The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1907-02-08
Democrats Lining Up for
the Big Contest.
LOOKING FOR SPEEDY STEED
David r Francis of st. Louis Looked
Upon FavorabIy; New York's Cam.
paign for Pure Water.
Especial to The Free Press.l


| New York, Feb. with the presi-
Dental campaign little more than a
year away, democratic leaders are
! busily figuring out the best plan of
action to follow in opposing the tick
ct which will be presented by the re-
publican party.
For many months it has been a GER
tainty that the name of William j.
Bryan would figure prominently in the
democratic national convention, but Mr..
Bryan's attitude on railroad matters,
| in speeches made on his return from
abroad, alienated much of the South
and has raised serious question in the
minds of many as to the ACCESSIBILITY of
| his nomination. 1t also is practically
certain that the name of William X.
Hurst will not be nearly as strong a
candidate for the presidential nomina-
ton as he would be had he been elect
| ed governor here last November.
| For long time there has been a
| frowing sentiment in favor of naming
southern man as the democratic
crystallizing around the name of David
| srystallizing around the name of David
| K. Francis, of ST. Louis, former COVER
nor of Missouri, and known information
ally as the president of the st. Louis
Exposition of 1904. Mr.. Francis is
| looked upon by democrats generally as
an excellent candidate upon whom both
| conservatives and radicals could unite
Then, too, Missouri is regarded, geo.
graphically, as an ideal state to 90 to
| for q candidate.
Missouri always has been ranked as
a southern state, although reallysa bor-
der state. Still, it voted with the
ts'solid south presidentially until Roose-
welt broke up the combination in the
| last campaign. There is reason to be-
lieve that New York and other eastern
states would take vary kindly to Mr..
| Francis selection, and many southern
democrats have expressed their salts
faction at the suggestion of his NOM
nation and the reward it would confer
on the democracy of the south for its
long continued party loyalty.
Several public spirited citizens are
conducting a comprehensive campaign
for purifying the Hudson river and
| other waters of the state, which today
are so polluted with sewage that they
are a menace to health.
This work is being done by special
committee appointed by the Merchants
| association, with Edward Hatch, Jr., as
its chairman. Mr.. Hatch's associates
on the committee are j. Pierpont Nor
gan, John Y. Cuyler, George G. Whip
pie and Albert Wander Veer.
This committee is taking steps to
check pollution of all state waters and
especially of the Hudson. Its engineers
| have estimated that 455OOO,OO gallons
of sewage are discharged into the wat
er i'll the neighborhood of New York
every twentyfour hours, and the
| amount of drainage due to rainfall is
about 243,OOO,OOO gallons, making a
total of 69S,O00,000 gallons of drainage
waste which the rivers and harbors re-
! ceive daily. All of this eventually
should 90 out to sea, but under pres
ent conditions the harbor is not prop,
erly flushed except during freshets in
the Hudson. As a result large quaint
ties of refuse are spread over the bay
and left on the shores between long
| intervals of heavy rains. This is APP
| parent, not only in the scum over the
harbor but in great banks of poisonous
refuse on the harbor bottom and float
ing on the surface.
MIR. Hatch's committee is at work on
| legislation, both in New York and in
New Jersey, to provide proper outlets
for sewage of the Hudson Valley and
OF the Passaic Valley without having it
| dumped into the waters Immediately
surrounding the city. The committee
also is seeking to prevent the contain
nation of the Hudson river ice supply.
1t is also at work to compel not only
the state of New York but the state
OF Vermont to properly safeguard Lake
Champlain.
Never in the history of criminal trials
have such elaborate arrangements been
made to furnish news to the newspa
pers as those made for the trial of
Harry X. Thaw for the murder of Stan
ford White, now in porgress in the
| Criminal Courts Building.
Two great cables have been run into
the court room to communicate with
the cables of the telegraph operators,
each cable containing nineteen wires