in two-foot let
tiers above the bench from which the de-
baters spoke. Pictures Of Roosevelt ant
Fairbanks covered the walls. Not onl,
that, but the officeholders took care tc
get all their party workers in the from
OF the courtroom for a clacque. Repub
lican negroes were much In evidence
All the prominent politicians and parti.
sans Of the city were on hand, almost toe
late to get seats, because Of the early ar
rival of the populace which filed windows
steps, ratings and every available inch OF
floor space.
Outside of the Courthouse there was
much complaint over the work of the Re.
pubncans in filing the courtroom ar
hour before the time announced for the
meeting. The early arrival Of the negroes
and town loafers made 1t practically i'm
possible Tor any large number Of the bet.
ter element to get into the room.
Republican politicians are being gener-
ally criticised ior their evident .ntentior
70 pack the room in favor OF Judge
spencer. Inc fact that Mr.. yandiver he'd
bis own against such obstacles Is q matter
Tor congratuiation.
Frank B. Williams. chairman OF the
Democratic County Committee; Vint n.
Bray, secretary of the committee; H. B.
ident of the Union National Bank; EN-
NETT Newton, nominee for Representative;
l.. II. Murray, j. B. Jewell, editor of the
Leader-Democrat; +. c. Brown, State Sen
a,or u. NJ. Mcpavid. E. Y. Mitchell and
John b. Porter, were among the prominent
Democrats.
OF the Republicans were many. Post
master ]. b. Ross, whose postal service
iS pAdlSeu pS CtlICdi pOilllcdl. opponents
as well as by his friends; Perry Patton
chairman of the County Committee; S. c.
n. Vanhosen,. registrar of lands:- John II.
Duncan, registrar of lands: Frank Glenn
ents, c. W. Tooker and H X. Snyder,
editor of the Republican.
The utmost good feeling prevailed.
Neither Judge Spencer nor Congressman
vandiver dubbed about the division OF
agreed that Mr.. Vandiver should open
with speech one hour and five minutes
In length. Judge Spencer to follow for an
hour and quarter, and his opponent to
close with quarter of an hours rebuttaI
Chairman Williams of the Democratic
Committee called the meeting to order al
1:4O, by announcing tnat McLain Jones,
president of the Springfield Walbridge Re-
man of the evening aIr. Jones spoke
briefly defining the terms of the discus
sion and bespeaking the fair considera-
ton Of the audience for both speakers.
Congressman Nandiver opened by con-
graduating the Republicans on having
their star orator as their representative.
He criticised Hanliltonism and praised the
Democratic policies of Thomas Jefferson.
proceeding down to the monarchial acts
Of Roosevelt in dealing with Porto Rico
and the Philippines. He took the Repub-
lican Roosevelt programme to task for try
ing TO make negro party out of his or
ganiZatiou.
mo wonder the Republicans are willing
to bet on two-thlrds majority for Roose-
welt when they count on the negro vote
so confidently and with SO much reason
he said.
ELECTION FRAUDS.
Then, referring to State politics, Mr.
Vandiver said, In part:
'.The Republican administration in Mis-
souri, was reckless. viciously partisan and
corrupt. The election laws were the most
outrageous that were ever enforced any
-hay- In lNu inc -,
peipag rrve nm M : Ine Soufhern Sts:es
in the unhappy days of the reconstruction.
Long after the Civil War had closed
when peace prevailed everywhere they
not only applied the infamous test oath,
but they deliberately disfranchised whole
communities, not of tough character, but
OF Intelligent, patriotic, law-abiding citi.
zens.. simply to enable them to control
elections, and in appointing judges and
clerks of an election they selected only
men of their own party.
Democrats were not allowed to act as
judges and clerlts of an election. even n
the best counties of Missouri. Compare
those, If you will, with the fair and i'm
partial methods now In vogue under a
Democratic administration. where elections
arc conducted honestly and squarely to
both parties, having equal representation
Of judges and clerks at every polling pre-
cinct in the State.
Under the Republican administration
the credit of the State suffered TO such an
SAtcHI lHdt, dllUOuSU us uOuIS WUusHt
6 md per cent int est they were hawkei
about the markets OF the world at IS cents
on the dollar Under Democratic admin
1stration the rate of interest was lowered
to and 3ia per cent, and the State bonds,
as long as there was one, stood equal to a
Government bond in the markets Of the
world.
Under the Republican administration
@ Schools ea and sn other ana pubie nstitntions
were low. The rate of taxes was
30 cents on the hundred dollars
and the total sum appropriated fol
erage of $4,000 per year. To-day taxes
are low, only 10 cents on the hundred dol
lars for actual State expenses. and last
year there was distributed among the
81, 800 900 to aid in their education.
"The heavy debt that was left as q
heritage of the Republican administration
has been paid off by the careful manage
making the only case on record In the
United States in which any State has ever
paid off heavy bonded debt and lowered
Its taxes at the Sane time
COMPARATIVE TAXATION.
On the question of comparative taxation
Mr.. yandiver challenged his opponent te
deny this proposition:
Farm lands in Missouri are taxed only
one-third as high as in Illinois. and one.
half es high as n Iowa and less than ha
as high as in Kansas, the three Republic
an States surrounding Missouri on the
east. the north and the west. The Re.
publicans admit that the tax rate in
Illinois is 30 cents on the hundred dollars
of valuation for State purposes, while ir
Missouri the tax rate for State purpose:
alone is only 10 cents on the hundred dol
lars. but they claim that IN Illinois the
assessed valuation is only one-fifth of the
real value.
"All right: grant that 1t is 50 cents on 3
fifth valuation. II is equal to 10 cents on 6
full valuation In Missouri the aggregate
valuation established by custom that ha.
prevailed ever since the State was organ
lied Is one-third of the full cash value
and a tax rate of 10 cents on the third
valuation would be equal to 1-3 cents OF
the full valuation. In other words. ours i.
31-3 cents on the 800. while Illinois is Il
cents.