Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-10-19
GENERAL APATHY PAYS HIS
RESPECTS TO w. H. STEAD
Little Interest is Shown in His Visit
-OeVotes Himself 20 De-
Tense of Party.

The rink down on Sixteenth street
has been one of the coolest spots in
the city since the visit of Senator w.
X. Fairbanks a week ago. The repub-
lican city committee ought to have
the steam turned on before II can eX-
pect to lure the voter within He Is
obliged to move along right smart
these evenings to keep warm and il
is not reasonable to suppose that he
will consent to be led into a rcfrig-
orator.
There were icicles on the ceiling last
evening when w. IL. Stead. of Ottawa.
the candidate for attorney general,
was piioted down the aisle holding
his coat collar tightly about his
throat Mr.. Stead. it should in Justice
be stated is a brilliant orator when
he has something to talk about He
is an able lawyer and is said to have
cleared a man in his town who stole
ham sandwich from a blind cripple.
He is a fOrcible speaker ordinarily.
but he had tough lacking at the rink
last night. The fiambeauX gave a fancy
drill to warm up on the outside of the
rink at the conclusion of the parade
and almost broke up the meeting
Maj. c. w. Halves. the chairman, was
forced to call personally on the cap
tain and order him to douse the
, torches and advise his duck soldiers
to come on the inside to help fill up the
vacant space. From the platform the
gathering had more the appearance of
one seen at school commencement.
there were so many women and girls.
Mr.. Stead admitted that it was diff
cult to interest an audience this cam
paign. He said it took two fellows to
furnish a fight When the other rel
low was a corpse. meaning the demo-
cratic party there was nothing to do
If Mr.. Stead really believes his own
assertions he need not have wasted
an hour and a half defending the ma
tiOnal republican administration. He
would have better entertained his aud
fence with reading from Joe Miiler's
joke book. The meanest thing that he
could say against the democratic par
ty in the present campaign was that
the national executive committee was
composed of men who had money.
But that was nothing pew to his audi
vi AltJ ulu llOl tApetl ludJ inc
committee should be made up Of sec
ton hands. To hear Mr.. Stead one
would be led to the belief that the rich
had turned their backs on the repub-
lican party. and that Chairman CorteI-
you would be compelled to suggest the
holding Of lawn parties to raise enough
Of the mazuma TO pay the printer and
the spcllbinder
He devoted himself To a defense OF
the Dingley tariff and the Philippine
policy. repeating the statement Of G.
s. Deneen. the candidate for governor.
uttered on the same platform a week
ago. that Uncle Sam intended holding
the islands as a market for his sur
plus products. The commerce of the
future was with the orient. The Unit
ed States had become a world power
and were entitled to a voice in the
affairs Of mankind. Mr.. Stead was in
terrupted during his discussion Of the
tariff. man in the audience request
ing him to tell something about the
full dinner pail. Mr.. Stead answered
that he would take the dinner bucket
up later While discussing wages he
was interrupted again. by the same
man, but the latter got ratified and
was forced TO retreat under a fire OF
questions that were put to him by the
speaker.