The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1912-03-21
STRAW BALLOT
FlE:NDS BUSY
According to Results Taft Has
No Show in Minnesota.
WOMEN SEEKING FRANCHISE
Open Headquarters for Campaign Pur-
poses in the Old State Capitol
at St. Paul.
Especial Correspondence.)

st. Paul, March 19.-If straw bal
lots, voting contests, and the various
schemes now being worked through
out the state for the purpose of Sc
curing an expression from the voters
have any value at all, and if the re-
turns are half true, then President
Taft has no show whatever in Mime
sofa and the present state administra-
ton is doomed. However, there is
nothing to indicate that the Taft man
ayers are worried because of this fact
or that Governor Eberhart and his adj
visers are apprehensive. The latter
are inclined to look upon the thing as
a joke. No campaign is complete with
out the straw ballot 1iends and their
work now might pass unnoticed were
it not for their unusual activity and
their extremely large number. Hardly
a section of the state has been over
looked by them in an effort to secure
sentiment and the sentiment ex-
pressed, as | pointed out, has invari-
ably been antagonistic to those in ma
tlonal and state control. Last week
straw ballots were run as a side line
to many Of the town and village elec-
lions, though the expressions asked
for in the majority of them had refer
ence to a preference for president
only. Ono enterprising fiend invaded
Governor Eberhart's home county,
Blue Earth, and the figures produced,
l will have to admit, were anything
but favorable to his excellency. Ed
Weaver IF that district, who some
time ago limited that if the demand
was strong enough he might get into
the guberratorial game, had decided
lead in the published results. 1t is
intimated il this neck of the woods
that the straw ballot game now being
worked so extensively throughout the
stale is not altogether the work of an
unorganized few, but is rather the de-
iberate act of a certain organization
which is working overtime in an eff
fort to demonstrate the unpopularity
of both President Taft and Governor
Eberhart and to impress upon the
leaders and the workers the advis-
ability of casting their lot elsewhere.
[ will not say that the result of these
ballots so far made public have been
padded or that they are not on the
square, for they are generally in the
hands of men and publications in
which the public has unbounded conf
dence, but the thought does occur to
me sometimes that the scheme is be-
ing uncorsciously overworked and
that there may be a comeback. If the
straw ballot has any value at all the
profit should be the other side. It
should make those in charge sit up
and take notice and distribute their
activities accordingly.
:. :. J.
The campaign for the ballot for Wo-
men in Minnesota is now on and those
in charge have established their head
quarters under the dome in the old
state capitol in St. Paul. Some criti-
clsm was directed at Governor Eber-
hart for turning over state property
for campaign purposes, but I suppose
he argued that as several other cam
paign schemes were being worked un-
der the same dome the women had
as much right to it as the others. Wo-
man suffrage in Minnesota has been
looked upon as pretty much of a joke
in the past and it still continues to
bring a laugh from some who look
upon the whole thing as the hobby of
a lot of old maids and strongminded
females, but just the same would ad-
wise those who really look upon the
movement as against their best inter-
ests to get busy. Votes for women
came very near getting by the last
senate and had it passed that body
the house would have adopted it by
an overwhelming vote. It is going to
creep into one of the party platforms
some of these days, and then look out
!. i X
It is the little things of this life
that make the most trouble, as Gov
ernor Eberhart and his advisers have
perhaps found out. At the state CAPT.
tol there is colored barber and it
keeps him scratching to make a liy
ing, even though the state furnishes
him with the necessary equipment and
light free. This scratching feature of
his existence, however, does not both
er him half as much as an, expenditure
OF 81 weekly which he is compelled to
make because the barbering conces-
sion is in the hands of another COL
ored gentleman. This coIored GENTLE
man has pull, likewise another lob.
and he exacts the 50 by reason of that
fact. For nearly week the barber
who is paying the So has been haunt
ing the executive chambers and Sec
retary Wheelock has been working
overtime in an effort to conciliate bar
Der No. 2 and at the same time not
offend the gentleman who carries the
colored vote of St. Paul and Minnean-
oils in his pc Set
Pc .-.. :. !. 5-...N
R. c. Dunn of the Princeton Union