Grand Rapids Herald Review

A CONFESSION OF WEAKNESS.
One would think, to read the regular
Republican organ these days, that
John Lind instead of John A. John-
son must be the Democratic candidate
for governor. For they are all berating
Lind in the loudest tones and with
the largest type at command. Accord-
ing to their own definition they are
"abusing" Lind most unmercifully,
and he is entitled to the sympathy of
all Republicans in consequence.
Now, Mr. Lind is amply able to take
care of himself. He has been before
the people of Minnesota many times
and has secured and still retains their
entire confidence. He has a record
absolutely clear. He has stood in the
full light of publicity and no shadow
has ever fallen upon his name. In
this campaign he has had the temerity
to oppose the election of Dunn, that is
all; and everybody knows by this time
that to do this is to expose yourself
to a store of carrion missiles such as
none knows better how to deliver than
Mr. Dunn himself, with his copious
flow of language, unless it be that
pupil which has surpassed its teacher,
the Minneapolis Tribune. So Mr. Lind
is at present the target for many mud
batteries.
Politically this would seem to be a
serious error. The man who attempts
to blacken the reputation of Mr. John
Lind in Minnesota has his work cut
out for him. He is likely to need
somebody to identify his remains be-
fore he gets through. Besides, this
diversion is sufficient proof that John
A. Johnson is invulnerable. The
bullies of the campaign have decided
to let him alone, because they can
make no headway against him. From
every point of view this new form
which the Republican campaign has
assumed is one to be welcomed by
Democrats.
DARE TO BOLT.
Under the above caption the North-
western Agriculturist, republican but
supporting Johnson, publishes the
following ringing editorial:
On the first day after the nomina-
tion of Hon. John A. Johnson, to be
the democratic candidate for governor
of Minnesota, we penned our editorial
endorsement of him, which was pub-
lisbed in the issue of September 10.
We did not wait to see what other
Republicans thought about the situ-
ation, but we declared that we be-
lieved Mr. Johnson was a man far
superior to Mr. Dunn as a prospective
governor. Our so-called "bolt" has
not pleased the Pioneer Press and
other straight party organs. Since our
bolt, it has transpired however that
there are many-very many-good
Republicans who take similar views
regarding the candidates. In fact, it
seems to be epidemic. The Pioneer
Press really thinks something ought
to be done about it. Hence it has
brought forward with remarkable ac-
cusation that the editor of The North-
western Agriculturist had once before
refused to support a party nominee
for governor. "Perhaps it is a crime
for a hidebound party organ like the
Pioneer Press to exercise independ-
ence of party lines, when it comes to
state offices, but the Northwestern
Agriculturist is not a party organ.
"As we stated in our editorial Sep-
tember 10, when Hon. John A. John-
son ran for the legislature in Nicollet
county about 1888, and the writer was
publishing a Republican county paper
in that county, we supported his Re-
publican opponent, and it is true, as
the Pioneer Press asserts, we were
"instrumental in securing the defeat
of Mr. Johnson".
"But, even then, we would not say
that Mr. Johnson had ever helped
timber trespassers to defraud the
state, nor set himself up as superior
to the law. We never knew Mr. John-
son then, nor since, to get drunk and
disgrace himself with street brawls,
and bring shame upon his supporters.
We never knew Mr. Johnson to solicit
or receive support of public utility
monopolists, nor to herd delegates to
state conventions like a flock of sheep,
while they rode to the convention on
a blanket pass provided by the very
railroad which had violated the anti-
merger laws of state and nation.
"We never knew him to be in collu-
sion with men who have to be sued
for $30,000 for trespassing on public
school land and cutting timber illeg-
ally, nor to seek to compromise such
a claim by accepting $4,000 in direct
variance with the law.
"We did fight Mr. Johnson's polit-
ical candidacy for the legislature six-
teen years ago, and would not now
support him for congress where he
would vote on tariff laws, but that is
no reflection on his superiority over
R. C. Dunn as a candidate for the
governorship of Minnesota. The fact
that for three years it was in the line
of our editorial work to discover the
strongest reasons possible for not
honoring John A. Johnson, and yet
we could find nothing affecting his
honor as a man, or his faithful per-
formance of every trust confided in
him, is certainly no reason why we
should not now prefer to see him made
governor of Minnesota in preference
to the man whose backers robbed the
republican party of its state conven-
tion, and, by chicanery, permitted a
bolting minority to defeat the will of
the party as expressed in its election
of an overwhelming majority opposed
to Dunn. R. C. Dunn is not the choice
of the majority of the legally elected
delegates to the Republican State
Convention. He is the tool of the
Railroad Merger and the lumber tres-
passers, nominated by bolters from
county conventions. His nomination,
therefore, sets an example even for
bolting, and puts not the slightest
obligation on the "straightest" party
men to support him, since his nomi-
nation itself is a huge bolt from the
party.
It is like the Republican nomination
of Ames for mayor of Minneapolis by
trickery at the primary election,
through a looseness in the law at that
time, when Democrats slipped in and
chose Ames-a Democrat-to be the
Republican nominee.
There were
many Republicans then who felt the
disgrace of having to "save their
record" by voting for Ames because
he was on the ticket and it was presi-
dential year, but it is hard to find any
of them willing now to confess that
they did so. That was another case
where we "bolted the head of the Re-
publican ticket" (and voted) and sub-
sequent trials of that same head, on
penitentiary charges, for misconduct
in office, are sufficient justification for
that bolting. The Pioneer Press
might have cited that bolt too, or
preached a sermon with that cause
as a text, to prove that no good Re-
publican should dare choose for him-
self.
There are times when it is greater
proof of party loyalty to register a
rebuke to party skulduggery, than it
is to lie supinely under the load with
which party leaders dare to burden
the ticket. It serves to make them
more respectful of public will in the
future, and more careful of the kind
of men they nominate.