The Detroit times., 1911-05-24
RECIPROCITY IS
LEADING ISSUE
Special Election in Heart of Corn
Belt on June 8 Is Expected To
Show How Voters Stand.
BY NEAL JONES.


COUNCIL BLUFFS. Iowa. May "a.
LIN the Ninth Iowa congressional dis
trict, on June s. will be held a special
election.
The issue. clear and sharp, is Can
adian reciprocity.
| The district has always been stand
pat Republican. Walter I. Smith, one
OF the Cannon's stand-bys, represent.
ed II and weathered the storm last
fall, being reelected by 1900 major
ity. The district had always been
Overwhelmingly Republican and after
HIS narrow escape Smith fixed II up
to quit while the quitting was good.
/ So now he Is to be United States
federal judge for life.
| Half the population OF the district
are farmers, the other half live In
this city and In the thriving towns
! and villages of the district. The dis.
( trict itself Is In the very heart of the
/ farming district OF America,
+ The farmers OF Iowa, Minnesota.
| Wisconsin and adjoining states have
talked OF little else politically from the
day the Taft Canadian reciprocity
plan was made public. The towns and
cities buzzed OF reciprocity, too
SO when there appeared hole in
the Iowa representation, up doomed
\ reciprocity The Republican leaders
saw the embarrassment of openly re-
| pudiating Taft, but the Democrats
! forced the issue, saying, figurativeiy:
I'VE have you where we want you.
( You are either for or against Canad-
/ ian reciprocity. II you are for, then
you must embrace the Farmers Free
/ List also, for that covers all the OBJ
| sections the farmers are raising. IL
( you are against, why then you must
naturally turn squarely against Taft.
/ There seemed TO be no escape and
! the Republican leaders decided to go
| in whole hog" They jumped right
into the fight.
The primary campaign was hot.
There were stand-pat and progressive
Republican, candidates, but they were
all against reciprocity. All the Demo
cratic candidates were hot for reci-
proclty and the Farmers Free List.
The Republican standpatters jeefed
I the progressives for deserving reel.
procity.
+. In small way II was the reproduc-
ton OF the national situation--a politi-
cal party turned against It's leader,
with the minority party tanning the
internal fires of dlssension.
I The Iowa Democrats wrote to Dem
ocratic National Chairman Lloyd and
pointed out the situation.
This is the first time" they WROTE,
that reciprocity has been before the
people. This is a big fight--a nation
al fight. The eyes OF the country are
upon US We must win"
Lloyd didn't stop to send somebody.
He came himself. He called In M. j..
Wade, another committeeman, who
went to congress as a Democrat one
4 day when tae Republicans OF the
Second Iowa district were not looking.
They got their heads together and
1 sent out for an Iowa map.
There was the district before them,
nine fat counties in the rich Missouri
valley, the people just dying to vote
on Canadian reciprocity. To the
north, east, south and west lay miles
and miles of the land that raises
wheat, vegetables and all the other
food stuffs that may be affected by the
reciprocity agreement.
Lloyd saw what others had seen
that here would be the test Here
would be fair trial Of public senti.
ment Here would reciprocity be
boosted or booted. II would have to
be-