670 



PRESIDENTIAL CANVASS OF 1896. 



this order was frequently duplicated as the stock 

 was exhausted, until the second and third, and even 

 the fourth million was printed and distributed to 

 the public, who still seemed to be hungering for in- 

 formation on every phase of the currency question. 

 Some of these documents were mere leaflets of con- 

 venient size for pocket and letter use, while others 

 were more elaborate discussions, covering a dozen 

 or a score of pages. Nearly 200 different docu- 

 ments were prepared and sent to press by the Re- 

 publican National Committee, and the total num- 

 ber of copies printed, including those sent out from 

 the New York headquarters and from Washington, 

 aggregated nearly 200,000,000, which was fully ten 

 times as many as had ever been distributed by any na- 

 tional committee that had preceded it. The num- 

 ber distributed by the Democratic National Commit- 

 tee, including those sent out by its Congressional 

 Committee at Washington, probably aggregated 

 about 50,000,000. The silver organizations named 

 above also distributed during and prior to the canvass 

 a very large number of documents, probably aggre- 

 gating 50,000.000 copies. The Republican National 

 Committee, through its system of supplying the 

 newspapers, sent out about 20,000,000 supplements 

 for the use of daily and weekly papers, and distrib- 

 uted many millions of columns of matter in plates 

 and by other processes. A brief " leaflet " prepared 

 and sent from the Republican headquarters to daily 

 papers for use in their columns obtained a circu- 

 lation of over 1,000,000 a day. 



The Machinery of Distribution. The system 

 by which the thousands of tons of literature thus 

 printed by the national committees was distributed 

 to voters in all parts of the country was very elab- 

 orate and satisfactory in its workings. All the 

 documents as fast as printed, were sent to the dis- 

 tribution rooms near the headquarters, that of the 

 Republican National Committee being under the 

 direction of Capt. Thomas H. McKee, of Washington, 

 D. C. The workings of the machinery of the dis- 

 tribution department of the Republican Committee 

 are selected for this description by reason of the 

 fact that this committee distributed a larger quan- 

 tity of literature than did any of the other national 

 committees. A hundred men were employed at the 

 distribution rooms, handling the great mass of 

 documents which came from the presses at the 

 rate of 10,000,000 or 20,000,000 in a day. On the 

 arrival of a consignment of documents, the super- 

 indent of distribution, after conferring with the 

 head of the literary department and members of 

 the committee as to the sections of the country for 

 which it was especially suited, assigned a given 

 number to each State, determining this by the 

 number of voters in each State and the interest felt 

 in the subject discussed. As soon as this was de- 

 termined the designated number was quickly 

 boxed and addressed to the chairman of the Repub- 

 lican State Committee in each of the States to 

 which they were consigned, so that a few hours was 

 sufficient to send the million documents by fast ex- 

 press in every direction. These allotments, on ar- 

 rival at the headquarters of the State committees, 

 were distributed by similar methods to the county 

 committees, whence they were distributed, either by 

 mail or some more convenient process, to the voters. 

 The literature of the other national committees 

 was distributed in a similar way. The work of 

 preparing and distributing literature continued un- 

 til within three weeks of the election, when the de- 

 mand ceased and the attention of the people turned 

 to the discussions from the platform, which were 

 now being made at all hours in all communities. 

 One especially interesting feature of the publica- 

 tion bureaus was that by which millions of large 

 posters bearing striking cartoons and brief argu- 



ments on the currency question were furnished for 

 use in cities and villages. These posters proved an 

 effective method of reaching with terse and striking 

 arguments many voters who could not be induced 

 to read elaborate documents or newspaper articles. 



Furnishing Speakers for the Campaign. 

 The speakers' bureau was an extremely important 

 feature of the headquarters of each of the national 

 committees. This bureau at the Republican head- 

 quarters was managed by the lion. William M. 

 Ilahn, of Ohio: that of the Democrats by Hon. 

 Daniel McConville. of Ohio. The business of the 

 speakers' bureau was to assign such speakers as 

 offered their services to the national committee to 

 a given territory or line of cities and towns, and 

 also obtain the services of others whose work was 

 likely to be useful. Hundreds of men were sent out 

 by each of these bureaus, being directed originally 

 by orders given to them on their departure, and 

 later by telegraph or letter. Their expenses were 

 paid by the national committee, and in some in- 

 stances they were paid for their time, though a 

 large portion of them gave their services freely for 

 the benefit of their party. One of the most attrac- 

 tive and unique features of the oratorial campaign 

 was what was known as "the Generals' Train,'' 

 operated under the direction of the Republican Na- 

 tional Committee. This was a special train carry- 

 ing Gens. Sickles. Howard. Sigel. and Alger and 

 Corporal Tanner, who addressed gatherings of old 

 soldiers in nearly every city and in many of the 

 smaller towns of the Mississippi valley, which was 

 constantly the great battle ground. At the rear of 

 the train was a platform car, on which was mount- 

 ed a cannon, which was tired at intervals while 

 crossing the country and just before reaching the 

 town where addresses were to be delivered. This 

 unique programme called together at every point 

 enormous numbers of people, and the addresses of 

 these distinguished officers in the late war, some of 

 whom in former political contests had co-operated 

 with the Democratic party, but were now urging 

 the election of McKinley, proved very effective. 

 Another special train, which was confined to Illi- 

 nois, a State most hotly contested by both parties, 

 and was designated " the Governors' Train," car- 

 ried 4 ex-Governors of Illinois. The speakers' bu- 

 reaus of the Republican and Democratic parties sent 

 their speakers into the various States in which the 

 contest was most closely fought. The Republican 

 committee sent men to the Pacific coast, this being 

 the first time in which a national committee had 

 attempted to supply speakers to that section of the 

 country. In addition to the work performed by the 

 speakers' bureau of the national committees, the 

 State and county committees assigned thousands of 

 their local speakers, so that the closing weeks of the 

 canvass were marked by discussions from the plat- 

 form in every community, which were attended by 

 millions of voters. 



Selecting Electors. Meantime the heads of the 

 respective national committees had been attentively 

 watching the selection of electors throughout the 

 country. The most important duty in this line, 

 from the standpoint of the Republican and Na- 

 tional Democratic parties, was to see that the men 

 selected for this duty had the qualifications named 

 by law, and that none were disqualified by reason 

 of holding any official or business relation with the 

 Government. Not only were all holders of offices 

 under the National Government excluded from the 

 list of electors, but also the directors and officers of 

 national banks, and it was found necessary to re- 

 vise carefully many lists of electors, in order to 

 make it certain that no man not fully qualified had 

 been named. Chairman Jones, of the Democratic 

 National Committee, also found an arduous task in 



