People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 October 1896 — LIKE A THUNDERBOLT [ARTICLE]

LIKE A THUNDERBOLT

- » UNION PRINTERS FIRE THEIR OPINIONS AT MARK HANNA. Poll of Five Hanna-McKinley Organs of Chicago Shows That Union Workingmen Are Solid for Bryan and Altgeld. From the Chicago Dispatch: Just to see if a fair and honest expression of opinion could not be obtained from the ■workingmen, the Typographical union has caused a poll to be taken of the mechanical department of the five morning newspapers in Chicago. It is needless to emphasize that the newspairs in question are, without exception, advocates of the single standard gold dollar: The poll resulted as follows: Bryan. McKinley. Tribune 63 12 Record 82 ' 5 Chronicle 60 10 Inter Ocean 57 13 Times-Herald .7 55 4 Total ~..317 44 The vote for governor of Illinois stood as follows: Altgeld. Tanner. Tribune 71 4 Record 86 1 Chronicle ..67 3 Inter Ocean 61 8 Times-Herald 59 Total 354 14 The result as above has been certified to by some of the officials of yie and is now on file at democratic national headquarters. It is given out not to demonstrate the law of power these publications have over the convictions of their employes but to show exactft what the intelligent workingman thinkc of the conditions now confronting him. Of course, it also shows that the newspapers in question cannot be convincing in their arguments, but this is not the point sought to be made, as the democratic managers have long since lost all faith in the local press with the single exception of The Dispatch. HOW THE MANAGERS REGARD IT. At any rate, the poll of the “typos” caused the issuance of the following statement this morning from headquarters: “The five big morning newspapers of Chicago are engaged in an attempt to show that organized labor is opposed to Bryan and free silver. It may be interesting to the goldbug publishers of these newspapers to know that of 361 men employed in their composing and press rooms 317 will vote for Bryan while but 44 will vote for McKinley. These men belong to the finest labor organization in the world, and cannot be bulldozed or coerced Into stifling their convictions. “It will be seen from the above ballots that the estimate made by labor leaders in Chicago that nine-tenths of the organized labor vote of Chicago will be cast for Bryan and free silver is a correct one, and that despite coercion and intimidation it will be found in the 'ballot boxes Nov. 3. WORKINGMEN ARE WITH BRYAN. “Wherever employes have a chance to express their views similar results have been attained. In one of the Armour shops at the. Union Stock yards, where an Australian ballot was taken, the vote stood 675 for Bryan and 125 for McKinley. In another shop the vote stood 287 for Bryan and 17 for McKinley. It Is known that the Chicago Tribune, through its correspondents and agents, made a canvass of employes in all the large manufacturing towns of Illionis. The result was such an amazing majority for Bryan that the returns were destroyed, They indicated a majority of 50,000 for Bryan and even larger for Altgeld. The only consolation left for the McKinley managers is to take factory ballots tn the presence of officials and loudly proclaim the result as a victory for gold, despite the fact that all such ballots are criminally fraudulent on their face. “McKipJey organs and McKinley orators are wildly denouncing the plauk in the democratic platform which protests against federal interference in local affairs. They appear to forget that the republican national committee which met in Chicago in 1860 and nominated Abraham Lincoln adopted a platform which contained a plank objecting to federal interference.”