Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 306, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 December 1913 — Those Dreadful Democrats Are Wrecking the Party. [ARTICLE]

Those Dreadful Democrats Are Wrecking the Party.

Brother Babcock is full of political woe and foresees the destruction of the democratic party and certain defeat in the coming election. He charges that the conventions that selected delegates to the Hammond convention were dominated by Charels J. Murphy and says it was the “worth exhibition of machine politics ever seen in Jfisper county.” He hands a lot of bilious criticism to all who favored Mr. Murphy and alleges that the Murphy forces were successful /because of tire activity of Postmaster Littlefield and a number of postoffice seekers and points out Dennis O’Reilly, of Remington, as a horrible example, saying that “it is alleged” Murphy had promised Dennis the Remington poistoffice. Editor Babcock forecasts the defeat of Congressman Peterson for re-election by 5,000 and calls him a “wouM-be dictator and corporation lawyer.” We judge that the editor was in a frame of mind to say some very mean things about Mr. Murphy and Congressman Peterson and all who helped to select Murphy delebut lacked the command of language to accomplish his desire and his elongated write-up shows how keenly, he felt his recent disappointment and also the lingering effect of his defeat for the postoffice." The Republican wishes to present the democrats of Jasper county in a fair light. The Democrat published the call for the township conventions and urged in long articles thaf all democrats attend them. If The Democrat really has a circulation among the members of its party and the paper has any influence these .conventions should have been packed with men scrambling tor the defeat of Mr. Murphy. The writer in the capacity of a reporter attended the Marion township convention. There were 21 democrats there. At least thirteen of them were for Murphy, for Babcock received only 8 votes, whale McFarland and W. R. Newels, both running as Murphy delegates, received 16 votes. There was nothing occurred at that convention to sub* stantiate a claim that? it was machine controlled. Postmaster Littlefield sat in the convention in a very quiet and dignified manner and exercised the same right of democratic citizenship that the other men did, no more Eli Gerber placed Lucius Strong in nomination for chairman and "Mr. Honan nominated Editor Babcock for secretary. The nominations were made deliberately and plenty of time given by Mr. Strong tor the naming of more candidates and only 19 were placed before the convention. The votes were counted by J. J. Hunt and N. S. Bates, with Editor Babcock and Mr. Strang watching the count. The editor himself assembled the ballots after they were counted and read the resiilts. If there was any Indication oif machine politics it could not have been detected With a microscope. A larger attendance at the convention would have been desirable, but if AH the publicity given by The Democrat which held out the necessity of defeating Murphy, could not bring out a crowd, how was it to be done? It Was simply a case of defeat for the anti-Murphy forces in a most honorable manner, so far as Marion township was concerned, and we believe that was the case all over the county. . , We regret to see our seM-esteemea bKrther so filled with forebodings and pessimism, but since his embarkation recently into the field of automobile aristocracy hte brain seems to be in a constant whirl f annoyance and we Shall not be surprised to hear of his being arrested for exceeding the speed limit or committing some other folly attributed to the owner of another ear of the same make, the Regad. We trust that he gets hold of himself before it is too late for reform and gets back into the ranks of real democracy, in which he maintained his office before hie trustful friends began to get next to him, as a ettidel of real Jeffersonian simplicity.