Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1906-11-14
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER ii, 1906
STAND PATTERS REBUKED.

the election of 1906. The demo
Gratis carried the South as usual
and lost in the Northern states
as rule. Wherever there is a
departure from this rule there
are local reasons for it. On the
face of the returns the two
parties are just about where they
were before election-the repub-
licans in the majority and the
democrats in the minority.
Yet there are a number of sig
nifcant things about the election
that are encouraging to the man
who cares more for progress
than for party advantage. The
people of Minnesota and North
Dakota have served notice on the
political managers that the said
managers must hereafter select
candidates who stand close to
the people if they wish to have
them elected. Johnson's phe-
nomenal majority-the largest
ever given a candidate for gov
ernor in this state both an
endorsement of Johnson s record
and a warning to the republican
leaders which they will do we'll
to heed. The defeat of the re-
publican candidate for governor
in North Dakota was simply an
effort of the people to throw off
the railroad clique that has gov
erned that state for years. In
neither case does the election of
a democratic governor place the
state in the doubtful column as
far as national issues are con-
cerned, unless the republicans
should be guilty of the fatal
blunder of nominating a stand
patter and friend of the corpor-
ations, such as Shaw, Fairbanks
or Foraker. With any candidate
who is in line with the Roosevelt
program the republicans can
carry these two states with
big majority.
AS in state matters, so in. ma
tional matters the republicans
have been given a fair warning
by the elections. The democrats
have gained several seats in con-
gress, and in most instances
these were not in doubtful dis
tricts, but in districts with a
very large republican majority.
In the second district McCleary
is retired after fourteen years.
service. The normal republican
majority of 10000 in that district
was changed into a democratic
majority of over 1900, because
Mac had taken a notion. that he
knew better what the people Of
his district wanted than they
did. He is a standpatter Of the
ultra radical type, believing that
the tariff is sacred and must not
be revised except in an upward
direction. Lands of Indiana
and Lacey of Iowa, statesmen Of
the McCleary school, also went
down to defeat. Babcock of
Wisconsin, who was tariff re-
visionist until he got the beer tax
reduced and since then has been
a standpatter, met his Waterloo.
This shows Enthusiastically that If
the republicans will not reduce
the tariff on trust-made goods
the people are likely to entrust
the job to the democrats. If the
republicans are wise they will
heed the warning and get the
work done before the campaign
Of 1908 opens.
The republicans carried Ne
braska, but they did it with the
best ticket they have ever had in
that state and on a platform call
ing for just the reforms advocat-
ed by the reform forces of the
state. The work done by the
agitators bore fruit in the repub-
lican convention, and if the can
didates elected live up to their
professions and past records Ne
braska will be well on the way to
cleaner politics.
In New York the republican
candidate for governor is elected
over Hearst by a plurality Of
about 10000, but it seems likely