Adams County, Nebraska - Chapter 8: Political History, 1916

Politics has been a subject of interest in Adams Countj^ through its entire history. The poHtical movements that have been felt in Nebraska and the United States are duly reflected in the votes of the county. Prohibition, populism, the free silver theorj, woman suffrage, socialism and other labor theories, all these have been jjassed ujjon and the judgment of the electors is preserved in the record of elections.

Ill addition to the vote for president of the Ignited States shown in table at end of chapter, other candidates have lieen voted for. In the election of 1888 230 votes were cast for Alson J. Streeter, the Union Labor candidate. Charles H. oNIatchett, the candidate of the Socialist Labor i^arty, received four votes in 1896. These were the first socialist votes to be cast in the county. Eugene V. Debs was the socialist candidate in 1900 and received tive votes in Adams County. In .1912 the Adams County vote for Debs had increased to 187, but it dropped to 101 for Benson in 1916.

The political revolution of Nebraska in 1890 was felt in full force in Adams County, which had hitherto been strongly republican. It was in 1890 that the farmers of Nebraska broke away from the old parties and at one SAvoop elected a majority in both houses of the Nebraska Legislature. John H. Powers, Avho lived on a farm a few miles north of Hastings, was one of the leaders in the organization of the Populist or Peoples' Independent party in Nebraska. Mr. Powers had come to Nebraska from Illinois and was a wide reader and close student of political subjects.

The Farmers' Alliance, which had been organized in Adams County February 26, 1882, had prepared the way for a farmers' political party. While the alliance was organized primarily to give to the members the advantage of co-operative marketing and buying, it also discussed such subjects as monopoly and the oppression of railroads. In 1882 there were twenty-five subordinate alliances in Adams County with an aggregate of 600 members. A. M. Hall was tlie first i^resident of the county organization, and William Van Allen, secretary. By 1890 the membership of the alliance was greatly increased. Each subordinate alliance was entitled to one delegate to the county organization to each ten members, and one delegate at large. The alliance was well organized.

In 1890 came the great drought that prostrated Western Nebraska until about 1900. The hard straits in which the farmers found themselves assisted in bringing them under the banner of the populist . l^arty, which represented the jDolitical action that resulted from the political study made by the alliance. The first populist convention to be held in Adams County was called to order at 10:30 in the forenoon, July 26, 1890. The convention was held at the Kerr Opera House. H. J. Straight, of Verona Township, presided, and H. B. JMcGaw of Blaine, and F. J. Taylor of Denver, served as secretary and assistant secretary.

It was a determined convention, and many of the demands there made have since been enacted into law. It was the day that marked the beginning of much f)olitieal imrest in Adams County. Resolutions were adojited pledging the populists to sujjport no candidate that was not sqviarely ojjjjosed to monopoly. The Government ownership of railroads and the loaning of money directly by the Government to farmers at a low rate of interest were further demands. The delegates to this momentous convention were the following:

At the state convention of the populists, in 1890, John H. Powers received the nomination for governor. In Adams County, 1,527 votes were polled for Mr. Powers; 861 for James E. Boyd, the democratic nominee; 1,331 for the republican candidate, Lucius D. Richards, and 6.5 for B. L. Paine, prohibitionist. Mr. Powers was not elected, but polled 70,187 votes; the official count gave James E. Boj'd 71,331 votes. ]Mr. Powers went from Adams Coimty to Hitchcock County, where he still resides.

In the campaign of 1892, W. E. Andrews, who previously for some time had been a professor of Latin in Hastings College, was the republican nominee for Congress from the Fifth District. Before tliis date, Adams County had been in the Second Congressional District, and when Mr. Andrews entered the race, W. A. JNIcKeighan of Red Cloud was the representative in Congress. ISlr. jNIcKeighan had been elected in 1890 by a combination of the democrats and populists, and the congressman was a fluent and able exponent of populism. He had been elected to succeed Gilbert L. Laws, who filled the vacancy caused bj' the death of Congressman James Laird, in 1889. Mr. IMc- Iveighan was reelected in 1892. Adams County gave Mr. Andrews 1,68.5 votes, and oMcKeighan, 1,591. The same year, Adams County gave the republican candidate for governor, Lorenzo Crounse, 1,507 votes. The congressional race was both' contested that year. A joint debate between the candidates at Hastings drew many thousands of listeners.

