Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 95, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 August 1900 — GOST OF A CAMPAIGN. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GOST OF A CAMPAIGN.

BIG SUMS SPENT BY THE TWO GREAT PARTIES. Political Spellbinders, Literature and Canvassers Are the Committees’ Moat Expensive Items—Modern Campaign Work and Methods. Chicago correspondence: Few people realize the enormous amount of money that will be expended In electing a President of the United Statues this year. In the campaign of 1896 upward of $25,000,000 was used and it is believed that more money will be expended this year. Unless one could get behind the scenes and account for the bulk of this vast sum few probably would believe that so many millions could be used by the politicians in so short a time. With each succeeding Presidential election it has become easier and easier for for the managers on both sides to use money bounteously. This does not mean that there is to be a wholesale debauchery of voters. No one knows just what proprotion of the $25,000,000 will go to purchasable voters. It is known, however, that only a comparatively small part of the total will bq used in this way. All kinds of politicians agree that the two National Committees had at least ,$5,000,000 to spend in the fight four years ago, and the same authorities are unanimous in declaring that the two committees will have fully as much this year. For every dollar that the National Committees spend it is a conservative estimate that the State Committees of the two parties will spend four, and this will make up the total of $25,000,000 that the election will cost. Where So Much.. Money Goes. . To show where so much money goes, a study of the cost of campaign speeches alone is very instructive. Each National Committee spends at least $500,000 for speeches, and the State Committees spend ten times as much more. This is one item of $1,000,000. The Republican National Committee this year will send out 2,500 speakers from the New York headquarters and 3,000 speakers from the headquarters in Chicago. The Democrats will send out an equal number. These speakers cost on an average sllO a week, that sum including salaries to the spellbinders and an expense allowance of $8 a day. Some of the campaign speakers receive salaries as high as $250 a week, while other are content with $25 a week and their expenses. The average cost of the speakers to the committee is sllO a week, and they are on the stump eight weeks. While the National Committee

of each party thus will have 5,500 speakers out, the various State Committees will have ten" times as niij.ny more on the stump. The salaries of speakers engaged by the State Committees may be less than those paid by the national managers, but the State Committees have to pay the rental of all the buildings in which campaign meetings are held. This item adds tremendously to the total. One of the most expensive items in the campaign next to the speakers is that of, printing and stationery., For this each National Committee spends at least $500,000. The number and size of documents sent out have increased with each campaign, until this year it is expected that the McKinley and the Bryan managers each will send out no less than 100,000,000 documents. Before the Gar-field-Hancock campaign was half over the Republican and Democrats had sent more than 12,000,000 documents, and this style of campaigning has become more popular with each Presidential contest. The bulk of this matter is sent by express to the chairmen of the various State Committees for distribution. A great deal of it goes free, being franked from Washington. Speeches delivered in Congress by Republicans and Democrats constitute a large part of the campaign matter, and Republicans and Democrats alike take advantage of this opportunity to get to the voters speeches favorably to their side of the contest. Each Na-

tional Committee -sends out 5,000,000 buttons and 5,000,000 lithographs, »al 1 of which are distributed through the State chairmen of the two parties. Work of National Chairmen. , Senator Hanna and Senator Jones, the respective chairmen of the two great political parties, are organizing machinery for the campaign of 1900 as complete and substantial as though they expected

never to do anything else but elect Presidents. If they were organizing hundredyear Presidential clubs they could not be more thorough and systematic. The national chairman maps out the work and divides great responsibilities among hia immediate assistants. They in turn divide their work so that a dozen or twenty or one hundred men will look after the details. These men in turn assign important tafiks to hundreds of party workers under them. After the campaign is well under way the minor workers report te their superiors as a lieutenant in the army reports to his captain. The captain in turn reports to his major, the major to his colonel and the colonel to his general, Senator Hanna or Senator Jones,, as the case may be. When a situation arises down the line that threatens trouble Senator Hanna or Senator Jones hears of it and devises some plan for diverting the danger. He then directs his subordinates to see that the plan is tried and requires full explanations for failure. While the national chairmen are very busy devising plans for success, they alsofind time to raise the bulk of the campaign funds. They delegate to others

the task of selecting and sending out campaign literature, engaging and assigning speakers, receiving callers and answering correspondence and studying reports on conditions in the various States. Speak- > ers are told the subjects on which they may talk, and they are directed as to how they shall handle their subjects. If it is found that a certain line of argument is deceived with disfavor Tn a certain State the speakers in that State are warned to shift their arguments in accordance with new instructions. No feature of the campaign is watched by the national chairmen more closely than the preliminary and final canvass of the voters. Both parties will soon haveunder way a canvass of every voting pre-

cinct. This will show in a general way how many of the voters favor Bryan and! how many favor McKinley. It will also show who of the voters are doubtful, who are inclined to favor Bryan and who lean toward McKinley. The taking of this canvass costs a tremendous sum of money, but the party managers must

have it in order to gauge the outlook. They soon discover where their own lines are weakest and where those of their adversaries are strongest. While steps are being taken to insure success at one point and to avert disaster at another, a second and final canvass is begun. This usually is completed two weeks before election. By that time q large proportion of the doubtful voters have taken sides and can be classified. I The result is a canvass which shows with fair clearness the probable result of the election. Once again the managers of the parties search for the important weak spots, deciding the points at which to d 6 the hardest work in the'closing days of the campaign. Some New Methods This Year. Some novel campaign methods will be resorted to by the two parties this year. The Republicans already have adopted the plan of sending out a large number of phonographs, which will be used in small places. Eloquent party speakers, like Representative Dolliver, of lowa, and Representative Dalzell, of Pennsylvania, have been making speeches into these machines. The Democrats, on the other hand, will make free use of stereopticons. James K. McGuire, chairman of the Democratic State Committee bf New York, already has arranged to give Democratic stereopticon all over the State. He will send out these shows on a schedule in every respect similar to that made by a theatrical manager who puts a show “on the road.” As the campaign develops it is certain that other novel feature* will be adopted.