PRESIDENTIAL CANVASS OF 



671 



arranging fusion tickets of Democrats and Popu- 

 lists in t'lic various States \vliich would coininaiid 

 the full vote of Loth of those parties, this dilliculty 

 being increased by the fact thai the Populist party 

 bad declined to Dominate on their ticket the vice- 

 presidential candidate of the Democrats, though 

 nominating the presidential candidate of the !,- 

 nioeracv. Mr. Bryan. Chairman Jones was finally 

 successful in nearly every State, thus assuring to 

 Bryan and Sewall "the practically unanimous, vote 

 of the Populists as well as that of the Democrats 

 who favored free coinage of silver or who were will- 

 ing to support the nominee of the party whatever 

 their conviction regarding the platform. 



Mr. Bryan's Speech-making Tour. One of 

 the remarkable features of the campaign was the 

 speech-making tour of Mr. Bryan, the Democratic 

 and Populist candidate for the presidency. From 

 the day of his nomination at Chicago he was called 

 upon for speeches wherever he went, and willingly 

 complied. It was arranged that the official notifi- 

 cation of the nomination should be made in Madi- 

 son Square (iarden. Xew York, in order to give 

 him an opportunity to make his speech of accept- 

 ance in that city. On his trip from Nebraska to 

 Xew York for that purpose he made many speeches 

 from the rear platform of the car on which he 

 traveled. After his speech in Xew York accept- 

 ing the nomination he planned a tour through 

 what he termed " the enemy's country." by this 

 meaning the Xew England and Middle States, 

 which in their platforms and through their dele- 

 gates had indicated hostility to the silver cause. 

 His tour attracted much attention, phenomenal 

 crowds gathering to listen to him, and the people, 

 especially in the rural districts, apparently indi- 

 cating strong sympathy with the free-coinage prop- 

 osition. It was found also that speeches delivered 

 in this unusual manner attracted the attention of 

 the press and the public, and were printed even in 

 the most hostile papers as a matter of news. This 

 suggested to him and his managers the practica- 

 bility, by continuing this process, of utilizing the 

 press of the country to spread their arguments de- 

 spite its hostility to their views. Accordingly. Mr. 

 Bryan remained in the field during the entire can- 

 vass. He visited 2y States and made about 500 

 speeches, traveling first in an ordinary passenger 

 coach, then in the Pullman parlor car or sleeper, then 

 by special car. and finally by special train, accom- 

 panied by a corps of secretaries anil correspondents 

 of newspapers and press associations. But his 

 speeches, while they attracted much attention and 

 were listened to by enormous numbers of people, 

 did not have the effect expected. Of the '28 States 

 that he thus visited he carried but 0, and most of 

 these were States that had been accustomed to give 

 a Democratic or Populist plurality. All the large 

 cities in which he spoke gave an increased Repub- 

 lican vote, and nearly all of them were carried by 

 the Republicans. His speeches were listened to by 

 more than 2.000.000 people, and there was no com- 

 plaint that they lacked in interest or in their pres- 

 entation of all the arguments that could be pro- 

 duced for the cause of silver, to which he devoted 

 most of his attention: but, while awakening much 

 enthusiasm at the moment, they apparently failed 

 to convince, since the Democratic percentage of the 

 total vote was much reduced in practically all the 

 cities and most of the States that he visited. 



Major McKinley's Speeches. Major McKin- 

 ley. the Republican candidate, although remaining 

 constantly at his home in Canton. Ohio, did not 

 lack opportunity to express himself on the issues of 

 the canvass. From the time of his nomination 

 until the close of the campaign scarcely a day 

 passed in which he was not visited by delegations 



who expected and insisted upon an addre-- <,u the 

 issues of the day. As the campaign JIK-I va->-d in 

 interest and intensity the nunil _.itions in-, 



crea-ed. until on many days they numbered ; 

 than a score, coming from dilTen-nt States and re| - 

 resenting all classes. It was .-Miniated that in the 

 bu-iot season of the campaign no fewer than :;o.- 

 000 people visited him in a single day. arriving in 

 special trains with flags and banners and bands and 

 orators and all the paraphernalia of a political cam- 

 paign. One of the mo>t remarkable features .f 

 these pilgrimages to Canton was found in the fact 

 that organizations wholly made up from the Demo- 

 cratic party called on the Republican candidate to 

 pay their respects and pledge their support, and in 

 some instances these organizations were composed 

 entirely of men who had served in the Confederate 

 army and had fought against Major McKinley on 

 the battlefield. In the hundreds of speeches that 

 he delivered to these visiting delegations he dis- 

 cussed all the features of the contest the tariff, the 

 currency question, the free coinage of silver, and 

 the attitude of the Democratic platform relative to 

 the enforcement of law and order. His speeches, 

 like those of Mr. Bryan, were telegraphed to all 

 parts of the country by newspaper correspondents 

 and press associations, so that each of the candi- 

 dates was able thus to address the entire reading 

 population of the country more frequently, and to 

 discuss the issues more thoroughly, than had been 

 the case in any presidential campaign of former 

 years. 



Rallying the Voters. The closing weeks of the 

 campaign were filled with activity and excitement. 

 Enormous parades were planned in the great cities: 

 special trains filled with men shouting for McKin- 

 ley or Bryan rolled across the country bearing 

 streamers with the names of their candidates : flags 

 and banners were everywhere seen and millions of 

 campaign buttons and badges bearing the names 

 and portraits of the candidates were distributed by 

 national and State committees. Chairman Hanna, 

 of the Republican National Committee, in an ad- 

 dress to the public, recommended that on the Sat- 

 urday preceding the election the national flag 

 should Vie displayed by all friends of sound finance 

 and good government ; and the chairman of the 

 Democratic Xational Committee, unwilling to have 

 it appear that his party or followers were less pa- 

 triotic than the Republicans or Xational Democrats, 

 issued a similar recommendation. "Flag Day," as 

 this occasion was denominated, was generally ob- 

 served by Republicans in all cities and in rural 

 communities also, and monster parades numbering 

 from 50,000 to 100.000 men marched through the 

 streets of the great cities, testifying the adherence 

 of those participating in them to the candidates of 

 the Republican [tarty. In all parts of the country 

 clubs and political organizations had been formed, 

 grouping various classes of people and rallying them 

 in favor of the respective candidates. An organi- 

 zation composed exclusively of graduates of col- 

 leges was formed, and rallied large numbers of 

 young men in behalf of the Republican candidates ; 

 clubs composed of commercial travelers were formed 

 in all parts of the United States under the auspices 

 of the Republican Xational Committee: while bi- 

 cycle clubs, railroad clubs, workingmen's clubs, and 

 other organizations of this kind gathered the voters 

 into groups for the purpose of arousing their en- 

 thusiasm and securing their active support for the 

 respective candidates. The women of the country 

 were also enlisted and organizations among them 

 were established, meetings held, and literature dis- 

 tributed, this work being carried on under the di- 

 rection of Mrs. .T. Ellen Foster, of Iowa, under the 

 auspices of the Republican National Committee. 