In 1894, jNIr. Andrews and ]Mr. JMcKeighan were again pitted against each other in the fight for Congress, and this time INIr. Andrews was victorious. Adams County polled 1,915 votes for Andrews, and 1,604 for JNIcKeighan. IMr. Andrews' race for re-election came in 1896. Fusion of the democrats and peoples' independent party was at its height, and Mr. Andrews lost in the contest to his opponent, R. D. Sutherland. Adams County gave 1,757 votes to Mr. Andrews, and 2,050 to JNIr. Sutherland. Following his service in Congress, Mr. Andrews was appointed auditor of the United States Treasury, at Washington. He filled that post for fourteen years. In the 1916 primary he was defeated in the race for the congressional candidacy,

While tlie rise of ijopulisni gave new interest to politics in 1890, the issues were further comj^licated by the submission of the prohibitory amendment. The vote in Adams County, upon the amendment to pi'ohibit the liquor traffic, resulted in 1,708 votes being cast for the amendment, and 1,777 against. The proliibitoiy amendment was again submitted in 1916, and the vote resulted in 2,5.55 for the amendment, and 2,033 against. The "wet" majority of 69 in 1890 became, in 1916, a "dry" majority of 522.

The climax of jjolitical excitement in Adams County was reached in 1896. For weeks before the election Hastings was the scene of almost nightly parades. Torchlight processions, witli long lines of torch-bearers, bands and negro choirs, and other musical organizations, were of almost nightly occurrence. On Lincoln Avenue, near Third Street, was a grandstand and jjlatform, where night meetings were held. Here Roswell G. Horr of the New York Tribune spoke, expounding the folly of free silver; John V. Farwell also spoke to the same end, and the "Five Generals," headed by General Sickles. On the afternoon before election, AVilliam J. Bryan spoke on the old East Ward school groimds to the largest jjolitical audience ever assembled in Hastings or Adams County.

Forerunners of the political upheaval, which began in 1890, were the earlier Foiu'th of July celebrations. The celebration of 1886 may be recited as an instance in point. That year there were celebrations at Hastings, Juniata and Ayr. Hastings was crowded, and hundreds were in attendance at Juniata and Ayr.

At Hastings the celebration was under tlie auspices of the Kniglits of Labor, and the trend of the political thought of the times was observable in the way the day was celebrated. A long procession formed at 10 o'clock and marched through the principal streets, headed by the Hastings Cornet Band. After the band came a large decorated wagon drawn by four white horses. Upon the wagon, which had been made into a float, sat thirty-eight girls in costume, each girl symbolizing a state.

Here and there in the long procession banners fluttered in the breeze, and in addition to tlie usual ])atriotic inscriptions the eye encountered these legends:

"In The Sweat of Thy Face Shalt Thou Eat Bread." "We Are Opposed To Child Labor." "Labor And Capital ]Must Be Friends!" In the evening an address was delivered by the Honorable W. A. JMcKeighau. of Red Cloud. The dance, too, was well attended, and a committee awarded the silver cup, which was oiFered to the most graceful waltzer by JNIrs. Fensler. The day's program was well filled with sports. A cane for popularity was offered to the newspaper men, and was awarded to William Breede, who received sixty-seven votes. ]Mr. Breede's rival, Dick Thompson, got four votes.

While Hastings was celebrating, hundreds gathered at Juniata and Ayr for the festivities. At the former place a large pavilion had been erected, and tliither came the i^rocession led by the Juniata band, arriving at the pavilion shortly after 10 o'clock. Hon. Albert Watkins, of Lincoln, and A. V. Cole, of Hastings, were the speakers. Mr. Watkins, in his address, took a democratic anti-monopoly viewpoint. In the evening fireworks completed an enthusiastic Independence Day celebration.

