New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1911-01-04
B[RG[R'S VICTORY
GROWTH OF
Not Necessarily Election Of Third
Party President 10 1912.
but Triumph at Polls
Means New POlit.
iCal Factor.
By JAMES A. EDGERToN.

- BY JAMES A. EDGERTON.
N the late election the Socialist
party polled approximately 700, 900
votes, thus continuing as the third
party in the nation and taking like
rank in most of the states. In New York.
Wisconsin,, California, Ohio, Pennsy!.
vania, Oklahoma, Indiana and Kansas,
for example, it's gains were marked. 1t
carried the city of Milwaukee and the
county in which it is situated, electinS
thirteen members Of the state assem-
bly, and one senator. More important
than all, it made Victor L. Berger a
representative in congress.
Now, Berger is not only Socialist.
: but a political general Of no mean
parts. One would not expect the two
things to 60 together, and in nine hun
dred and ninety-nine cases they would
not. But the one-thousandth case Is
Berger's and is an exception.
Some of the simon pure Socialists
accuse Berger Of being an opportunist.
They say that, having elected the may
or and council of the city of Milwau-
kee last spring.. Berger, who engi-
neered the job, should have seen to it
that the whole Socialist program was
but into immediate effect. Instead of
that his mayor and council have gone
Hong doing about what any reform adj
ministration would have done and
have neither waved the red flag nor
nut all the means Of production and
No Excitement as Yet.
About the only thing startling Mayor
Seidel has put over was to say some
things about Colonel 7. Roosevelt, and
they were mild and ladylike compared
to the epithets hurled at the colonel by
eminent financiers and other perfectly
respectable people in New York.
} In answer to his critics Berger could
say that had he followed the course
Of demanding the whole Socialist pro-
gram at once there would not now be
enough Socialists in Milwaukee to
elect the whole county ticket-thirteen
members of the assembly, ole senator
and one member Of congress. He has
said this in effect and has added that
If he had lived in New York instead
Of Milwaukee the metropolis would
now be in the hands Of his party.
Berger has never run for president
Hand never Will. for the reason that he
was born in Austria. But, then. there
have been few good men who never
ran for president; also other good men
who ran. but did not arrive. There
were Clay. Webster. Blaine and Bryan,
to say nothing of Debs. Mr.. Debs has
been running for president on the So
cialist ticket long enough-well, long
enough to get him used to it. He did
not expect to be elected; said so him
self. He also said, as recall it, that
IL he had expected to be elected he
would not have run, which shows that
the sour grapes fable may apply to
candidates as well as to foxes.
Berger Long In Game.
When Debs ran for president there
was Berger behind him. Couldn't lose
Berger. He was necessary man. For
one thing, he had that Indispensable
quality known as brains. Men with
real gray matter, Of the sort that stays
on the job when needed, are not so
numerous as to glut the market.
Berger has been with Debs ever
since the days of the Peoples party.
In the Populist national convention Of
1896 Debs was candidate for the
presidential nomination, and Berger
was the man in charge of his boom.
would not 60, however and Bryan
was named. During that campaign
Debs supported Bryan, and presuma-
bly, Berger did likewise. After it w's
over the two men, together with some
Of Debs' Railway union following,
launched the Social Democratic Party
Of America. There had been Social
ist Labor party prior to that time, and,
for the matter of that, there is one
yet. But it never reached 10000 votes
In the entire country and in 1908 had
fallen to less than $4,000.
After few years the name of the
Social Democratic party was changed
10 plain Socialist. At the start it was
Fnther uphill work for the new organ
azation. In 1000 Debs, as candidate
for president, received only 1854
votes, but in 1904 he jumped it up to
4O2, 2s3. During the next four years
the vote remained almost stationary,
since in 1908 Debs received APO, 793.
Socialist Increase Large.
The following table will give some
Indication of the increase since 1908.
The figures for 1910 are only approx
ete: -
1910 1908.
California ............ 10000 2S144
Connecticut ..... 1900 5133
Indiana U 10000 1916