The Forrest City times., 1905-07-07

years. The railroad campaigners then started out first to nominate men for the senate who would be favorable to their years later
 Nc mention was made of the railroads
 candidate. the word went down the line
 to put in men who would do the right l thing for the railroad company. The
 candidate, however, got busy" and was sent by lis company 10 ali parts of the
 state, ostensibly on railroad business 1 b1t really to get acquainted with the po- i iitleal leaders. Never before had that
 road been so liberal with passes. Any man who had line on any member of
 the legislature got q pass for the asking.
 Il was this generosity without any re- quest for legislative favors which made the boys suspect that gum shoe cam paign senator was on, and long before the members of the general assembly
 which was to elect q senator had been
 nominated 1t was known that the rail l read attorney was candidate for Unit cd States senator
 Now this is what that man had 10 io
 fo get the seat in the senate he and his 1 people were after He first had to have q majority, on joint ballot, in the gen eral assembly of members of his politi- cal party, otherwise he could not be elected. Having party majority he
 then had to get a majority of the mem-
 bers of that party in caucus in order to get the nomination To get this caucus
 majority he had to begin at he very bot l tom; he had to go 10 the county conyen- tions to get delegates favorable to him l sent 10 the legislative district conven- tons. He then had to get the district conventions to nominate. for members ot
 the legislature, men who would vote for 1 him ill caucus lie attended in person as many of these conventions as he could and where he could not the rail road sent men in his interests.
 The company had along its lines local attorneys who handled the Iega busi-
 Hess ci the railroad in their sections of the state. Every local attorney was i politician. was one of them. that Is how l get mixed up in the campaign. With others was called in" to the
 eomlany's headquarters and given a certain portion of the state to handle for the eompany's candidate. It was
 my office to round up every township, county and district convention l could for "our man" There were nearly 50 Of us. and we worked hard; We had to- i would be paid without question.
 We were unable to get instructions for our fellow in as many district con Ventions as we wanted, for the United
 States senator whose seat We were after was d pretty live proposition and knew
 tow to promise the same federal job to
 a dozen men in a way to make each be- l lieve that he had that job landed. But i here is where our man had the edge on l him; our candidate had a barrel II was i net his property. but he had the Use Of l lt and was told 10 knock in the head il
 necessary. and he knocked il in.
 He had established headquarters in 1 the city, and there score ot active.
 sLrewd, knowing politicians were at
 work. The nominating conventions had all net and nominated, and from that headquarters went the word that every candidate of our party for the iegisla- ! ture Who needed campaign funds could i be supplied l vas in the inside room l one G&y when a candidate for he state l senate cane in. In a cool, bpsinesslIke i way which was refreshing. he was asked l how much money he required to "cinch election He was modest. He put the i figures oLly up 10 $500. He then was
 asked If he would pledge himself 10 vote i in caucus for cur candidate. He said l he would Then he would have no ob- l iection to signing pledge to that ef- l feet. He signed and before the ink of 1 lis signature was dry he was handed
 three crisp Sl00 bills.
 Now that brihe was yelled by the sub. terfuge that the money was part of a
 campaign fund contributed by enthusi- astic men who wanted their party to
 win the election. As a matter of fact the
 money was paid for that mans vote by i the railroad company. who wanted their candidate for United States senator to be elected From this headquarters also
 were sent speakers into close districts and the legislative candidates in such 1 districts knew that their help came l from the railroads candidate. In short
 general campaign for the election of
 members to the general assembly was
 ably and effectively conducted by our
 candidate, and the newest novice in poli-
 tics could easily figure that the expenses
 were something enormous
 Our man was elected without trouble, for before the party caucus was held his
 opponents withdrew. They could not fight the barrel which was never empty,
 TO matter how often it's contents were
 scooped out.
 have sketched out this campaign to
 show the notifications and complexities
 which characterize q campaign for the election of United States senator No Iother election in a state calls upon a
 candidate for such close. detailed. per gEi fnI