The Cordova daily times., 1918-10-09

Before an audience that nearly llll'u the Empress thcatcr last night. James Wickcrsham Onc-timc idol of the sour dough Alaskans. who delighted in his vivid drnunci2tion of everything per tainiug to the "Guggenhcims. tn" Transportation trust" the fish trust and kindred made-to-ordcr enemies of the people. delivered one of his char acteristic speeches. His witty sallics were at times well received. and al few of his former supporters showed their loyalty to their candidate by liberal applause. But it was notice able that his frequent slurring thrusts at his political foes, so glaringly un- just as well as untrue. were coldly re cciyed. and sometimes tell flat. as. for instance, when he said of his oppo- ncnt. "Char!os X. Sulzcr is hot pro German lie is d German" A tense silence greeted this remarkable out burst.
 \ wcl!informcd gentleman who heard the former delegate declared after the meeting that Wickersham in the whole course of his addrc.. "had not made OF" statement tha: was wholly true" And others who heard tEc speech concurrcd.
 Probably never before in his long career as an officeholder and office
 seeker has Wjckersham 60 well lived up to his reputation as a clever and subtle politician as he did last night Not in the lie direct was this so much in evidence &s in rather poorly dis guised innUcndo. But he did say that Charles \. Sulzer was "slackcr" be cause, being 39 years of age and sound of body, and having had a military education, at the expense of the pcO- pie" he had not offered his services to his country in military capacity. He did not mention the fact that Mr. Sulzer had never completed his "mili- tary education." having resigned from tte academy to take up other work.
 And he kept discreetIy silent as to the fact that Charles A. SuIzer voIun- teered his services and served with the Fourth New Jersey Volunteers during the Spanish-American war.
 And yet he has the effrontery to call this man a stacker"
 Mir. Sulzer was elected to congress in 1916, and immediately Wickersham contested his seat. War was declared in April. 1917. Had Mir Sulzer re- signed at this time it would have been perfectly satisfactory to Wickersham. But would 1t have been satisfactory to his constituents? How would they have looked upon the desertion of their delegate in the face of fight, 1 leaving the field in the possession of the man whom they were Congratu- lating themselves on having sent back to private life and the practice Of his profession in Tacoma?
 
 pie who heard Wickersham's speech | last night that the assertion that their 1. delegate In congress was a German and "slacker" was received in | silence. Under WickershLm' reason | ing, the fact that MT. Sulzer i3 of Ger, | man ancestry constitutes him q Ger man At this particular time the ap- . pliCation of such a term to native. born American is atrOCious in the cX- trCme The many thousands of Amer ! ican boys of German blood who are offering their lives for America on the hattlefolds of France constitute 2 | rchukc lo suCh unjust, uLmanly and unpatriotic utterances. which . should be sufficient in themselves | to relegate this character assassin to the oblivion he merits.
 Wickcraham proudly told his hca". i, CTS that his own father was born in | Kentucky; but he modestly disClaimed !, any credit for that fact. What vicious { train of reasoning does this man em | ploy who, while apparently declining | to assume any honor for his own | American ancestry. can besmirch the { citizenship of man whose immediate forbears happened to be born in a | country with which we are at war?
 The attacks on federal offceholders ! were to be expected, as they are but q rehnsh of what Alaskans h9ve been l accustomed to hearing from Wicker sham for years. But why was 1t not | possible for him to stick to the truth | about matters which are so easily sus. ceptible of proof? Mentioning the fact that Attorney General Grigsby | and District Attorney Roth wore mak. ing campaign speeches throughout the | territory, Wickersham presumed" | that they were using public funds for | this purpose. Of course he knew diff .