Show 1 Campaign f Magnitude of the Committees Work in a Presidential Year Cartloads of Cash ash Collected and Spent Change e of Policy With Regard to the Location of Headquarters How Political Po Gospel is Prepared and Fed to the People In a burst of confidence following a along along along long day of devotion de to the consideration consideration consideration tion of Insoluble puzzles in practical politics in the midst of the campaign of 1896 1806 the th Hon Ron Marcus A Hanna declared that of all the jobs he had ever tackled the chairmanship of a na committee was wits by long odds the worst Then after a pic pie picturesque picturesque recital of some of the exas exasperating exasperating exasperating perating experiences through which he had recently re passed F he made the unqualified statement that no imaginable consideration would in induce induce induce duce him to attempt the management of a second presidential campaign Yet there are plenty of r indications that he will enter the campaign this year vear with as much heartiness as he did four lour years ago As to the th trials and difficulties which beset a national committee chairman there is probably no 14 man n living that has hM ha been through them who would disagree with Mr lr Hanna Leav L av ing the al l work out p t altogether alt gether and considering it solely sOley from the th busi business busIness business ness point of view the conduct of a presidential campaign committee is an appalling proposition especially of late years It involves the creation of an executive organization o quite as jl elaborate and complicated as that re required required to carry on the most extensive e of modern enterprise the he collection c and expenditure e of ot a sum x Of f money so l laje te as to require t seven tor its Us ss on the selection and em emlo lo directly and indirectly in of thousands of workers the gathering and dissemination of special information informatIon information tion on a scale not less extensive than that of a great eat telegraphic news as association association and a hundred other things t I beside none of which can safely be in trusted to any an v one not an expert in his hs line li Moreover the organization of the committees forces fores forc s has to be effected from the ground up as as it were and as 3 its entire work must be accomplished in a little more than four months at atthe atthe atthe the outside everything has to be done under the most intense and wearing pressure Committee Headquarters Until 1 campaign headquarters were vere ere invariablY established in the city of New and according to an in un unwritten unwritten unwritten written rule they were almost always located hated n ll a ft four story house on Fifth o u That Thai year ear 1 both par parties parties parties ties broke away from the old order of thins and housed their chief head headquarters headquarters quarters in Chicago o though each com corn committee committee e maintained a branch branchI I The rhe Statistician in the metropolis In Chicago the forces of both committees were quay quartered In ID modern dern office buildings in I New York the Republicans took one whole floor in a handsome white mar marble marble ble LIe structure on Union Square while the Democrats occupied rooms roon in Iii a awell aWen awell well Wen known hotel not a stoieS throw throwaway throwaway away awa r The headquarters of a national cam earn committee must of necessity be almost as extensive as a Mg uig railroads executive offices since Ince room must be accorded for half a dozen different sets ets of besides suits for the vari various various van vanous ous committee officials nm In ISM ISN Chair Chairmen Chairmen men Hanna and Jones were provided with large laree airy rooms both in New NewYork NewYork NewYork York and Chicago but In It was different Chairman Carter of the Re Republicans publicans ans beine content with X hall hail bedroom for an office and Chairman Harrity of the Democrats faring little better betterIn In a sense the press bureau is next Jn in J importance to the head headQuarters headQuarterS Quarters QuarterS since ince through it the reporters and correspondents corre are furnished with such news as the committee wishes to give out It cannot be revealing a se so secret secret cret to t say that national committee press pres press bureaus are sometimes managed about as a 8 tn ae as possible There have hav been some exceptions to this rule but there is hardly a political corre corie In n the business who cannot substantiate sub a ei the he statement that as a general gener l thing the committee press bu eau is the most unlikely place in the thew world wand w to look for really Important nwe n WB The Making akin of Documents This bureau however is only a small ama part of the committees machinery for tor forthe forthe the distribution d oi of correct political gos gas gasH H Jj E ot it z pel The bureaus us relations are mainly I t with the telegraphic news associations the metropolitan m papers pap and nd the i I cia cial correspondents The country countr jour journals nals are fed with political news through I the medium of the big patent inside I 1 publishing J houses and the concerns co erns which supply plate matter copy for forthe forthe forthe the patents and the plates being furnished by an editorial staff employ ad especially for that purpose I Often the plates and sometimes the pat patents patents patents arc ar furnished to the papers at atthe atthe atthe the committees expense One year one of the tIie great parties parti s supplied between and weekly newspapers with I virtually IY all their political poll reading in inthis inI inthis I this way throughout the entire cam campaign camI campaign while lIe the th other party supplied perhaps as many i I But both press bureau and plate mat matter mattel I Iter ter tel