Today -100: October 25, 1910: Of negative campaigning

Yesterday the Times was suggesting that Rep. John Tener, the Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, would drop out. But instead, Tener today swears out a warrant for the arrest of the president of the newspaper North American, which printed that Tener is “a friend and associate of swindlers.” Tener is connected with the National Public Utilities Corporation, which may or may not be a scam. Spoiler alert: Tener will win the election. He was, I think, the first successful professional-athlete-turned-politician (baseball) .

The NYT says Roosevelt knows he is lying when he accuses Dem. gubernatorial candidate for NY John A. Dix involvement with the old wallpaper trust. Dix became a director in a wallpaper company in 1907 but the trust effectively ceased to exist years before. TR is claiming that the trust still existed because it was appealing the initial ruling, which was in a case brought by the Continental Wall Paper Company, the trust, against someone who had not paid for wallpaper. That ruling was that the company was an illegal combination and its contracts were therefore unenforceable.

TR, on a roll, also attacked Eugene Foss, the Dem. candidate for Massachusetts governor, as “a man who has made his money in speculation.”