The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1911-06-15
THE HEART OF IOWA.

St. Louis Globe-Democrat "Tama
Jim" Wilson, secretary Of agriculture
in Mr. Taft's cabinet, is of the heart
of Iowa, speaking geographically only
Time was, and for long, when he was
of the heart of Iowa in all of its pull
satiOns. He was a main verticle o!
Fowa's heart when he stood four
square to the many winds that blew
against the corner stone of his party
temple, demonstrating in endless sta
tistics showing the growing prospect
ty of the farmer under protection,
that Iowa was getting the reward of
merit. He wrought so nightly and
so well that Iowa, having learned the
lesson, refuses now to forget it when
"Tama Jim" talks free trade in the
guise of reciprocity.
Tama county, being the heart OF
Iowa, beats with the rhythm of the
blood flow of its state. If Secretary
Wilson were in Tama county now, he
would beat with it. He has been in
Washington long, perhaps too long,
the heart of Iowa, is beating now by
noting the ebb and flow of the blood
at one of the states eXtremities. A
special congressional election was
held on Monday, in the Ninth Iowa
district. comprising nine agricultural
counties in the southwestern division
of the state. The line Delng squarely
drawn between the democrats declar,
ing for reciprocity and the republi-
cans declaring against it, all the
comfort free traders are extracting
from the result of the election is in
saying that the majority of the re-
publican candidate is less than that
cast for previous republican candi.
dates in the district. But it is really
larger, as man of Secretary Will
sons intelligence must have discoV
cred ere now by careful analysis of
the Monday vote and its comparison
with the vote of 1908
In 1908. the vote for the republi-
can congressional candidate there
was 23,215, and that for the demo
cratic candidate 1861. The demo
Gratis, without Canadian reciprocity as
an issue, polled, approximately, AZ
per cent fthe total vote of the dis
trict. Last Monday, with reciprocity
as the issue between the parties, they
pOlled only 954 votes, a little less
than per cent of their vote of 1908.
The republican candidate polled 2,171
votes, or nearly 10 per cent of the
vote cast by his party candidate three
years ago. His majority is larger
majority than that polled for his
party candidate in that district in
1908, in the sense that it represents
a larger percentage of the total vote
at the election. The percentage of his
majority to the total vote is, approx.
imately, 40, while the percentage OF
Judge Smiths majority in 1908 was
approximately, Is. The vote of both
parties fell off, as had been expected,
but the one fact sticking out 90
largely for any SOphistry or juggling
to conceal is that it is easier to stor
up the farmers of an agricultural dis
trict to abandon their fields in the
busy season to vote against the Cana
dian pact than it is to dragon them
to the polls in support of it. The
democrats made a heroic effort to get
out an approximation of their full
in the Ninth Iowa. Their
failure surpasses all expectation, in
extent. Secretary Wilson can easily
find the blood beat of his state in
these figures, although it was at ebb
and not high tide, and know how
Tama county, the heart of Iowa, is