Willmar tribune. [volume], October 07, 1914, Image 9

About Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931

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The Minnesota Legislature last in
session placed the State in a unique
position in the matter of the election
of certain executive and all legisla
tne officers.
There is verv general sentiment
throughout the State favoring the se
lection of judicial officeis on account
of their qualifications for the impor
tant duties they perform and v. ithout
respect to their political affiliations.
So satisfactory was the legislation re
quiring judges to be elected as non
partisans that many believed all coun
ty officers should be so selected
That the Legislature would look with
favor upon that proposition was ex
pected by many, but there were few
who thought it would go as far as it
did in the direction of nonpartisan
ship. It directed that all county offi
cers and the members of both houses
of the Legislature should be chosen on
nonpaitisan ballots. This ear our
judicial officers, cur county officers,
our State representatives and our
State senators will be elected without
reference to the political party to
which they belong, and the only can
didates of political parties are the can
didates for Governor and the offices
making up the so-called State ticket."
What effect this change will have
upon political organizations in the
State time alone will disclose, but we
are warranted in believing that such
organizations will be far less powerful^
and much more difficult to maintain
than heretofore.
For Nonpartisan Plan.
The step has been taken and there
is little likelihood of any going back
ward until a fair trial is given the
plan.
If our judges, our county and our
legislative officers are to be so elected,
there is no reason why the Governor
of the State and the other State offi
cers should not be elected in the same
manner. There is little need of paity
organizations so far as State affairs
an* concerned, and, in my judgment,
it is better to havo no intrastate party
organizations at all than feeble, non
effective ones centered about a fow
candidates for State offices.
Heretofore each political party has
promulgated its platform in which
were stated the things which the party
favored and the things which it op
posed the candidate of the party ac
cepted the platform, and by an un
written law obligated himself to sup
port it, even though his own judgment
differed from the opinion of the ma
jority of his party associates. In or
der that party measures and party
policies might be effected he was
obliged to yield, to some extent, his
own belief and conform to the views
of the majority of his party. When
there are great and clear-cut issues sub
mitted to the people and about those
issues political parties are formed, it
is necessary that there be united ac
tion on the part of all those who agree
upon fundamentals. Otherwise, there
would be so much dispute and con
tention over details that nothing would
be accomplished. Hence the neces
sity of the individual yielding to the
judgment of the whole party in order
that it may achieve the end for which
it is striving. It must be admitted,
however, that when there are no great
issues dividing political parties, they
are of little use, and many hold to
them simply for the sake of the offices
or patronage they control.
No Shirking Responsibility.
I do not say there are no great is
sues in the State of Minnesota today,
but one may affirm with perfect safety
that there are now, and have been for
the last quarter of a century, no great
issues dividing the two leading politi
cal parties in the State. Each in its
platform has condemned the manner
in which the other conducted public
business, each has announced itself
for economy in State disbursements,
for progress in State development, and
for good and stable government.
Herptofore, public servants might
pa-* to the people who elected them as
pnti3rin=, that they were bound to act
in accord with those who belonged to
th*-,r olitical party and to co-operate
w.th then in all matters of State con
cern When criticised for thus acting
(hey misht evade the criticism by say
ing, "It was not mv o*n best judg
ment, but as a partisan I felt bound
to stand by my party and support the
party policy." Now, one effect of the
recent legislation is to compel each
ofTcial, especially a member of the
Supplement to THE TRIBUNE, Willmar, Minn., Wednesday, October 7,1914.
S KEYNOT
E
AT RED WING
Reduction of Taxes, Efficiency and
Economy, Simpler Election Laws,
Urged by Candidate.
OPPOSED TO THE USE OF VETO
Discusses County Option, Saying Governor and Legislature
Should Heed Voice of People—Says Opponent
Made Serious Charge Againt Own Party
—Is for Forest Conservation.
