October 30, 1918, Wednesday
The Bay City Times Tribune, Bay City, Michigan
Finds Democrat Headquarters After Long and Pesistent Hunt.
I was told to look up democratic headquarters, and to get a story. If the city editor had instructed me to interview the division superintendent of the Michigan Central railroad, the president of the Trades Council, or the boys’ secretary of the Y. M. C. A. I would of course have summed up the necessary courage.
Being a comparative stranger, it was thought perhaps, that I would be able to get an unbiassed account of the democratic situation in Bay county.
It was with considerable difficulty that I found the democratic headquarters, which for the benefit of those who might have had to make a similar search, is located in one of the officers in the rear of the Washington Strand theater building, corner of Sixth and Adams streets.
The custodian sat in a swival chair and gloomily stared through the dust begrined window at the unoccupied building in the vicinity.
The walls of the office were adorned with pictures of the supposedly various candidates for state, district and county offices. On tables were piled many hued pamphlets setting forth in glowing terms the qualifications of the nominees.
When asked as a to the prospects, the custodian insisted they never were better. He unblushingly predicted, that the entire ticket from governor down would be unanimously democratic. Notwithstanding the recent edict of Governor Sleeper and the state board of health with reference to public meetings of any kind, the custodian informed me that the democratic nominee, John W. Bailey, who has been holding conferences in various sections of the state is making a splendid impression, and if given a chance to express himself, would undoubtedly show what sort of a man Michigan needs for its official head.
Asked if there was any significance in the fact that the republican headquarters are in the front of the Washington theater building and the democratic in the rear, the custodian answered, “none whatever.” Fact is, until you mentioned it, I hadn’t noticed the coincidence. With a knowing smile, the custodian said, “Never mind. We will come up from behind all right on election day, and you mark what I am telling you.” In a horse whisper, as though afraid the world might hear, the custodian leaning over a huge pile of campaign literature said, “My boy, you mark my word, there will be some fair sized surprises, especially on the county ticket, the morning after election.” Among other criptic remarks, the keeper of the democratic keys mumbled that old one about the American people being fooled some of the time but not all of the time
When I left the building I was obscessed with the idea that it could not be possible for any sane American to be anything but a democrat.
Stepping into the republican headquarters on my way back with my story, and after talking a few moments to one of the “Old Guard,” my mind became impressed with the wonderful accomplishments of that historic party, so much so, that if it had been election day it would have been a difficult matter to have told how I should have voted.
But the most impressive fact about both places was the “deadness.” Of course the candidates are trying to liven up, in their own interests, but the voters are apparently uninterested in the game of politics as it has been played in the past.
Bay City, Michigan: The Way It Was 