The Republican Committee also made large use of political posters, probably 500 being circulated under the direction of the Publication and Printing Bureau. The most popular poster sent out from Chicago was the five-colored, single-sheet lithograph so widely circulated at the St. Louis convention, bearing a portrait of Mr. McKinley with the inscription underneath, "The Advance Agent of Prosperity." The number of copies of this poster circulated is said to have been almost beyond computation or comprehension. Another poster which had an immense run was in plain black and bore the title, "The Real Issue." It represented McKinley addressing a multitude of laborers in front of factories, declaring that it was better to open the mills of the United States than the mints, while Mr. Bryan, on the other side in front of the United States mint, was welcoming the people of all races with their silver bullion for free coinage. The great volumes of factory smoke and the throng of eager workmen on McKinley's side were in strong contrast with the group of foreigners dumping their silver in front of the Bryan mints. .

The work of the congressional campaign committees has been far more important this year than ever before. The Republican Committee, under the chairmanship of the Hon. J. W. Babcock of Wisconsin, has been hard at work since early in June, and, like the National Committee at Chicago, it has broken its own record. The committee has printed 23 different documents. Of a single speech in Congress, that delivered by Representative McCleary of Minnesota in the House last February in reply to his colleague, Representative Towne, the committee has issued 2,500,000 copies. Another popular money document issued by the committee was Representative Babcock's speech on the history of money and financial legislation in the United States. In the list of pamphlets sent out by the committee were speeches by Senator Sherman, Mr. Blaine, Representative Dingley, Speaker Reed, and others. The committee did not restrict itself to the distribution of Congressional

speeches, but chose such other ammunition as seemed adopted for the purpose in view. A pamphlet of forty pages was prepared, dealing with the silver question in a conversational way, and this, although one of the longest, proved to be one of the most popular documents sent out. The silver question was not treated wholly to the exclusion of the tariff in these documents, but in the latter weeks of the campaign it was found that the demand for tariff literature gradually increased, and a large proportion of the documents distributed from Washington dealt with that subject.

The distribution of Republican literature from New York City was placed in the hands of the American Protective Tariff League. . . . Some twenty millions of documents were sent out from the headquarters in West Twenty-third Street, New York City, to points east and north of the Ohio River. . . . Each Congressional district in the territory covered was assigned a pro rata quota of documents, and additional shipments were made from time to time as required. The League's own work of editing and printing material for campaign purposes was done in a most systematic and admirable manner.

...

Considering the remarkable expenditures for the dissemination of argument by means of the printed page, the poster, and the cartoon, it might have been supposed that in this campaign oratory would have had but a minor part. Then, too, the economic and statistical problems of a nation's currency have not usually lent themselves with grace to the fiery utterances of the political orator. But in this respect also the present year's campaigning has been exceptional. The oratorical powers of the opposing candidates had not a little to do with the winning of each nomination — in the one case directly, in the other just as truly if less conspicuously. Mr. Bryan set his own pace in his Chicago convention speech. Mr. McKinley was known at the start as one of the greatest campaign orators of his time. Neither of these men could be forced to

obey the tradition which required silence of presidential candidates.

Mr. Bryan's speechmaking record has been the most wonderful one in the whole history of American presidential campaigns. Poor Horace Greeley's famous tour in 1872 and Mr. Blaine's extended journeyings in 1884 are made to seem insignificant by comparison. On the night before election, if present plans are carried out, Mr. Bryan will have made about four hundred reported speeches in twenty-nine states. No previous candidate for the presidency ever attempted such a feat as this. Day after day this speech-making has gone on — much of it from the rear platforms of railway trains, while the telegraph and the daily newspaper have carried the speaker's utterances everywhere. Here again must be considered the matchless service of the press, without which the orator's words could reach but a limited number.

But for Mr. McKinley too, this has been a speechmaking campaign. He has remained at his home in Canton, but auditors have come to him from far and near. There is a precision, a fixed adherence to schedule, in the arrangements for receiving and addressing delegations at Canton which is wholly lacking in the Bryan "steeple chasing" programme. Mr. McKinley's speeches have been prepared with care and fully reported by the press.

W. B. Shaw: Methods and Tactics of the Campaign in The Review of Reviews, Vol. XIV, pp. 554-559, passim. New York, 1896.

NOTE.- The National Campaign Committee of the party is a committee of one member for each State of the Union elected by the State delegation to the national convention.

The Congressional campaign committee is chosen by the party members in Congress.

QUESTIONS

How many documents were circulated by the Republican committee in the campaign of 1896? What was the number of newspaper

readers probably reached by material from the Literary Bureau? What types of political posters were used? Describe the work of the Congressional committee. What was the type of material it dispersed? Describe the speech-making activities of the two candidates. Does this kind of a "campaign of education" seem to you desirable?

LXVII

PUBLICITY OF CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS

Demand for publicity of campaign expenditures and for restrictions on the use of money in campaigns were the result of the general interest in political reform characteristic of the early twentieth century. It is not enough to forbid expenditures of large sums; the law cannot be enforced unless there is some way of knowing how much is spent. Moreover in a free government a great deal depends on intelligent public sentiment; often the severest punishment is public disapproval.

The manoeuvring for position between the parties in 1908 which resulted in the voluntary acceptance by each of high standards of publicity is too fresh in the public mind to require rehearsal here. For the first time in the history of presidential elections some definite information was made available regarding campaign finances. The Republican National Committee reported contributions of $1,035,368.27. This sum, however, does not include $620,150 collected in the several states by the finance committees of the Republican National Committee and turned over by them to their respective state committees. The Democratic National Committee reported contributions amounting to $620,644.77. The list of contributors to the Republican National Fund contained 12,330 names. The Democratic National Committee filed a list of over 25,Doo names representing over 100,000 contributors who contributed through newspapers, clubs, solicitors, and other organizations, whose names are on file in the office of the chairman of the Democratic National Committee at Buffalo."

66

On many points, unfortunately, the two reports, while definite to a degree hitherto unknown, are not strictly comparable. Some species of "uniform accounting" applicable to this subject is manifestly necessary before any detailed investigation can be undertaken. One big fact stands out with sufficient clearness, however, namely that the national campaign of 1908 was waged at a money cost far below that of the three preceding campaigns.

Basing his estimate upon what is said to have been spent in 1896, 1900, and 1904, Mr. F. A. Ogg placed the total cost of a presidential election to both parties, including the state and local contests occurring at the same time, at $15,000,000. One-third to one-half of this enormous sum, in his opinion, must be attributed to the presidential campaign proper. Compared with this estimate from five to seven and a half millions the relatively modest total of something more than two and a quarter millions shown by the figures of 1908 must be counted a strong argument in favor of publicity.

The most important single issue raised by the policies of the two parties during the last presidential campaign was that of publicity before or after election. Early in the campaign the Democratic National Committee decided to publish on or before October 15th all individual contributions in excess of $100; contributions received subsequent to that date to be published on the day of their receipt. Following the principle of the New York law both parties made post-election statements. It is manifest that complete statements of expenditures, or for that matter of contributions as well, can be made only after election. Every thorough provision for publicity must, therefore, require post-election reports. Shall preliminary statements also be required? As against the latter it is urged that contributors whose motives are of the highest character will be deterred by the fear of savage partisan criticism. If publicity is delayed until after the election campaign bitterness will have subsided and a juster view of the whole