Red Wing, Minn., Sept. 28—Wm-'
field Scott Hammond, Democratic can
didate for governor of Minnesota, de
liveicd his kevnote speech before an
audience which packed the Red Wing
opera house tonight. Mr. Hammond
said:
legislature, subject, of course, to the
direction of his constituency, to fol
low his individual judgment upon all
measures, and not the judgment of
his political associates. He can no
longer answer criticism by pleading
party loyalty, for he has no party so
far as the discharge of his duties as
a public officer is concerned. Nor is
there any reason for party conferences
or party caucuses to deteimine the
course of legislation to be followed.
The Governor also is in a somewhat
different position from that he has
heretotore occupied. Elected on a
partisan ticket with a partisan legis
lature and holding the highest office
in the State he has been not only the
chief executive officer of the common
wealth, but, also, the leader of his po
litical party. By the Constitution he
is empowered to communicate to the
Legislature of the State "such infor
mation touching the state and eondi
tion of the country as he mav deem
expedient." As a party leader he
would deem it expedient to urge upon
the Legislature the passage of meas
ures in the party platform on which
he and the majority of the members
of the Legislature had been elected
Because of the platform declaration
he could demand the support of such
members for the measures. But the
next Governor will not be the party
leader, for there will be no party to
lead. The only partisan activity he
can display is in the appointment of
political allies and associates to posi
tions under his control, and that re
quires no high degree of political lead
ership.
Governor Nonpartisan.
Thus, by the force of circumstances,
the Governor, while elected on a par
tisan ballot, must, in the discharge of
the executive duties, be a nonpartisan,
and, in his communications to the
Legislature, confine himself more par
ticularly to the things connected with
the administration of the State Gov
ernment, per se, rather than economic,
social of political problems. Since
there is no party in the Legislature of
which he can claim to be the leader,
his recommendations upon political or
factional questions may carry less
weight than the recommendations of
other citizens of the State distinguish
ed for their learning, patriotism and
good judgment, but holding no public
office.
From all of this, it seems to me the
Governor, in his communications to
the Legislature, should give special at
tention to those questions that have
to do with the management of State
affairs, its institutions and its public
domain its employes, revenues and
expenditures: its relations to other
States, and the Federal Government,
and the enforcement of its laws. Other
questions of economical or political
importance, particularly those that
have directly or indirectly been con
sidered by the people and their opin
ion upon them registered at the polls,
the chief executive and the Legisla
ture are bound to consider, and, of
course, they appropriately find a place
in the message of the Governor.
Discusses County Option.
A social or economic question which
has been a campaign issue and upon
which the people have expressed their
opinion presents to legislators much'
less difficulty than one upon which
there is a wide difference of opinion,
but no expression by the people. A
notable example of the former is the
county option question in this State.
Everyone believes temperance is a vir
tue, and intemperance economically
undesirable and morally wrong, and
those who do not distinguish between
intemperance and what Is known as
moderate drinking believe the use,
sale or manufacture of beer, wine, or
spirituous liquor morally wrong. Be
cause of the moral element involved
in temperance legislation intense feel
ing is engendered. The virtuous-mind
ed cannot compromise with sin, and
those who believe that the use of
alcohol in any quantity or in any form
Is sinful cannot tolerate any proposi
tion permitting its manufacture or its
sale or its use. On the other hand,
those who nave been accustomed to
the use of alcoholic beverages and
who believe there is nothing wrong in
moderate drinking, resent any inter
ference with their practices as an in
fringement of personal liberty.
A number of our citizens are bitter
ly opposed to intemperance, but are
unwilling to unite with the party of
prohibition* in the support of prohibi
tion candidates for office. They favor
county option because, in their opin
ion, it would lessen drunkenness by
eliminating a number of saloons, and
this might suggest the inquiry whether
the evil of intemperance is due so
much to the fact that alcoholic bever-
WINFIEL S. HAMMON FO GOVERNOR
W. S. HAMMON
GIVE
HAMMOND NOT OF THE SPECTACULAR KIND.
A gentleman from St. Paul was here this week looking for material
for a biographical writeup of Hon. W. S. Hammond. Mr. Hammond is
one of those solid, substantial, unpretentious kind of men, who make no
grandstand plays, and it would be difficult to work in any flamboyant
spectacular stuff into a biographical sketch of him. He does his work
in a very efficient, quiet manner, with no advertising. He is one of the
very best men this state has ever had in congress, but he has no pub
licity bureau as some of our congressmen have had. If the people of
this state elect him to the governorship he will go about the work of
that office in the same way. He will sit down at his desk and clean up
all unfinished business. There will be no slackness and no tag ends.
