The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1914-12-02
Dear Gazette:

Dear IdZolIS.
The receipt of the old home paper
yesterday, with almost entire results
of elections in state and county a
week ago, suggested a number of
thoughts, some of which may be of
a little interest to your readers. For
instance, The Gazette of election day
date reached us on following Mon
day as usual, and yet with fairly COM
plete returns as to those elected.
While here in California, one week
after election, 357 precincts are yet
to be heard from, though the mar
gin Of majoritie5 of most of the state
candidates is sufficient to indicate the
officers elected. The reasons for this
hardness are two-fold, the main one
being the intolerable size of the bal
lot as large as a four-page section
of The Gazette, with much Of the
printing in smaller type than that
of our home paper. Think Of having
the candidates Of five parties for
county, judicial, state and national
office to select from and big page
in addition containing the titles Of
forty-eight proposed constitutional
amendments, and you can have an
idea of what the clerks and judges
of precincts registering up to 800
voters were up against. No wonder
that some of them seem to be still
grinding away on the count. The sec
ond reason for delay maybe the re-
moteness Of some Of the mountain
precincts from main Travelled mail
routes.
The election of Mr. Hammond for
governor in Minnesota was to me no
surprise or disappointment. In the
first place, Mr.. Hammond is well
qualified for the position by his long
service in Congress and his talent
for getting business done as we'll as
keeping in touch with his constituents.
Add to these advantages a person
atty and personal record that | have
never heard assailed, and you have
some Of the elements which in my
humble judgment make w. S. Ham
mond the most popular Minnesota
Democrat since John A. Johnson's
time. Admitting that Mr.. Lee was
the best candidate available on the
Republican side, the bitter fight for
the gubernatorial nomination between
the Eberhart and Lee supporters was
too much of a handicap to give the
Republican candidate an even show in
the lace.
Mr. Hammond is liable to make it
as hard a job to pry him loose two
years hence as was the case with
Gov. Johnson, though | think that if
the reaction against Democratic poll
cies persists to the extent shown in
last Tuesdays elections, the next gov
ernor will have to make good IN or
der to get an extension Of his pres
ent term.
However, the results are certainly
decisive, and aside from the triumph
of the vets, seemingly hopeful for
the cause of good government. Hiram
Johnson's reelection by over 10000
majority not only exceeded all pre-
election estimates of the governor
and his supporters, but is the record
majority ever polled in a California
election for governor. 1t is account
ed for by the fact that thousands who
registered as Democrats and not a
few stand-pat Republicans bolted
their party candidates and lined up
for the pugnacius Hiram. The rea-
son is, that the Johnson administra-
ton has made a record for general
efficiency, establishing a civil serv-
ice and merit system in place of the
graft and favoritism that had dis
tinguished number Of previous adj
ministrations, which had been under
popular indictment for being tools
of S. P. railroad monopoly.
Gov. Johnson in a speech before
a crowded audience in Whittier. pre-
dicted that at no distant date Cali
fornia elections would be carried on
the basis of official efficiency, regard
less of party nominations. and the
election of last week appears 10 bear
out that prophecy. Frederickson, the
Republican candidate, was badly hand
icapped by the support Of the two
leading daily papers, the LosAngeles
Times and Examiner. both charged
with being tools Of the corporations
and bitterly hostile 70 the Johnson
regime, and in this, his home coun-
ty, of which he has been prosecuting
attorney for a series Of years, Fred
erickson was repudiated by an adj
verse majority Of over $4,000 votes
While the Progressive party now ap-