Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1932-07-14

The editorial in the Askov Amer
lean of June 3Oth, headed Farmers
Take Lead" did not suit the fancy of
the Duluth Herald one bit and in an
editorial in their newspaper of July
5th, they call it "Slamming the Iron
Range"
The American in it's editorial had
called attention to the differ ence in
the votes of villages and townships,
especially in Pine county-though tie
people are near neighbOrs and have
so much in cOmmon-the village vote
being on the whole conservative and
the township vote progressive. We
had also called attention to the light
vote generally on the Iron Range at
primary elections because workers 90
not like to reveal their party identity,
fearing what might happen to their
jobs. And with this we had called at
tention to the need of a consolidated
primary ballot so that the citizen can
vote at the primary election with the
same secrecy that he votes at the gen.
eral election in the fall. All three
ballots would be given to the voter
and he would make his own choice
without the inQuisitOr knowing what
choice.
The Herald of course is against the
primary ballot like other reactionary
newspapers but avoids mentioning it
and gets all worked up over the tim
idity of mine workers to reveal their
party identity" They boast about the
eight thousand votes cast for Magnus
Johnson on the Farmer-Labor ticKet
in st. Louis county last month and
say that about forty-four hundred of
those voters live in the county outside
of Duluth, mostly in the mining towns.
Eight thousand, or to be exactly
correct according to the report of tie
state canvassing board, just out, 1856
votes, cast for Magnus Johnson for
congress in ST. Louis county is no
small number. But in order to APP
preciate its magnitude it must be
compared with other figures.
In the general election of 1880 ST.
Louis county cast a total vote of
67,S7S. Of this number Floyd B. Oh
son, the Farmer-Labor candidate for
governor carried substantial ma
jority as he did in practically all the
counties of the state, so his vote
would naturally be considered and
was above the average FL. vote,
therefore his figures will not be given
here. However, the vote in the same
election for lieutenant governor was
1880 for John H. Hougen, Republic
can, and 29,429 for Henry Arens,
FarmerlLabOr, in st. Louis county
In the primary election last month
st. Louis county cast a total of 1895
votes. OF those 24,563 were Republic
can, 1859 Farmer-Labor, and 9,753
Democratic vOtets.
Though there was a good improve
ment in the Farmer-Labor vote out
over the state in the recent primary
election, we still maintain that the
conservatives come out to vote better
at the primaries than do the Farmer
LabOrites for reasons which we have
explained and to which the Duluth
Herald took exception. The figures
prove that the progressives feel much
freer about voting in the general
election when they do not need to
reveal party affiliatiOn. The eight
thousand that the Herald mentions do
not look so big comparatively. And
on top of that thousands of people
are out of work now, and being with
out work and little prospect of getting
a job soon they have nothing to fear
and are more apt to vote their convic-
tionS.
Remember that Governor Olson de-
feated Chase by big majority in st.
Louis county in the general election
of 1880, that Arens won over Hong
and now in the primary election OF
this year st. Louis county has a Re-
publican vote of $4,000 in round num-
bers and the Farmer-Labor vote is
$4,000 in round numbers. There is
reason for the comparatively light
Farmer-Labor vote in the primaries
which swells in the general election