His motto, when he was a young school teacher, was: What is worth
doing at all is worth doing well, and he has lived up to that motto all
his life, as a lawyer, public servant and private citizen.—St. James'
Plaindealer (Progressive).
WINFIELD SCOTT HAMMOND
ages are sold and used as to the man
ner in which they are offered for sale
in this state. Option is the right of a
person, or number of persons, to de
termine a course of action. Take a
town of 10,000 people located in a
county with a total population of 20,
000 who should determine the course
of action in the town—those residing
within its limits or all those residing
within the county in which it is lo
cated? Unquestionably those residing
near the town but without its limits,
who make it a business center and
are obliged to visit it frequently have
a distinct interest in the conditions
of that town those farther removed
from it and who, while in the county,
are not in the Immediate territory
about the town, have a neighborly in
terest in it, but not so direct an in
terest as the others.
Two Sides to Question.
From the standpoint of option alone,
county option would be no improve
ment upon our present system, but
would it have a material tendency
to promote temperance? Like every
other thing there are two sides to this
question—both should be considered
and, as nearly as may be, fairly and
without prejudice—and right here let
me say that one very desirable qualifi
cation for a governor, or other public
officer, is the ability to see both sides
of a question and consider it fairly
and without prejudice. The residents
of a town well governed and well
policed are capable of determining for
themselves whether or not intoxicat
ing beverages should be sold in that
town. The people of the county as
a whole might well be given the right
to determine whether or not liquor
should be sold in the county in any
place other than the cities and towns
where provision is made for an order
ly and stable government and an
adequate police force provided for the
maintenance of order and the enforce
ment of the state laws.
Quotes Recent Letter.
Permit me to quote from a letter re
cently written by me to Chairman Sor
tor and given publicity:
"At present there is local option,
and much sentiment in favor of sub
stituting county option in its place.
The legislative campaign this year is
being made largely upon this issue.
No member of the next legislature
elected by a county option constitu
ency and standing as a county option
candidate will vote against it, nor will
one representing a community op
posed to county option and standing
as a local option candidate vote for it.
Whether there will be a change in
the unit or a continuance of the pres
ent system will be determined by the
character of the next legislature, and
it will be, in effect, decided as soon
as the election returns are known. No
recommendation of a governor will
make a man pledged to support coun
ty option vote against it, nor one
pledged to oppese vote for it. The
voice of the people is mightier than
the voice of a governor—when they
speak legislators must listen, and the
governor as well, and both bow to
sovereign authority. In November,
then, the electors themselves will di
rect the course to be taken, and that
course should be followed by the mem
bers of the state legislature and by
the chief executive."
By some it is said "This question
has no place in politics." The answer
is that it is in politics, and in some
sections of the state to the exclusion
of nearly everything else. Among the
advocates and opponents of county op
tion may be found earnest, thoughtful,
patriotic and unselfish citizens, and
there may also be found self-serving,
ambitious, adventurous persons who
seize upon popular sentiment as a con
venient vehicle in which to ride to
office. The first are in the fight for
principle, the others in the fight for
booty.
Good From Discussion.
Much, good, however, may come
from temperance agitation, whether
the question be in politics or out of it.
Speeches, debates and discussions
cause men and women to think deep
ly upon the subject and to deliberate
over it and to judge it. So long as
those discussions continue the evil of
intemperance will not be hidden, it
will stand out in all its hideous de
formity to the scrutiny of the public,
it will shrink and wither until finally
it will all but disappear. It may be
overcome by legislation it may be
overthrown by public sentiment with
out legislation.
I commend to the thoughtful a few
sentences by Lord Macaulay:
"It is remarkable that the two great
est and most salutary social revolu
tions which have taken place in Eng
land, that revolution which, in the
thirteenth century, put an end to the
tyranny of nation over nation, and
that revolution which, a few genera
tions later, put an end to the property
of man in man, were silently and im
perceptibly effected. They struck con
temporary observers with no surprise,
and have received from historians a
very scanty measure of attention.
