Below is an instruction that describes a task. Write a response that appropriately completes the request.

### Instruction:
Which Republican ran against the American Labor candidate Matthew J. Merritt?

### Inputs:
table_name: table, columns: ['Office', 'Democratic ticket', 'Republican ticket', 'American Labor ticket', 'Socialist ticket']

### Response:
SELECT Republican ticket FROM table WHERE American Labor ticket = matthew j. merritt