Col. Reedy Of Missouri Predicts Wilson Victory.

New York Times 100 years ago today, July 13, 1912:
St. Louis Editor Who Knows What Is Going On Feels Democratic Success in His Bones.
Special to The New York Times.
    ST. LOUIS, Mo., July 12.— William Marion Reedy owns and edits The Mirror, "a journal of civilization," in these parts, and keeps his fingers on the public pulse on things political as well as social. The young men in his office call him "Billy" when he is not present. Leastwise one of them had the temerity to do so this morning, when an anxious inquirer was running a cold trail in search of the situation in the houn' dawg State, which was reported by Henry Watterson to have been committed to the temporary care of Col. Reedy.
    Time was and not so long ago when Reedy was a Democrat, and he is still inclined to that faith. Something of a mugwump, it would be fair to say, if it were not for the fact that the term mugwump is not sufficiently militant in spirit on all occasions to suit this particular Missouri Colonel.
    Reedy is a Progressive Democrat, and when asked what a Progressive Democrat is he frankly acknowledged that he did not know exactly, except that he is radical in his views on public questions, believing with all his heart in the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the rights of the States, the inerrancy of the Democratic Party, Christian Science, bridge whist, pound parties, and all the other fads of the times.
    Just now he feels it in his bones that the Democratic ticket will be elected in November; does not see how it would be possible to beat Woodrow Wilson; has lost something of his former admiration for Col. Roosevelt; is confident that the bull moose party will not be able to get together in Missouri, and regards Gov. Hadley as a man of fine ability, with a penchant for big politics and rather more anxious to hold the Republicans in this State together than to sacrifice them to the ambition of the wild man from Borneo, or words to that effect.
    He tells a moving story about the dissensions that have shocked the political machines in Missouri, the remarkable career of Folk, who as Prosecuting Attorney for St. Louis sent ten or a dozen malefactors of great wealth, or who stood in with the real malefactors, to the penitentiary, and was elected Governor on the reputation he had made as a terror to evildoers, and the not less remarkable career, in a sense, of Hadley, who, as Attorney General under the administration of Folk, played jack with certain trusts and laid the foundation for the successful work afterward done by the Federal authorities under the Administration of Mr. Taft.

    Folk was persona non grata to the Democratic machine and became at once unpopular with a certain set because he did not give St. Louis that freedom of living which is so alluring and profitable withal to those who favor the wide open town. As Reedy picturesquely described Folk's undone condition to-day, "no one who had more than $11 would be seen talking to him on the street," but Folk made a great Governor.
    He was not afraid. He encouraged legislation of the radical or progressive sort, affecting big business; he closed the gambling saloons in this town and in other large communities of the State; he made the law so tight that in certain resorts of a questionable character where beer and other more violent stimulants were wont to be sold, it was found necessary "to sell chewing gum" to keep the devilish going, and naturally a great mass of people "soured on" Folk. Just the same, however, he was strong in the country districts, and was the first of the Missourians considered by his home people as good timber for the Democratic nomination for President.
    It was found a little later that Champ Clark, or Champ Clark's friends for him, had Presidential longings, and when the convention met at St. Louis, or Jefferson City, or wherever it was, by ways that are not quite clear to an Eastern tenderfoot, Folk esteemed it the better part of good politics to let Champ have it, and what Champ did with it the official reports of the convention at Baltimore will show.
    From what Reedy says, it is not certain that at the beginning Champ was seriously considered as a Presidential candidate, but with Folk out of the way the Clark movement continued to show increasing signs of life, and came very near being a very serious thing for the party and the country.
    In Reedy's opinion there is a good deal of soreness in the Democratic ranks in this State, but it is not on account of any special objection to the work of the convention at Baltimore and the nomination of Wilson instead of Clark. The dissensions among the Democrats here are confined to local and State issues and will not affect the success of the party in the Presidential campaign.

    The Republicans have troubles of their own. A great many of their number, influenced in considerable degree by the enthusiasm of the youngsters, who have regarded Mr. Roosevelt as the Buffalo Bill of the political show, were inclined to back the bull moose for the nomination, but have not discovered any sign of returning animation since the slaughter house convention at Chicago.
    They have local questions to settle of far more importance than the election of a Progressive President, and while they may not and probably will not in great numbers vote for Taft and the regular Republican ticket, they will take a most lively interest in the election of local officers.
    Hadley, who is the first Republican Governor Missouri has had in forty years, is anxious to keep the organization together for usefulness. This desire on his part will probably explain why it was that in the race at Chicago he would not take the hurdle when he came to it and has since been reported as saying things that have not seemed to coincide with the desperate determination of his recent faction to "fight the battle of the Lord."
    St. Louis has a population of something like 700,000. It is a free and independent city under its charter and is supposed to have a certain degree of local self-government not assured to other large communities not similarly chartered. It has been found that with the metropolitan system of police and the kindly guardianship of the authorities of the State it is not quite so self-governing as its people would prefer, and particularly when it comes to their right of regulating their own affairs in the matter of drink or drinks.
    Machine Democrats did not expect very much from Folk when he was Governor in the way of special privileges and they were not disappointed, but both Republicans and Democrats who voted for Hadley really imagined that when he got in he would somehow "wink the other eye," but he has not done so when anybody was looking, and it happens that this great city, which would express its feelings of good comradeship and high political thinking in liquid form, is awfully tight on a Sunday and is not as free on other days and nights of the week as the people who would pour and the people who would swallow think it should be.
    When the Excise Commissioners cut down the places of supply there was resort to the club form of drinking joints, with the result that the man who paid $800 to the city for the privilege of running his place was hampered by the social club next door, which paid no license to anybody. Such an arrangement proved to be satisfactory to no one, and the dissensions caused in the trade found their speediest relief in politics.

    There was some feeling here among the dealers and the consumers, also, on account of the letter written by Woodrow Wilson to a man in Texas when the prohibition fight was on in that State, but it is not expected that this or any other cause or other excuse will keep a vast majority of the people of Missouri from voting the Democratic ticket in November.
    Whatever may be said about Hadley and the bull moose party, it is not believed here that he can do otherwise, if he wishes to save the Republican bacon in State and local affairs, than to support the regular Republican ticket. Missouri will vote against Taft anyhow, and in the opinion of those who study politics as a business it would be very foolish for Hadley to sacrifice "regularity" to the demands of a movement which has nothing in it but the vain ambition of an empty vessel. J. C. H.