100 years ago in The Saratogian
Friday, November 1, 1918. Now that the worst of the Spanish flu epidemic seems to be over, local election campaigns are finally heating up, The Saratogian reports.
The epidemic limited the number of public campaign events this fall. The only big Democratic campaign rally of the season, for instance, takes place tomorrow.
The most closely watched local election is the race for Saratoga County’s seat on the state assembly. Attorney Kathryn H. Starbuck, a leading local suffragist, is the Democratic nominee, while the Republicans are running Clarence C. Smith, a Wilton dairy farmer and hardware store proprietor who operates the Collamer Building in Saratoga Springs. The GOP is the only party of the five on the Saratoga County ballot not to have a female candidate for office.
Saratoga County Sheriff William J. Dodge represents the county on the Republican state committee. In an interview with The Saratogian today, he notes that the assembly campaign is “the one on which the Democrats seemed up to now to be making their drive.” Accordingly, Dodge goes on the attack, albeit indirectly.
“I haven’t found the Democrats so enthusiastic today” about Starbuck, the sheriff says. The reason, he claims, is that Starbuck has sent a letter to members of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in which she allegedly “repudiates her candidacy on the Democratic ticket.”
Apparently quoting from the letter, Dodge claims that Starbuck wrote: “While running on the Democratic ticket, I consider myself an independent candidate.”
“I think she will lose many Democratic votes because of this shift in her attitude,” the sheriff predicts. As for his own candidate, Smith “is not, like his opponent, to be sure, a lawyer, but farmers generally prefer to have their interests looked after by a farmer … while the business interests believe in Mr. Smith’s business ability, as proved by his successful management of large business interests.”
The women of Saratoga County will vote for the first time in a general election next week. Dodge claims that they’ve already shown a preference for the GOP and “are not easily changed of their opinions.”