Ayr, too, had a procession on that day, and hundreds assembled at the village near the Blue. A pavilion had been erected' at Scott Philleo's grove, and here the celebration was held. Frank D. Taggart, founder of Tlie Independent, from which the present Hastings Daily Tribune developed, delivered the patriotic address. This celebi'ation is also memorable in the annals of Ayr celebrations because of the ])resence of JNIr. Jack Wilson, one of the earliest residents and largest property owners, but who at that time was living at Oberlin, Kan. ]Mr. Wilson gave a history of the early days of Adams County, particularly the portions most remote from the railroads, and contrasted tlie pioneer days and improvements with the great growth evidenced by the country in 1880.

The Fourth of July that year had fallen on Simday. and the celebrations were held on ^Monday. Throughout the county, on Sunday, sermons suitable for Independence Day were preached in the churches. At the same time that the celebrations were in progress, July 5, a meeting of importance to the prohibition movement in Adams County M'as held at Cole's Park, in the southeast quarter of Hastings. The anti-liquor forces held a picnic of their own, and organized their work for the campaign for submitting the constitutional amendment to a vote of the people, which was done four years later. The speakers at this meeting of Adams Countjr i^rohibitionists were Judge Obadiah Hewitt, the Rev. JNIr. Aitchison, Lewis Blank. The picnic finally resolved itself into a mass meeting with Dr. H. P. Fitch, pastor of the Ba])tist Cliurcji at Hastings, as chairman, and C. T. Rawalt, as secretary. Resolutions were adopted stating that inasmuch as the state representatives of Adams County had voted against the submission of a constitutional amendment providing for state-wide prohibition to a vote of the people, "That we tender the issue of submission or non-submission of a prohibitoiy amendment as the leading question in this canvass for the election of state senators and reiJresentatives." Stejjs were also taken to secure an attendance of delegates from the various townsliips wlien the county convention should be called. The delegates selected to attend the state convention for the fornmlation of a plan of campaign to secure the necessary legislative and senatorial candidates favorable to the submission of the amendment to a vote were: J. j\I. Patterson, S. M. Hoagland, James E. Reed, Robert Ash, L. W. Parmenter, S. H. Smith, A. N. Hall, Dr. H. P. Fitch, L. B. Palmer, C. T. Rawalt, Judge Hewtt, Nat Brass, J. G. Hayslett and J. W. Shaw. This picnic marks the beginning of active political work on the part of the prohibitionists of the county, which continued with more or less activity and at intervals until the j^rohibitory amendment was carried in 1916.

At an election held October 12, 187.3, upon the question of the adoption of the present constitution of Nebraska, Adams County cast 729 votes for the constitution and 21 against. In 1882 the amendment to extend the suffrage to women was voted upon in Nebraska, Adams County easting 643 votes for the amendment and 9j2 votes against. In 1914 woman suffrage was again voted on in Nebraska, being submitted under the princijjle of the initiative and the referendum. The vote on suffrage tied in Adams Comity, 1,650 being cast for the amendment and the same number against. The vote in the Citv of Hastings, too, was just 1,6,50, suffrage gaining a decided majority in the city. At the state convention of the Nebraska Equal Suffrage Association, held in Hastings in the fall of 1916 and at which INIrs. Carrie Chapman Catt was present, it was decided to petition to have the subject again voted in 1918. Among the leaders of the suffrage movement in Adams County, INIiss Lucy Williams of Kenesaw is a pioneer. INIrs. Charles H. Dietrich of Hastings is the ])resent president of the county equal suffrage association. ]Mrs. Charles W. Brown, ]Mrs. John H. Slaker and INIrs. A. H. Brown are other active workers.

Charles H. Dietrich of Hastings was elected governor of Nebraska by the republicans in November, 1900, and served as chief executive of the state from January 3. 1901, to May 1, 1901. On the sixtyfourth legislative day of the Legislature of 1901 ]Mr. Dietrich was elected United States senator to fill the unexpired term of 31. L. Hayward. A deadlock had resulted in the vote for senator between Edward Rosewater and D. E. Tliompson. jMr. Dietrich was elected on the fifty-foxu'th ballot, seventy votes being cast for him. He served as senator until 190.). Adams County polled 1,914 votes for ]Mr.