They were brought about neither by
legislative regulation nor by physical
force. Moral causes noiselessly ef
faced first the distinction between
Norman and Saxon, and then the dis
tinction between master and slave.
None can venture to fix the precise
moment at which either distinction
ceased. Some faint traces of the old
Norman feeling might, perhaps, have
been found late in the fourteenth cen
tuiy. Some faint traces of the insti
tution of villeinage were detected by
the curious so late as the days of
the Stuarts nor has that institution
ever, to this hour, been abolished by
statute.
Big Work for State.
Our people with characteristic Amer
ican spirit are quick to note faulty
conditions and to propose remedies.
In the last twenty-five years there has
been genuine progress made in all de
partments of human endeavor, and
(Continued on reverse page.)
HAMMON A
WORKER LIFE
STOR SHOWS
Patient, Persevering Study Has Given
Him Remarkable Knowledge of
Public Affairs.
The story of the life of Winfield
Scott Hammond, the Democratic nomi
nee for governor of Minnesota, is a
story of hard work and perseverance,
of long hours of patient study, of care
ful devotion to duty, of faithful serv
ice to his state and nation. It is a
story of successive victories against
great odds.
The life story of Congressman Ham
mond is the story of a man ot reserved
and retiring disposition, who despite
his natural preference for private life
has been successively honored and
called upon to devote his time to pub
lic affairs. This year he has again
been called upon, this time to become
the candidate of one of the great po
litical parties for governor of Minne
sota.
Personally Mr. Hammond is a man
of commanding stature, not quite six
feet tall, erect and dignified. His
natural reserve makes him hesitate to
seek acquaintances for merely politi
cal purposes. Yet he is always ap
proachable, and once you make his ac
quaintance, he soon becomes a warm
personal friend. But what perhaps ap
peals most to the voters of the state
at this time when the demand is for
efficiency in public office, is his knowl
edge of public affairs, his ability to
handle any state problem in a broad
minded and statesmanlike way, and
his habit of staying on the job until
the job is done, whether it be a case
in court or a session of Congress.
BURNED MUCH MIDNIGHT OIL
Studied Law While Teaching School Became Widely
Known as an Able Lawyer and Orator—Won Re
peated Victories in Strongly Republican
Of Colonial Stock.
Congressman Hammond comes of
old New England stock. William
Hammond, who came to this country
and settled in Watertown, Mass., in
1632, was a direct ancestor, as was
Thomas Hammond, who went to Lex
ington and participated in the first bat
tle of the Revolutionary war. Winfield
Scott Hammond was born in South
boro, Mass., November 17, 1863, re
ceived an ordinary common school
education and graduated from Peters
high school in Southboro in 1880.
Mr. Hammond entered Dartmouth
college, taking the regular academic
course and graduating in June, 1884.
He came directly to Minnesota, where
he became principal of the high school
at Mankato for one year, under Super
intendent R. E. Denfeld, now superin
tendent of the Duluth city schools.
The five years following he was super
intendent of schools at Madelia, Minn.,
where he established the first high
school In Watonwan county.
Studied Law Nights.
Districts—Of American Ancestry.
But teaching the young idea to shoot
was not entirely to young Hammond's
liking, and he began the study of law
during spare time, often poring over
his law books during the late hours
of the evening. Having resigned from
his position as head of the Madelia
schools, Mr. Hammond took an active
part in the campaign of 1890. In the
legislative session following he was
secretary of a legislative commission
appointed to investigate the State
Prison at Stillwater. In the spring of
1891 he took the examination for ad
mission to the bar at Mankato, the
first examination held by the State
Board of Law Examiners. He was ad
mitted and began the practice of law
at Madelia with Mr. D. C. Hopkins,
then a lawyer there, now a resident of
Minneapolis.
