Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-02-16
4larsatour nrs February IL 1906

state he sought to give all the candi-
dates an equal show, though he did
not conceal his likes and dislikes.
met Mr.. Clarkson and Cyrenus Cole
and ] think | made a favorable i'm
preston, for very soon the Register
contained the oft-quoted sentence,
Keep your eye on Shaw
Blythe Influence Myth.
Il did not go. as has often been
stated, to Burlington. | had never
seen Mr. Blythe and did not see him
until after the day before the conven-
ton convened. | had heard so much
about railroad domination and of the
machine that in my innocence l
though possible overtures would be
made TO me and conditions imposed,
and ! prepared myself accordingly.
even thought out what / would say,
and was prepared to tell this arch
boss as ] had conceived him to be.
that he and his road could go to any
place which il was proper for a Meth
odist to describe; that l did not have
to be governor of Iowa. and was not
in the fight on my own motion. You
can imagine my surprise when Mr..
Blythe said to me: 1 think you will
be nominated tomorrow. | don't know
whether we could beat you if we
should try. l am very certain we could
insure your nomination if we
should try. but it is great deal better
for you and all concerned that the
matter take its own course You will
then be under no obligations to no
one During the four years that / was
governor Mr.. Blythe seldom suggested
an appointment and never asked one.
His few endorsements were to the eff
feet that he thought the man compe-
tent and honest and that he would
prove satisfactory to me. When / APP
pointed Colonel Palmer railroad COM
missioner | remember he telegraphed
me- concentrating me on my selection
and saying that | would find Colonel
Palmer honest and absolutely free
from outside influence
During the senatorial contest which
resulted in the recollection of Mr. Gear
MI Blythe never asked my influence,
but after 1t was over he came to my
office and thanked me for having re-
manned neutral thruout, and also for
having declined overtures which were
made looking to my selection. After
MIR. Gears death l conferred with Mr..
Blythe, as did with Judge Prouty,
Judges Stephens, c. c. Mccarthy,
George Roberts, Senator Allison and
nearly all the Iowa delegation, but Mr..
Blythe never asked me to appoint any
one and never asked me not to appoint
anyone. AT no time did he seek to put
me under obligation to him and at all
times avoided anything that might
seem to place him under obligations
to me. The convention met and the
first district never cast a fifth of its
votes for me. OF it's 116 votes, it gave
me IA on the first ballot, / on tbs
second, ID on the third, and % on the
fourth Des Moines county, the HON,
of Mr. Blythe, had "a votes. On tn,
first ballot it gave me 8, on the mex
ballot l, on the third ballot >, and OF
the last ballot 5. The Chicago paper!
generally announced the result as !;
defeat of the machine, and one of TIL,
papers l remember POSSIBLY the Rec
ord-Herald) gave Il cartoon showing
great pile of "geared" wheels broken
and smashed in a heap. Inside of
week all the opposition papers an
nounced that had been nominated by
the railroads, and factional republican,
ism has laid great stress upon the rail-
road influence in my nomination.. AS
n matter of fact, the delegations came
down to Cedar Rapids and were there
three days. They visited headquarters
and sized us UP as well they could.
/ was fortunate in having some good
ri u-1,o cai1 in
favor that could be substantiated, and
then some. had lived in Linn coun-
ty and there was a little county PRIDE
though l did not get the solid delega
ton. There were Cornell college boys
in most of the counties of the state
and quite a number of them in the
My partner and Judge
Conner. a former partner, were Iowa
City alumni, and that insured me
good per cent of the state university
influence. All the other candidates
were in the field before Governor Drake
declined to run again. and this insured
me the support of the ardent Drake
men turnout the state. / had spoken
a good many times in the campaign of
1896. and had made a few friends. AS
a result I was first choice of quite
number and second choice
Of very many. I returned home, the
nomination having cost me all told less
than $3.50.
What show, my dear Senator,
would you or any other conservative
citizen have in a statewide primary as
against a would-be reformer? Inag-
inc yourself going out and making a
canvass for governorship of the state
on conservative platform. You could
the state of Iowa upon
her influence in national affairs from
the days of Grimes until now. You
could truthfully say that under polit-
ica methods heretofore prevalent in
she state Iowa has had the strongest