to influence the State election in the fall of that year. By
the State election of 1890 the movement had grown and was
better organized, and the Employes' Club did exercise
considerable influence in the election of certain of the
State officers and certain members of the State legislature
in that year.

"From Minnesota the movement spread to Iowa, and there is no
contradiction of the fact that the railway employes' vote
was one of the strongest forces in the State election of the
fall of 1891. It also overflowed into Kansas, Nebraska,
Missouri and Texas. Had the election of last November been
normal it is probable that the effect of the Railway
Employes' Club vote would have been as visible in two or
three of those States then as it had been in Iowa in the
preceding year. But in the deluge which occurred all trace
of the smaller streams and currents was obliterated. Had the
members of the clubs not taken the precaution to do
considerable work in the local nominating conventions of
both parties they would be compelled to confess that their
campaign of 1892 was a failure....

"So far the clubs have admitted and will admit of no
negotiations with the State committees of other parties.
They hold their own meetings and decide for themselves that
such and such a candidate is inimical to their interests as
railway employes, and such and such a man is their friend.
Then they go to the polls and vote--voting in the main
their normal party ticket, scratching only a man here and a
man there, their attention being chiefly centered upon
members of the boards of railroad commissioners and of the
State legislatures.

"In Minnesota in 1890 their weight was thrown chiefly in
favor of Republicans. In Iowa in 1891 it was given to
Democrats. In all States the men whom they oppose are those
who have made themselves conspicuous as 'Granger' and
anti-railway politicians. The keynote of the movement and
the one plank in the platform of the clubs is that the
extreme anti-railroad legislation of late years has reduced
the earnings of the companies to a point at which they are
unable any longer to keep full forces on their payrolls or
to pay such wages as they should, and that by this
legislation the