Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-01-19
THE CITIZENS TICKET.


Citizens ticket in the field for the
coming city election, several Demo
ocats spoke of the large number of
Democratic voters who would support
such a movement. One speaker said
that Of the several hundred voters in
the institution with which he was con-
nected 80 per cent of the Democrats
would vote for a Citizens ticket. In
this institution from sixty to seventy
five per cent of the voters are Demo
Gratis From IT'S to 200 Democratic
voters in this one institution are in
favor of Citizens ticket il the speak
er's canvass of the situation was cor
rect. Another speaker said there
were thirty-five Democrats in the in
stitution in which he was employed
but who would not vote the Republican
ticket
In these two institutions alone, then
there are from 200 to ESQ Democratic
voters who will not support the Demo
cratic ticket If the four candidates
now in the field are nominated And
if the same condition exists in other
Ottumwa institutions it would appear
that there are several hundred Demo
Gratis who favor nominees standing
on platform of law enforcement.
If this is true wouldn't it be the
practical thing to do for these Demo
Gratis to nominate man from their
own party on Democratic ticket and
wrest control of the party from the
men who are in sympathy with the
policies Of the present administration
and have been in sympathy with the
policies of past Democratic administra-
tons? Two hundred Democrats who
would get out and work as hard to
nominate a ticket before the primary
on which were Democrats pledged to
the enforcement of law as they would
have to work to elect Citizens ticket
could nominate any man or any set
of men they chose, The actual work
of nominating and electing a ticket
has always been done by considerably
less than 200 men. There are never
one-fourth that many volunteer as
actual workers in campaign.
The attendance at the meeting last
night was large, hut there was but
small percentage of the Republican
voting strength represented This
would indicate that great many
believe there should be a
Republican ticket in their feld-be-
lieve that the Republican party can
be relied upon to accomplish that
which the Citizens movement aims to
accomplish.
There are four Democratic oandi-
dates for the mayoralty now in the
field: T. j. Phillips. Fritz Ehrman, N.
L. Arrison and Stephen Barnes
The thing for the Republicans and
the Democrats who favor Citizens
ticket to consider is if the same re-
suits could not be secured by the
nomination of straight party tickets
this spring filed by the best timber in
both parties. The Republican party
has always fought the fight for good
government and law enforcement in
city campaigns-and has usually gone
down in defeat because the large per-
centage of votes promised by men
who spoke in favor of enforcing the
law did not materialize when the
voters went into the booths to vote
for men who would enforce these laws.
The Republican party. therefore, can
be relied upon to nominate men of in.
tegrity and courage on platform of
law enforcement. If the sentiment is
so strong in the Democratic party for
the nomination and election of men
pledged to- carry out the same policies
and standing on the same platform,
then this sentiment should be strong
enough to nominate the kind of a !
ticket desired.
If there were Republican and a /
Democratic ticket in the field. both
pledged to enforce the law, the city
would be assured a good administra-
ton no matter which ticket proved
successful at the, polls
The way for the Democrats who are
in favor OF moral administration to
show their strength is to nominate
man on their own ticket who stands
for what they believe is right. They |!
cannot lose anything by trv- /
ing to do so. and that will give them
an opportunity to show their strength
10 their own party.
s
KERN's DEFEAT.