The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1914-03-05
State Democracy Encouraged by
Get Together Meet.
TO REASSEMBLE MARCH 81
Arranging Slate of Candidates for State
Offices Appears to Be Object
of Coming Gathering.

not be because of any lack Of conf
dence on the part of those in charge.
They, meaning National Committee
man Fred B. Lynch and his lieuten-
ants, regard the future as bright, and
for the benefit of those who have
doubts Mr.. Lynch and his friends of
fer the big Democratic, conference
held in Minneapolis last week as the
basis of their hopes. Kidding aside, fell
lows, the Democratic love feast held
at the West hotel was some gather
ing. Contrary to expectations it was
a get together that the unwashed
could be proud of. Instead of few,
fully 1000 members of the state
Democracy were in attendance and
every mothers son of them forked
over the cold cash for the privilege
of being present. It was certainly
gathering of the unterrifed that has
not been duplicated in years. To the
old war horses it brought back fond
memories of the old Lind and John
son days and Republican onlookers
confessed to a sense of respect for
the spirit of the meeting. Looked
upon from the start as an elimination
affair the gathering perhaps was
disappointment to those who hoped
that the lid would be put upon the
political aspirations of several. Moth
ing of the kind, however, was permit
ted to intru1e and instead good fell
lowship prevailed.
:. !. X
One thing made plain at the Demo.
cratic love feast is that Fred B.
Lynch, national Democratic commit
teeman for Minnesota, is in the sad.
die and that his command comes pref
ty near being law. His able lieuten-
ant is Chairman Martin O'Brien of
gathering, something that Frank Day
of Fairmont, Fred Pike of St. Paul
and others learned to their cost be-
fore the gathering adjourned. In vain
Day and the other insurgents tried to
stop the torrent. They were over
whelmed at every turn. One resolu.
ton offered by this crowd and calcu-
lated to make trouble for the Lynch
forces only received five votes. Word
went forth to watch them and nothing
they attempted got by. The feature
of the meeting was that those pres
ent were from the ranks and they
came from every county in the state.
= :. :.
What the gathering failed in an
elimination way was taken care of the
day following when the executive CON-
mittee of the Democratic state cen.
trail committee met and arranged for
state convention of Democrats to
be held March 81. Though not styled
a convention it will be that in effect
and the general opinion is that state
slate will be made up. AS the commit
tee gave it out the conference as de-
cided upon was for the purpose Of
drafting and promulgating a platform
Of rinciples. The call also includes
county gatherings to be held March
"a, at which time delegates to the
state convention will be named and
county and town organizations per-
fected. The gathering is to be held
at the st. Paul Auditorium Repre-
sentation is to be based on the vote
cast in the state for President Wilson,
which will mean about 1900 dele
gates.
This letter is going to come pretty
near being a Democratic affair and l
am prompted to make it so by the
fact that state capitol circles and
state political circles generally are
really interested in the recent gather
ing of the unwashed. The meet has
compelled them to sit up and take no.
tice and as result 1 predict unusual
Republican and state administration
activity from now on. Speaking
frankly, it behooves the other side to
get busy. One of the absentees at
the love feast was Dan Lawler of St.
Paul, Democratic candidate for gov
ernor. The reason given was that he
was not invited but that was a poor
excuse. There were no invitations
and his friends would have made a
better hit had they given as reason
that his candidacy was not approved
by National Committeeman Lynch
and therefore he did not think it
proper to attend. Dan, in my opinion,
did not help his cause. He should
have bearded the lion in his den. We
all love a fighter, and the St. Paul
man has that reputation. This was one
of the times he fell down on the Job.
!. :. X
Showing the spirit of harmony
which prevailed and which put to rout
the expectations OF those who really
hoped for fight, Albert Pfaender,
much advertised gubernatorial posi-
bility, announced in a speech that he
would not press his ambitions this
year if protested. He wanted to see
the party win. Another was Thomas
eastman of Owatonna, Frank A. Days