Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-02-07
rBy Ora w,lli.ms.l.

De tMoineo, Eel THE political
situation in the Second District has at
tracted but very little attention out
Of the conversation here. The repub-
ltcans are Indifferent and appear { o he
simply willing to let matters take
whatever course they may In the dis
trict. It Is 50 Overwhelmingly demo.
cratic anyway that most Of the re-
publicans feel that II would he useless
TO try to make, a night to win. Thev
are hoping that 4 fair vote Will be got
out for Harry Hull. who lis a sthunch
republican and who for&,many years
wa n OF the makers OF the prosres-
sive movement. Ut is pointed OFT that
certat~ly no ~r"rvhlica, can taI:to vote
for Hull for fear he Is rot snf..elant'y
progressive. In fact HIS ntegressiys,sm
is attested by years Of Saod service In
the cause. Those who know him hest
assert he would make a tplendid o n
gresham. As for the. democrats they
are very confident n apparently are
bonding every energy to- increase the
democratic vote OF the district as a
special Endorsement of President Will
son. Some persons here have tried to
figure it out that the democrats are
fearful Of loss of the district. but the
general impression is that what they
are aiming at is to make sure that
Nollmer. one Of the. most popular OF
their leaders in the district, gets a
bigger vote than his republican ,oppo-
nent plus the vote for the three or
four other candidates. The election is
on Tuesday and a light vote is of
course certain. The campaign has been
free from personalities and 1t ia de-
c!ared by persons from the district
that issues and the political principles
of the opposing candidates are being
considered chiefly.
-
John DeMar and W. H.. Hutton have
been comparing notes and trying to
discover why 1t was that neither one
was appointed to be collector Of Gus
toms at Des Moines. Upon comparing
notes they found that between them
they had the Endorsements Of practic-
ally every one of the prominent dem
ocrats of the state including the state
committee, many of the county chair
men. the national committeeman and
everyone who was supposed to. have
anything to do with distribution Of pa
tronage at Des Moines. Just a few
days before the appointment OF a cigar
maker at Creston to this post. Mr..
Hutton was assured by letter that "the
referees had not made any recon :
mendation at all and We're for him. It
is such ar interesting puzzle that they
are wholly at sea to account for.the
strange situation. Either one Of the
Des Mofnes men would have made a
very acceptable official here.
90
There are several democrats in: the
state who probably smiled audibly
when they read in Des Moines papers
thai Mr.. Meredith had declined the
governorship solely because Of the
danger. he would be in on account OF
capitol extension. 1t was q readable
story. Mr.. Meredith wrote giving ex-
cuses for not becoming governor. but
Charley Miller. Of Waverly. could, II
he would. write a better story and
come much nearer to telling the real
reason why 1t was that a candidate
referred to by Jack Dalton as belonging
to the class Of h e-suffragettes or pro
h%ibitionists" could not lead the lows
democracy to victory now or at AM
other time. However. the capitol ex.
tension Issue u DciNS Hiduo ~ OCos
many burdens nowadays and 1t car
Just as well stand a few more.
go
A somewhat different, phase Of the
fight over Des Moines saloons has
made It's appearance here. 1t Will be
recalled that as soon as 1t was dis-
covered that the old saloon petition
was invalid and before the organiza-
tion Of liquor dealers got started with
a new petition. the heads Of the bis
retail stores. the walnut street busi-
ness element" procured, petitions for
saloons and sent them thru their stores
recurring all voters to sign up quickly
The next step vas for the jobbers OF
the city to get petitions into the hands
Of their employees and travelling men
The potent influence Ut the Walnut
street business element which controls
90 per cent of the advertising in Des
Moines is declared to have been such