The Sun

CHANLER DRAWS 1,300 VOTERS TO GREET THE CANDIDATE

Judge O'Brien in Introducing Chanler Said It Was the First Time He Had Taken Part in a Political Meeting in 20 Years—Chanler Rebukes Hughes.

WATERTOWN, Oct. 12.—Ex-Judge Denman O'Brien of the Court of Appeals, the leading citizen of Watertown since the death of Gov. Flower, introduced Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler to an audience of 3,500 in the armory to-night, the largest and most responsive meeting of Democrats that has greeted a candidate here in many years.

On the platform with Judge O'Brien were a score of prominent Democrats who are working actively for the success of the party for the first time in twelve years. John N. Carlisle, whose friends riddled Hearst's hopes up this way two years ago, was seated near Judge O'Brien. Judge Henry Purcell, who opposed the Democratic candidate openly in 1906, was one of the dozen that escorted Mr. Chanler to the platform. As for Judge O'Brien, it was the first political meeting in which he had taken part for twenty years. There were other leaders of factions and cliques who had been bitterly antagonistic in recent years, but who have been working harmoniously in Jefferson county for Mr. Chanler's election.

In 1906 Gov. Hughes carried Jefferson by 5,069. Conservative Democrats, Judge O'Brien among them, assured Mr. Chanler to-night that there was every indication that Hughes's plurality this year would not touch 4,000 and that the Governor would run at least 800 behind Mr. Taft. They said that there was an unmistakable falling off in Hughes's strength this year. Republican County Chairman Addison B. Parker, who met Mr. Chanler by chance this afternoon in Utica and talked to him on the train, admitted frankly that there was a decided Hughes slump in Jefferson.

"The Governor may run 500 votes behind Mr. Taft," said Parker. "We don't know quite what to make of the situation."

Mr. Chanler found evidence of his popularity when he arrived here this afternoon. There was a big crowd at the depot which cheered him to the Woodruff Hotel. The Lieutenant Governor was entertained at dinner at the Black River Club by Democrats and friendly Republicans. When he returned to the Woodruff he had to struggle through a crowd which jammed the street and clogged the hotel lobby, insistent upon shaking hands.

The State armory, where the meeting was held, can accommodate at a pinch 3,500 persons. The pinch was there to be accommodated. All of the seats were taken at 7:30 o'clock. Special trains brought folks in from Carthage, from the villages of Philadelphia, Lowville, Richland, Adams and Cape Vincent, and even from Gouverneur. The floor space was filled only with men, a solid mass of voters. The women were placed in the galleries. At least 1,000 men were standing.

Judge O'Brien in introducing Mr. Chanler said that he was taking part in a political meeting for the first time in twenty years.

"I am particularly pleased," said the Judge, "that opportunity was afforded of appearing in behalf of a candidate as united all sections of the party, whose success on the third of next November appears as certain as anything in human prescience." (Applause.)

He said the Judges of the Court of Appeals knew Mr. Chanler well as an able lawyer, who had been often before them without fee or retainer in behalf of clients whose sufferings had excited Mr. Chanler's sympathies and who were too poor to hire lawyers. (Cheers and applause.)

"We had occasion very frequently on the bench," said Judge O'Brien, "to respect him for his ability and to admire the unselfishness of his labors." Judge O'Brien believed that Mr. Chanler was a Democrat of the Tilden sort.

They gave the candidate a crashing salute of cheers when he stepped forward. The men on the drill floor sprang to their feet waving their hats and yelling. In the galleries the women added a sharper note to the roar of the greeting. Mr. Chanler complimented Judge O'Brien and followed the eulogy of the Judge with these words:

"At once there occurs to me the question attributed to my distinguished opponent in the West: 'Don't ask who the crooks are voting for; ask who the crooks are voting against.' I have not a sufficiently extensive acquaintance with that class to be able to answer for them with certainty, but if by this remark Gov. Hughes meant to imply that the majority or even a fair proportion of those who voted for him two years ago and are opposed to him now are crooks I gladly leave the answer, so far as Watertown is concerned, to you."

There was a yell of applause, and he continued:

"This audience, representing as it does every portion of the community, will no doubt to a great extent vote against Gov. Hughes; but go to the bankers, the merchants, the professional and business men and those who earn their living in any honest way, and judge for yourselves whether or not in this community those who intend to vote the Democratic ticket this fall have any association with the aims, ambitions or occupations of those who are designated by the word 'crooks.' So far as I have been able I have tried during this campaign to maintain a standard of decency and dignity, and I do not intend to bestow upon my opponent or the supporters of my opponent any suggestive epithet, either directly or indirectly, and I trust that during the remainder of the campaign it will not be necessary for me even remotely to reply to an innuendo which smacks more of the heated argument that precedes a personal encounter than the quiet, calm discussion of State issues."

Mr. Chanler said that the demand for his nomination came from the up-State counties, to which he owed a debt of gratitude and of feeling of loyalty that led him to repel any suggestion which attacked even remotely the character of his supporters. He was tremendously applauded. He repeated his declaration that if elected Governor he would owe allegiance to none but the people.

"This does not mean," he said, "that I shall consider myself infallible in the state or in the party. I shall consult and advise with men of my own party experienced in public affairs and with such independent citizens as give me their advice; but where a decision is to be reached or an act performed the responsibility for the decision and for the performance of the act must rest upon me as responsibility I shall neither evade nor divide.

"I also realize that the harmony which prevailed in the convention which nominated me was brought about by the earnest desire on the part of all Democrats to forget their past differences and by presenting a united front to our political opponents carry this State for our national ticket and thereby render certain the election of our national standard bearers, William Jennings Bryan and John Worth Kern." [Applause.]

Mr. Chanler then went after Mr. Hughes's administration on the score of extravagance. Money raised by taxation had been carelessly squandered, he said, and it took $3 to do the work that $1 used to do not many years ago.

"In these hard times," he said, "when every man is trying to make one dollar do the work of two, when 25 per cent. of skilled labor is out of employment, when men and women are studying how to make both ends meet, the paramount issue in this State is that which appeals to every citizen of the State—economy and retrenchment." [Applause.]

George W. Palmer, candidate for Attorney-General, also spoke. To-morrow afternoon Mr. Chanler speaks in Sandy Hill and Glens Falls and to-morrow night at Saratoga.