Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1916-08-16
guns seemed no longer necessary tc
sustain the freedom of the press.
OH A PIER XII.


sustain the freedom of the press.
CHAPTER XII.
When The St. Cloud Democrat be-
gan Its career as the organ Of the Re-
publican party in Northern Minnesota,
the central and southern portions of
ohe State were fairly supplied with
republican papers, the conductors all
being more or less skillful In the art
OF blowing and sowing the political
field; but with no very bright pros
pect OF harvesting victory. Under
the Lowrie dictatorship Of the North,
it is difficult to see how the success
OF Republican could have been made
possible, any more than giving the
electoral vote of Southern Republic.
an States to the Republican candidate
in 1880.
To overthrow that dictatorship was
the work | had volunteered to do, and
In doing it, my plan was to pillow
Deep subsOil to the beam. Preach
ers held men accountable to God for
their Sunday services, but it was my
aim to urge the divine claim to obed-
1ence, all the rest Of the week. held
that election day was OF all others, the
Lords day. He instituted the first re-
public. All the training which Moses
gave the Jews was to fit them for self
government, and at his death the
choice OF their rulers was left with
them and they were commanded to
Choose men, fearing God and hat
ing coveteousness, and set them to
rule over YOU"
For no creed, no form of worship.
no act Of his life, is a man more di.
rect1y responsible to God, than for
casting his vote or the nOn-fulfiument
Of that duty.
When the nominations were made
for the second State election in 1859,
Gen. LOwrie had lost ground so fast
that he needed the Endorsement of his
party. This was given in his nomi-
nation for Lieut.. Governor. The Re-
publ1cans nominated Ignatius DOnnel-
ley, fiery young orator, who took the
stump, and was not deferred by any
superintendent from making the
most of his opponents reputation as
the stealthy destroyer of a printing
office, because he had made bad
bargain in buying it's editor. He and
the party which had made his methods
its own by nominating him, were held
up to the most unmerciful ridicule.
The canvass seemed to turn on the in
dorsement or reputation Of border
ruttlanism, press-breaking, woman
My personnel had then be-
come familiar to the people of the
State, and the large man who insti-
tuted a mob to suppress a woman Of
any size, and then failed, was not
suitable leader for American men,
even if they were Democrats.
The death-kneu of Democratic rule
in Minnesota was rung in that cleo
ton. The whole Republican State tick
ct was elected, with Gov. Ramsey at
it's head, and he was the first Cover
nor to tender troops to President Lin
coin for the suppression Of the Re-
bellion. The result was gratifying, al
though our own county, Stearns, was
overwhelmingly Democratic, and must
remain so, since the great mass Of the
people were Catholics.
However, the election Of the State
ticket was largely due to the personal
popularity Of Gov Ramsey, and this
could not be depended upon for last
ing arrangement, so 1 spent the win
ter following lecturing through the
State, sowing seed for the coming
presidential campaign. I never spoke
in public during an election excite
ment, never advocated on the platform
the claims Of any particular man, but
urged general principles.
Stephen Miller was our St. Cloud
delegate to the Chicago convention
which nominated Mr.. Lincoln, led the
canvass in the State, as the most ef-
icient speaker and was chairman of
the Electoral College. His prominent
position in the Border Ruffian war
added largely to his popularity in the
State, and once more that little print
ing Office under the grand old trees
was plunged into politics; this time
into an election on which hung the
destinies of the nation. How that elec-
ton was carried on in other States l
know not, but in Minnesota the ban
ner Of Republicanism and human free
dom was borne aloft over we'll
fought field. There was not much sur
face work Men struggled for the
Right against the old despotism of
Might, and planted their cause on
foundations more enduring than Min
nesota granite itself.
Yet, even then, the opposition of the
Garrisonians was most persistent.
There was large anti-slavery ele-
ment among the original settlers of
Minnesota, but it was mostly of the
Garrisonian or non~voting type, and
had lain dormant under pro-slavery
rule. To utilize this element at the
polls was my special desire. The
ground occupied by them was the one
no ohon6nno6I tho Ground
made by the Covenanters when the
Constitution first appeared They
pronounced it "a covenant with death
and an agreement with he'll" and
would not vote or hold office under it;
So firmly had Garrison planted him.
that it is doubtful whether he labored
harder for the overthrow of slavery
or political anti-slavery; whether ne
more fiercely denounced shareholders
or men who voted against slave-hold-
ing. Once after flaming" denun-
citation of political abolitionists, some
one said to him:
"Mr. Garrison, I am surprised at
the ground you take! Do you not
think James G. Birney and Gerrit
Smith are anti-slavery?"
He hesitated and replied:
"They have .anti-slavery tendencies,
I admit"
Now, James G. Birney, when young
man, fell heir to the third of an Ala
bama estate, and arranged with the
other heirs to take the slaves as his
portion. He took them all into free
State, emancipated them, and left him.
self without a dollar, but went to work