6Y2 



PRESIDENTIAL CANVASS OF 1896. 



Charges of Coercion. One of the marked fea- 

 tures of the canvass was the charge made by Mr. 

 Bryan and his supporters that employers were at- 

 tempting to coerce their employees into voting for 

 McKinley. A very large share of the business men 

 of the community were opposed to free coinage of 

 silver, on the ground that it would disturb values, 

 disarrange business, depreciate the market value of 

 stocks and bonds, and especially those in the hands 

 of foreign holders or offered to foreign capitalists. 

 The fact that so large a proportion of the employ- 

 ing class was, without regard to former political 

 views, actively opposed to the silver proposition 

 led to the belief on the part of some Democrats 

 that undue pressure would be brought by them 

 upon their employees to influence their votes in 

 favor of the Republican or the National Democratic 

 eandidate. As a result, the charge was made that 

 coercion was being practiced. Workingmen were 

 counseled to conceal their real views in order that 

 they might, through the secret ballot, register their 

 vote without danger of losing their places as the 

 result. Mr. Bryan himself frequently alluded to 

 this in his speeches, advising the workingmen to 

 join Republican clubs and wear McKinley badges, 

 if they thought it advisable, but to vote the Demo- 

 cratic ticket. During the weeks prior to the elec- 

 tion the claim was constantly made by the man- 

 agers of the Democratic campaign that all polls 

 made by the Republicans were misleading by rea- 

 son of the intention on the part of the working- 

 men in the cities to conceal their real views and to 

 vote for the Democratic candidate. In this calcu- 

 lation they were mistaken. An examination of the 

 votes of the cities and towns showed great Demo- 

 cratic losses in nearly all of them, and correspond- 

 ing Republican gains. In 85 principal cities and 

 towns of the manufacturing and agricultural States, 

 in which the Democratic plurality in 1892 was 162,- 

 000, the Republican plurality in 1896 was 464,000. 

 In all these some form of secret ballot was in use, 

 so that workingmen and employees generally would 

 have found it practicable to follow the advices of 

 Democratic leaders had they desired. It was be- 

 lieved by many during the canvass that the claim 

 by the Democrats that workingmen were preparing 

 to assume the role of deception in the use of their 

 elective franchise was resented by them, and that 

 this fact added to the Republican strength in many 

 instances. 



The Preliminary Polls. Careful and elaborate 

 polls of the electors of the country, made during sev- 

 eral weeks preceding the election, convinced those 

 managing the campaign that the Republican can- 

 didates would be elected, and this was true not only 

 with Republicans, but with many supporters of the 

 Democratic candidates. These polls, which have 

 been a feature of State and national campaigns for 

 years, were made more elaborate and thorough in 

 1896 than on preceding occasions. In most of the 

 close and important States 2, and in some instances 

 iJ, polls were taken with a view of ascertaining the 

 political status. This was an enormous task. In 

 Illinois, Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania there 

 were more than 1,000,000 voters each, yet they were 

 so thoroughly canvassed by these preliminary polls 

 that the managers of the parties knew within a few 

 thousand how the votes would be cast. In other 

 States which were considered important to the final 

 result the polls were equally careful and accurate. 

 The first of these was made sixty days before the 

 election, the second thirty days before, and the last 

 was completed but a week before. These polls were 

 made in each State under the direction of the State 

 committee. The chairman of each county commit- 

 tee was directed to begin his poll in time to report 

 by a given date. He in turn notified the chairman 



of his ward and township committees, and they ap- 

 pointed men for this duty. Each man was given a 

 section of his city or town, with whose inhabitants 

 he was well acquainted, the territory given to each 

 being not more than the block upon which he re- 

 sided or the building in which he did business. 

 The reports of these canvassers were made to the 

 local committee, by them transmitted to the county 

 committee, and in turn reported to the State com- 

 mittee, where the figitres were tabulated and reports 

 forwarded to the national headquarters. The res\ilt 

 was that the generals of the two great armies, if they 

 had their forces well in hand, were able to know con- 

 stantly what the conditions were in each State and 

 section, and where speakers and literature were most 

 needed, and to learn from time to time what change 

 in sentiment was going on. The result of these St ate 

 canvasses became known to the public soon after 

 they were made, and in the closing weeks of the 

 campaign they were sufficient to convince those 

 watching the condition closely that the tide was 

 setting strongly in favor of the Republican candi- 

 dates. While the reports from the farming dis- 

 tricts did not show as great gains for the Repub- 

 licans as in the cities, Chairman Hanna, on the 

 conclusion of the final poll, expressed publicly his 

 absolute confidence in the election of the Repub- 

 lican candidates; and Chairman Jones, although 

 refusing to concede defeat, only claimed success on 

 the belief that the ' silent vote " of the States would 

 be cast in favor of the Democratic candidates. This 

 hope proved delusive. 



The Cost of the Canvass. On the question of 

 the cost of presidential campaigns, especially that 

 of 1SSI6, much has been written, but comparatively 

 little is known. Naturally, the expenditures of a 

 campaign must be very large, but the men who col- 

 lect and distribute campaign funds are usually men 

 of trained business habits and unaccustomed to dis- 

 cuss details of their transactions, and as much of 

 the work of a campaign is necessarily secret dur- 

 ing its progress, the figures that speculative writers 

 on this subject have placed before the public are 

 vague estimates. The usual cost of such a cam- 

 paign is set down by men familiar with work of 

 this kind at probably about $4,000,000. This esti- 

 mate covers not only the expenses of the national 

 committees in their own work, but that of the State 

 and local committees. This money is generally sub- 

 scribed by members of each party to the chairman 

 or treasurer of the county, State, or national organi- 

 zation, or to officers and members of the national 

 committees. The State committees are usually ex- 

 pected to raise sufficient funds for their own can- 

 vasses, but to rely upon the national committee for 

 most of their literature, a portion of their speakers, 

 and in extreme cases for funds to add to their local 

 collections. In the campaign of 1896 the contribu- 

 tions were not confined so strictly to party lines as 

 is generally the case. Silver-mine owners, without 

 regard to their past affiliations, contributed to the 

 fund for the election of Mr. Bryan, as did members 

 of the Populist and Democratic parties who felt aide 

 1odo so. Chairman Jones issued an appeal to the 

 public early in the campaign inviting not only 

 business men, but workingmen, farmers, and all 

 persons able to contribute a single dollar, to give 

 according to their ability. The funds contributed 

 to the Republican campaign came also in part from 

 men who had been accustomed to contribute money 

 and labor to the opposite party. The intense desire 

 on the part of most business men to prevent the 

 adoption of a financial system which they believed 

 would both dishonor the nation and disturb business, 

 made contributions to the Republican campaign fund 

 and to that of the National Democratic party com- 

 paratively numerous and easily obtained. Men of all 



