Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1906-06-13

ment, I have taken occasion to look up
the record. 1 find that Polk county, the
home of the admitted leader of one
faction of the party, had 81 votes in
that convention, of which 1 received 48,
or over 80 per cent. Des Moines county,
of which Burlington, the home of the
alleged leader of the other faction, is
the county seat, had "a votes, of which
the most received at any time was
and the attorney for the @. road did
not vote for me at all. Mr.. PARROT, Mr..
Funk and Senator Harlan each led me
on two ballots, and PARROT and Har-
Ian led me on all the ballots. The
Seventh district, which includes Polk
county, cast 1877 votes Of which I re-
ceived 122 or 80 per cent. The First
district, which includes the city of Bur-
lington, had 81 votes and it gave me
but 20 or less than one-fourth.
RAILROAD OPPOSITION TO SHAW.
81 live in Crawford county on the
line of the Northwestern railroad;
was educated in Linn county on the
line of the Northwestern railroad; /
married my wife in Clinton county on
the line of the Northwestern railroad,
and yet the counties touched by the
Northwestern system gave me a ma
jority of their vote only on the last
ballot, and only 475-a bare majority
then. Four years later the same coun-
ties gave my successor two-thirds of his
aggregate vote. He received in 1901,
$50 votes, of which 572 were from the
counties touched by the Northwestern
railroad. 1t was then claimed that the
Northwestern railroad sought to control
the state against the successful candi.
date. The record disproves the claim
or it proves that the railroads have lit
tie influence even in the counties
through which they pass.
There are six trunk lines of railway
extending across the state from east
to west and in 1901 there were three
extending from north to south. The
principal Iowa attorneys for two of
these systems, the Chicago, Burlington
& Quincy and the Chicago & Northwest
ern, were understood to be opposed to
the successful candidates; one of the
other roads was neutral; the principal
Iowa attorney for another was the sue
cessful candidate himself, and the prin
cipal attorney for five o. the others
supported him, and the president Of
one of them came to Iowa in his private
car to assist in securing delegation
from a certain country for the success
full candidate. Who caresf A railroad
attorney has perfect right to be 9
candidate for governor, and he will
make just as good governor as he
would if he had been engaged in any
other occupation. Occupation is moi
what makes men. Sincerity of purpose
plus ability make men. No amount OF
ability will make a man without sin
cerity of purpose, and no occupation
that a man of sincerity of purpose will
engage in, will injure man who has
sincerity of purpose. Barring the pres
ident of this one system all the repre-
sentatives of all the six roads that sup
ported the successful candidate were
citizens of Iowa and they had the same
right to be interested in Iowa politics
as had other men. The representative
Of the Northwestern railroad certainly
did not demand of his subordinate legal
representatives that they join with him
in opposing the successful candidate, fol
a majority of the local attorneys of
that system supported that candidate.
tion in Iowa is manufactured from
start to finish.
TARIFF Is THE ISSUE.
"There is an issue, however, within
the republican party in Iowa, and that
issue is the tariff. The republican party
has always stood for protection and il
has never gone out of power except on
the tariff issue. I might also say it has
never gone out of power even on the
tariff issue except Immediately follow
ing a revision of the tariff at its own
hands.
"In the early SOS republicans began
demanding tariff revision, and in 1888
the republican party revised it, and the
very next year Grover Cleveland was
elected president, together with a demo
cratic house. In obedience to Mr.
Cleveland's message, democratic
house passed the Mills bill. The repub-
lican senate refused to pass it, but did
pass what was known as the "Senate
Substitute" and the next national
campaign, 1888, was fought on the tariff
question. The republican party prom
ised protection to every American in
dustry. The republican party stood
pat. The democratic party demanded
revision in the interest Of the consumer
The result was victory for protection
Benjamin Harrison was elected and
with him republican house and sen.
ate. Immediately thereafter, however
republicans again talked revision, and
republican congress undertook the
task. The Mckinley bill was passed
October /, 1890. This was entitled 'An
Act to Reduce the Revenues etc
Thirty days from the date on which
that revision bill was approved dem
ocrtaic house was elected, and two years
later Mr.. Cleveland was reelected, to-
gether with democratic house and a
democratic senate.
"In 1892 the democratic party de
manded a revision Of the tariff down
ward. The republican party in 1895
STOOD pat;' it said 'let well enough
alone 1t was the most prosperous year
we had ever seen and yet we suffered Q
landslide and went out of control alb
solutsly. Four years later, however
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