CRONK, J. W.
Source:
Indianapolis Journal Tues 12 Aug 1902 p 3
“I think
the story of Uncle Tom’s Cabin made a Republican of me,” remarked JW Cronk, a
revenue man at the Spencer House last night. Mr. Cronk lives at Veedersburg,
Fountain County but is connected with the Cincinnati Revenue Office as special
agent, travelling in Indiana, Ohio and parts of Michigan and Kentucky. “As a
boy, in Fountain County,” said he, “my mother used to read Uncle Tom’s Cabin to
me, and I think that is why I became a Republican. I remember the first fight I
ever had in school was when a boy called me a black Abolitionist.” Mr. Cronk was formerly chairman of the
Fountain County Republican Committee and knows the politics of that county
well. “In two years from now,” he said,
“Fountain County may be considered a Republican County. Fountain has for years
been a hotbed of Democracy and Populism. It is said that during the war there
were not more than 4 or 5 Republicans in all of Jackson Township. Mr. Cronk is of opinion that EH Nebeker of
Covington one of the best-known citizens of the state had perhaps more to do
with encouraging Republicanism in Fountain County than the other man. Mr.
Nebeker was among the first Republicans to be elected to office in that county.
One of the things the Republicans of the county have had to fight was Populism
of the kind that loves to fuse with a certain brand of democracy. In 1896 the
Populists and Democrats fused. They did the same thing in 1898 and 1900 and Mr.
Cronk says they are preparing to fuse again. However, the Republicans are
preparing to put up a stiff fight.