Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 102, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 September 1899 — Figures of Presidential Election of 1896, and Congressional Election Following, with Reference to Next Year’s Campaign, [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Figures of Presidential Election of 1896, and Congressional Election Following, with Reference to Next Year’s Campaign,

(New York Herald.)

HE active work of the presidential jU campaign of 1900 began recently in v» Chicago, where the Democratic national committee met and indorsed the Chicago platform of 1896 and Mr. Bryan, who was present. Mr. Bryan at pres•ent has control of the machinery of the party, and there sterns little doubt of his renomination. Some of the leading gold Democrats of 1896 are announcing their -opposition to the platform and candidate once more, but the exact amount of opposition within the party cannot be determined for some time. Mr. Bryan’s friends lay claim to suc•cesa on the following grounds: 1. Most gold Democrats will vote for Bryan either because they do not like the treatment they have received from Republicans or because they are opposed to imperialism. 2. Many former Republicans will vote for Bryan because they are opposed to trusts and imperialism and because they think free silver would help the situation. 8. A reaction against an administration always sets in, and in normal times it is virtually impossible to re-elect any President. '4. Bryan is better known than, in 1896, fear of a panic no longer exists and this -country is able to establish free silver on Its own account and maintain it.

The Republican view is quite different. They prophesy McKinley’s re-election on the following grounds: 1. McKinley’s successful administration of civil and military affairs. 2. The prosperity that has come from tbe Dingley tariff and the gold standard. 3. Gold Democrats will not support Bryan and the Democratic party cannot be made to unite on any one. The study of election figures of 1897 and 1898 is interesting at this time. No one will claim that they necessarily foretell the result in 1900, but they do give a pretty correct idea of what the Democrats must overcome in order to win. The two diagrams given herewith show the results of the elections in 1896 and 1898, the Republican States being shaded. It will be noted that McKinley carried a compact body of States covering the northeast section of the country and Oregon and California in addition. These States represented a total of 271 electoral votes, Bryan capturing one in California and one in Kentucky. The vote for the two leading candidates was: McKinley ....7,104,779 Bryan 6,502,925 being the largest vote ever cast in a presidential election. These totals vary slightly from some other estimates, as some persons count the votes of the highest electors and some the lowest, while

others give the average. McKinley’s total plurality was little more than his pluralities in New York and Pennsylvania combined. There were few State elections in 1897, and in none of them were the changes important except that New York and Kentucky went Democratic. In 1898 there were State elections in all but a few of the States and in all the congressional districts. The diagram above shows which States were carried by each party, those by Republicans being shaded. It will be noted that the Democrats gained over 1896 only two States—Kentucky . and Minnesota—and the latter only on the governorship, where fusion elected a popular Scandinavian by 20,000 plurality, though the Republicans carried every congressional district by pluralities aggregating over 32,000. On the other hand, the Republicans gained Washington, Wyoming, Kansas and South Dakota, which have twentyone electoral votes, the same as Kentucky and Minnesota. The total vote in 1898 in the various States foots up as follows: Republican, 5,499,065; Democratic, 5,427,224. The vote in the electoral college represented by these States are: Republican, 272; Democratic, 175, or within one vote of the result in 1896 ,the difference being

accounted for by the Bryan vote in California. What Mr. Bryan must have to win Is forty-nine more electoral votes than his party carried last fall. In all probability he must have fifty-eight votes, for Minnesota can scarcely be imagined as a sure Democratic State. As to where these votes would come from in Mr. Bryan’s election, those lnterested*in the subject may figure out few themselves with the aid of the above maps and the following table, which gives the electoral vote of each State:

Alabama ... 11 Arkansas 8 California 9 Colorado 4 Connecticut 6 Delaware 3 Florida 4 Georgia 13 idaho 3 Illinois ..,..24 Indiana 15 slowa 13 Kansas 10 Kentucky 13 Louisiana 8 Maine 6 Maryland 8 Massachusetts ....15 Michigan 14 Minnesota 9 Mississippi 9 Missouri 17 Montana 3 Total ...

Nebraska 8 Nevada 3 New Hampshire ... 4 New Jersey 10 New York 36 North Carolina ....11 North Dakota 3 Ohio ... 23 Oregon 4 Pennsylvania 32 Rhode Island 4 South Carolina .... 9 South Dakota 4 Tennessee 12 Texas 15 Utah 3 Vermont 4 Virginia ....12 Washington 4 West Virginia 6 Wisconsin 12 Wyoming 3

Map Showing Election Results of 1896, Republican States Shaded. Republican Vote, 7,104,779; Representing 271 Electoral Votes. Democratic Vote, 6,502,925: Representing 176 Electoral Votes.

Map Slowing Election Results of 1898, Republican States Shaded. Republican Vote, 5,499,064; Representing 272 Electoral Votes. Democratic Vote, 5,427,224; Representing 175 Electoral Votes.