The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1906-09-14
Breeze Blows No Good for
James T. McClearv.
TEARING DOWN HIS FENCES.
Prairies in the West End Of District
Are Fairly Alive With Mr..
Guttersen Supporters.
lFRoM A STAFF coRREspoNDENTl

Pipestone, Sept. ll.-Nmds which
blow DER the western prairies of Mime
sofa sing an awful sad refrain for James
T. McCleary. The breezes which move
from west to east are blowing down his
heretofore well braced fences and as the
gale gathers force and by the time it
reaches Mankato, Mr.. McCleary will be
swept off his feet. There is no hope
for the congressman. As one former add
mirer of the representative expressed
himself today, "It's all off with Mae.
He is defeated man."
Two years ago Pipestone county in al
unguarded moment, presented Mr.. Nc
Cleary with majority of las. If this
county does not switch about this year
and give Mr.. Guttersen handsome ma
jority in the primaries l will miss my
guess. Tariff revision sentiment in the
western end of the district is even
stronger than it is in the eastern end,
and anyone who has looked over the sit
uation there knows with what rapidity
the sentiment i'm favor of change in
schedules has grown there within the
past year. The prairies out here are
fairly alive with Guttersen supporters.
::
Former Postmaster Robey was the
best friend Mr.. McCleary ever had in
Pipestone county. He was the bulwark
that kept the opponents of the congress
man from capturing this county from
him.. He was the mainstay, the pillar,
the foundation, the superstructure of
the McCleary citadel hereabouts and it
was due TO Mr.. Robey's efforts, and his
alone, that Mr.. McCleary always held
his own in Pipestone county. But Mr..
Robey, good man and true, has passed
away. and no one has succeeded to his
place as the confidential friend and adj
visor of the representative in this par
ticular section. Hundreds of men voted
for Mr. McCleary to please Mr., Robey.
Now that Mr.. Robey is no more, those
men will vote to please themselves. They
will vote for Mr.. Guttersen because he
represents their views on that question
which has taken up the attention of so
many people during the past few years.
A friend of the congressman who re-
sides in Jackson made the statement to
me on Sunday that he considered Mr..
NlcCleary's position on the tariff ques-
tion clearly wrong. "Why," said this
gentleman. "the tariff should be revised
and the quicker it is done the better.
WHY should there be so much talk about
the matter? Does my friend McCleary
insist that republican congress cannot
revise the tariff without disturbing the
business interests of the country?
Though ne is my friend ] cannot agree
with him. When it was said that this
government could not resume specie pay
ment without creating an industrial and
financial hubub, old John Sherman took
the bull by the horns and resumed specie
payment in a jiffy. There was no dis
turbance. Everything run along in the
even tenor of its way. The same thing
can be done with the tariff. The way
to revise is to revise. The people of
the country have faith enough i'll the
wisdom of the republican party and its
acts will receive their hearty approval
i regard Mr.. McCleary's stand as wholly
wrong. The country is demanding a
safe revision of the tariff and that de-
mand should be complied with. l am
afraid that l shall have to vote for Mr.
Guttersen at the primaries, not that
dislike Mr. McCleary, but because | want
the tariff revised.
Speaking of Jackson county. matters
political are quiet. The residents OF
that county are just recovering from a
county seat contest and all hands will
give politics a rest for awhile. Mr.
Guttersen, however, will receive hand
some vote in Jackson county. Two year:
ago the McCleary forces in Jackson vii
lage worked clever dodge on the en-
envy. On the morning of primary cleo
tion day they started the story that