The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1906-10-20
COLES CAMPAIGN c mi a
one OF APOLOGY
CANDIDATES PRETENsloNs RE.
cElvED WITH SILENT soR.
ROW BY REPUBLICAN ~.
~ QDRl alAnEao
:

With the campaign only just begun
Candidate Cole is already on the de.
fensive. Not only the candidate but
every Republican campaign speaker Is
either apologizing for some action or
utterance Of Mr.. Cole or is skillfully
attempting to disguise the real issues
In this contest. With q candidate
hard at work beating retreat before
the fight has really started there can
and will be but one end to the contest
and that is the Triumphant reelection
Of Governor johnson.
Republican spellbinders first ATTEMPT
to prove that Mr.. Cole was Fairly
nominated" They do not hesitate to
admit that Mr.. Jacobson was defeated
by corporate influence and corporate
money. The memory of the Duluth
convention is too fresh in the minds
Of the people to permit any denial.
But they urge that Cole was simply
the instrument the innocent instru-
ment, II you please-of Jacobson's dn-
doing. Why desert him because Tom
Shevlin supported him1 they ask.
The people will not be fooled. They
know that when man has been nom
mated by certain predatory interests
those interests will have willing
servant in the man who profits by
the use Of their money. All the argu-
hers this side of hades cannot con-
hnt
Then comes the campaign orator
who denies that Mr.. Cole ia the owner
OF large areas OF Northern Minnesota
swamp lands which he wants the state
to develop for him in his state de-
velopment" policy. Whether or not
Cole does own big tracts Of water.
covered lands is beside the issue. His
friends, the timber spectators, do
own these lands and his other friends,
the railroad owners, have vast hold
ings which it is hoped that the state
will convert into marketable lands.
Then it is explained that the earlier
campaign claim Of Mr.. Cole that it
was he who fathered the bill remov-
ing the statute of limitations as a
shield to the timber thief was due to
an error. The terror" was not dis
covered until that venerable old leg
tslator, r. H. Jefferson of Cottonwood
county, came forward with proof that
the bill for which Cole claims credit
was introduced by himself. It, with
a senate bill of similar purport, went
to the committee on public lands, of
which Hon. John G. Lund OF Mime
apolfs was chairman,s and the redraft-
ed bill Is now the law Of the land
Mr.. Cole, driven into a corner by the
indisputable claims of his Republican
colleagues of the house, now admits
that he only FEDERATED" the bill. Even
this claim for preferment must be
shared with other members of the
joint committee Of house and senate.
But one Of Mr.. Coles pretensions Is
received with silent sorrow by his fel-
low Republicans on the stump. His
discussion Of railroad laws OF the
state, with his suggestions for neces-
sary new laws, has been relegated to
the scrap heap of oblivion. Mr.. Cole,
Offices of the railroad and warehouse
commission, went on the stump with
a declaration that the railroad com
mission had done only part Of it's
plain duty and that there was urgent
need OF a series of seven additional
laws to make effective the work of the
commission In making new rates
Hardly were the words spoken when
the legal fraternity of the state, with
out reference to politics, began to
smile. Cole had displayed such to-
tai ignorance Of the subject that It
simply was to laugh. Then former
Governor John Lind and Railroad
Commissioner Staples exploded his
fine spun theories and showed that
Mr.. Coles principal panacea was all
right and the only obstruction that
stood in the way Of its successful ad-
mtnistration was such trifing impedi-
mentia as the constitutions of the
state Of Minnesota and the United
States. Senator Knute Nelson was
quoted exhaustively to prove that Min
nesota has the best railroad laws of
any state in the Union. Governor
Johnson's declaration that the railroad
laws Of Minnesota are both efficient
and sufficient" and only needed ener-
getic and honest enforcement was
agreed to by the thinking public of
the state.
Republican campaign speakers, too.
have not sought to apologize for Mr..
Coles attitude On so important a
measure as the reciprocal demurrage
bill. Not campaign speaker has
murmured word regarding the Walk
er statesman's services to his state In
securing the passage of this measure
designed to treat both the shipper
and the carrier alike. When the men
who for money are preaching Mr..