Mr. Hammond did not stop his
studies when he was admitted to the
bar, but even to this day he is in the
habit of staying in his office until mid
night, reading books on law or govern
mental problems. When he practiced
in Madelia and St. James, he spent
many hours burning the midnight oil
while preparing his cases for trial.
Young lawyers seeking legal advice
and townspeople who wanted to dis
cuss public affairs often took advan
tage of this habit of his and dropped
in to visit during the evening.
Became Able Lawyer.
However, even though visitors may
have taken up some of Mr. Hammond's
time, he found considerable time for
study. He was a diligent worker and
through his careful preparation of his
cases he soon acquired a reputation as
an unusually able lawyer. Madelia
men today relate that for several years
Mr Hammond's habit of winning cases
was so well known that whenever any
trouble arose, it was simply a question
of which side would get Hammond
first.
Mr. Hammond's reputation, however,
was not confined merely to winning
cases, but lawyers who fought with
him or against him unite in declaring
that he always tried his cases on their
merits and never tried to win on tech
nicalities. Many of the cases he tried
won him wide public notice and
brought his name to the attention of
lawyers all over the land.
Able Public Speaker.
Nevertheless, Mr. Hammond did not
devote all his study to the law, but
was a great reader of books of general
interest, especially books pertaining to
history and questions concerning gov
ernment and public affairs. Through
this reading he became not only one
of the best posted men on public af
fairs, but he filled his mind with infor
mation which, added to his command
ing appearance and his eloquent voice,
made him one of the most interesting
and most sought after speakers in the
southern part of the state. He was
frequently called on to give lectures
not only in his own community, but in
many of the surrounding towns.
Through his speeches he became wide
ly and favorably known and when he
was nominated for Congress in 1906
he was not a stranger in his district.
Mr. Hammond was, according to
testimony of St. James and Madelia
people, always prompt, punctual and
regular in his habits. To illustrate
this, Rev. Alexander Marlowe, of the
St. James Presbyterian Church, said
recently that Mr. Hammond not only
was a regular attendant of that church,
but that he was always on time.
Punctual in Habits.
"Since I came here Mr. Hammond
has been in Washington much of the
time," Rev. Mr. Marlowe said. "But
when he is in St. James he is always
on hand when the service begins at
10:30 a. m. I remember the Sunday
before the last election. Mr. Ham
mond had a big closing rally at Man
kato the night before and had been
speaking for several weeks. He came
home late and I did not expect him in
church. But, to my surprise, he was
there promptly at 10:30."
Mr. Hammond was elected county
attorney of Watonwan county in 1894,
and shortly thereafter dissolved his
partnership with Mr. Hopkins and
moved to St. James, where he con
tinued to practice until his election to
congress. Since then he has given
little time to the practice of law, but
still maintains an office in St. James,
his partner being Edward C. Farmer
and the firm name Hammond &
Farmer. Mr. Hammond served as
ccunty attorney through 1895 and 1896
and again from 1900 to the end of 1904,
when, on account of his growing pri
vate practice, he declined a re-election.
Mr. Hammond also held several hon
orary positions. He was president of
the board of education at St. James
for a number of years. Governor Lind
appointed him a member of the State
Board of Normal School Directors and
the Republican Governor Vant Sant re
appointed him, making his service
eight years.
Beat McCleary Twice.
In 1892, when the Republicans first
nominated J. T. McCleary for Congress
in the Second District, Hammond wa*
nominated by the Democrats to oppost
hime. McCleary was elected and in
Congress soon became famous as a
high tariff exponent. But his tariff
ideas did not jibe with the views of his
constituents, and after one candidate
after another, in his own party and in
the Democratic party, had tried to de
feat McCleary, Hammond was again
called upon. This was in 1906, when
he was nominated for Congress by the
Democrats. This time Hammond was
better known, and won by a majority
of 1,200. Two years later Hammond
and McCleary were again the oppos
ing candidates of the two parties. Al
though the district is normally Repub
lican, Hammond won again, making
the score two to three. In 1910 and
1912 Mr. Hammond was again elected
to Congress over Republican candi
dates.
During his first term in Congress,
Mr. Hammond was a member of the
committee on public lands and the
(Continued on reverse page.)