A Broken Bliss Pledge

A BROKEN BLISS PLEDGE

Why the Anti-Judsonites Cannot Support Him

TOLD IN A DETROIT PAPER

They Say He Had Pledged Himself Not to Appoint Judson or Give Him Any Consideration

The Detroit Evening News correspondent gives his account of a broken Bliss pledge anti why anti-machine republicans in Washtenaw cannot vote for Bliss in the following dispatch:

Ann Arbor, Mich., Sept. 5.—the real reason why Washtenaw antis will never vote for Bliss, even had the governor not chosen Boss Judson for his chief adviser and the controller of his second administration (if he gets one), dates back to the campaign of 1900. In that campaign the antis confined their efforts to defeating the Judson county ticket, hoping to prove to the state that the boss could not elect his own men in his own county. They supported the state ticket more loyally than did Judson, for the boss, it is claimed, traded off the state ticket in his efforts to elect Newkirk judge of probate. The antis also voted for Congressman Smith, not because they failed to realize that Smith was wearing the Judson collar, but because they feared that the house of representatives might go democratic, and thought it better to elect a congressman who would vote with the republicans part of the time, than an out and-out democrat. In their support of Bliss, however, they were relying on positive promises from the colonel that Judson should be shorn of his influence in state politics.

Before the Grand Rapids convention of 1900, Col. Bliss, at a G. A. R. gathering, in the presence of four prominent G. A. R. men, from different parts of the state, one of them being a well-known Washtenaw anti, said in answer to a point-blank question as to what he would do with Judson:

"Gentlement, I solemnly promise you that Mr. Judson will never receive any appointment or consideration from me."

And at the Grand Rapids convention, after the ballot which indicated that Bliss would be nominated on the next ballot, Col. Bliss said to another anti, who had been for years his close friend: "I am under no obligation whatever to Mr. Judson, and have made him no promises."

On these two assurances from Col. Bliss himself, the antis went in and supported him. The state remembers how the governor kept his solemn promise, and will understand why the antis will not vote again for Bliss. The governor has made Judson a state issue and the antis will teach Bliss that Washtenaw county voters are not in Judson's control.