Hot Time in the Old Town - Edward Kohn [49]
The train rolled into Chicago at 7:40 PM, nearly thirteen hours after leaving Des Moines that morning and only twenty minutes overdue. The Bryans rode in a carriage to Clifton House, led by the band of the First Regiment. At their hotel, the couple took an hour and a half to wash and rest before appearing on the Clifton House’s small balcony. Bryan gave a short speech, ending with “I am proud to have in this campaign the support of those who call themselves the common people.” This was typical Bryan populism, and it was greeted with loud applause.
Finally the Bryans could return to their room for some much needed rest. It had been a long, hot day: He had given nineteen speeches and shaken thousands of hands. New York was still nearly a thousand miles away. At least tomorrow was the Sabbath, the day of rest.
IN CONTRAST TO Bryan’s hectic Saturday, McKinley’s day was almost somnolent. The Major greeted members of the Ohio Canal Commission and received a telegram of support from the 250 members of the McKinley and Hobart Club of Red Bluff, California: “No doubt about California. Such enthusiasm for Presidential candidate never before manifested.” This was the extent of McKinley’s front-porch campaign that day, in marked contrast to Bryan’s triumphant and garrulous march to the sea. Bryan was a whirlwind; McKinley was barely a breeze. How could the Republicans hope to compete with the Bryan phenomenon sweeping across the country?
This was where Mark Hanna’s organizing and fund-raising genius kicked in. True, Bryan was an army unto himself, taking his fight directly to the people in small towns and large cities, shaking every hand offered. Hanna, however, commanded an army of speakers numbering 1,400 men, who could be dispatched at will and with their expenses paid to counter the effects of Bryan’s campaigning. Speakers did not just travel along the railway lines and address huge crowds but penetrated into every election district in the nation, holding small local meetings. Simultaneously, using the massive Republican war chest, Hanna and the National Committee sent out millions of pieces of campaign literature.
The Republicans relied on polls to tell them where the most work was needed. For instance, Bryan’s August sweep through Iowa had galvanized much of the state behind the Democratic candidate. A canvass of the state in early September indicated to the Republican National Committee a majority of voters favored Bryan. Over the following six weeks speakers and campaign documents supporting McKinley flooded the state. In October, a new canvass convinced Hanna that Iowa was safe for McKinley. Hanna was right. On election day McKinley won Iowa by over 65,000 votes.
That Saturday, as Bryan headed to Chicago from the west, Hanna headed to the same city from the east, leaving New York to take control of the Chicago Republican headquarters. As the East was fairly solid for McKinley, much of the important work of the Republican campaign would be done out of this midwestern city. Over 100 million campaign documents would be shipped out of Chicago, compared to 20 million out of New York. Eventually 275 different campaign pamphlets would be printed, some as long as forty pages, in English, German, French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Hebrew.
Well aware of the power of print, Hanna and his staff also sent material directly to newspapers. Depending on the paper’s circulation, the Republican committee would send out three and a half columns of material per week ready to be inserted directly into the newspaper. Still, no amount of campaign material or newspaper stories could match the efficacy of dispatching 1,400 prominent Republicans directly to small towns and cities throughout the country. Eager office seekers sought a place on Hanna’s list. None was more eager than Theodore Roosevelt.
AFTER UNDERTAKING AN inspection tour of police stations the night before, Roosevelt attended a Saturday meeting of the Police Board.
These meetings had become a fruitless and frustrating