department sink into insignificance I compart with the document mill It Itla ItI Itis la is i the function Of this department de I a writing and editorial staff of Its own to compile print t and an distribute the leaflets the tracts the pamphlets the handbooks and nd the pos posters posters which campaign committees in invariably variably and perhaps rightly consider Of such vast importance Different com corn committees committees conduct their document mills differently of course as as a rule most mast m st wastefully so far as the manufacturing ing pg goes b oes though tho ough this was ra not the th case on tha part 1896 1296 I r s o the document ting that y ar conducted the de del l t on strictly business b siness principles I pies ples even to so arranging the size of I pages in the various d documents and the th number of pages in each ea h that sheets of o 0 paper Inches in size could be used without t waste and documents of any given number could be parked packed for ship shipment shipment ment mehi in pases caseB ases of certain standard sizes I also without waste These may seem I like minor matters but even the lay layman layman man mn will understand otherwise O e when the statement is made mad that in 1892 the Republicans put out upwards of I separate documents more than one and a third for I every man woman and child I In the United States at a cost for printing of almost and nearly as much more for distribution Any practical printer or binder will testify that it Is quite possible to waste wastepaper wastepaper wastepaper paper by the ton when documents are got out in million lots unless careful attention att is paid to size relations be bc bet beI t I een reen pages and sheets In one cam campaign campaign campaign not more than a hundred years ago ligo the machinery for producing docu documents documents ments was so 50 much more efficient than I the machinery for distribution that just before the end of the struggle It was found necessary either to burn or send to the about two carloads of I printed matter so fresh from the pIsses that the ink was hardly dry Voters Who Dont Read Bead English Intimately with the docu document document document ment mill of course is the bureau or department which prepares political reading matter for t who have not mustered mastered red English thc Finns and I Ithe the Magyars the Scandinavians and i ithe the Bohemians the Italians the Poles and all aU the rest of the European con contingent contingent It ha commonly though not always been bean considered good committee practice tice to issue translations into almost every European language of nearly all the documents do got out in English and the troubles of the functionary who hasto has hasto hasto to look ook after this job are simply In Indescribable indesCribable describable To begin with he Tie is gen generally and of necessity ne ignorant of the languages into which the documents are to be translated and therefore quite Incompetent to judge the ability of those whom he has to engage as trans or their work when it it is In finished His only safety lies in engaging two I persons familiar with each of the un unknown unI I known tongues into which the matter is to be done One of or these he entrusts with th translation the other ex examines mines amines it carefully when finished to see that no error has been committed What Vh t was considered one of the most Important documents in one campaign came same near being a veritable boomerang I 80 so far fr as the Finns were concerted concer d dI The translator understood Finnish all allright allI allright I right t 1 r t his knowledge of English was limited and he transformed affirmatives affirmative affirmatives I tives tive into negatives and vice versa in a wholesale fashion that made the docu document document document ment stand In Finnish for exactly the reverse of what it stood for in English Fortunately the errors were discovered in time to prevent the distribution of any Of the uncorrected unconnected copies of the document though not until after the I plates had bad been put upon the press and about half a ton of good clean cl an white 11 paper had been spoiled Documents in inGerman inGerman inGerman German and nd d French are easily handled of course course and generally by special bureaus Campaign Artists and Poets Campaign committees are generally I extensive patrons of what might by a stretch be termed the arts and also of I what its writers fondly believe to be poetry I t Under the head of the arts may be in InI the e millions m of or candidates por portraits portraits I traits tr its which are put out under com corn also the cartoons dia diagrams diagrams grams may map badges pins and but buttons I tons and thc like Opinions differ asto asto as is isto to the value v of such ch things in the getting get getting getting ting of buff huf committees always alays i I spend thousands sometimes hundreds 1 of ot thousands tho sandS in this thi direction One por trait engraver known k the writer de delivered delivered delivered livered more than O portraits p of or both the Republican and Democratic candidates to the committees comI s in 1292 and his profits thereon were were big enough to make up for he heavy neavy losses of an entire year Naturally the tendency on the part of committees to indulge in in n art at attracts attracts attracts tracts no end of cranks to submit no end of crank designs Every day from the beginning to the end of the cam campaign campaign campaign the mails are laden with them every eve day the public reception room is crowded with men men and a sprinkling of f women who prefer bringing their pro production production production in person to entrusting them to toUncle toUncle toUncle Uncle Sams man mall In the nature of things not one in a thousand of the I submitted designs are accepted but a aj j larger or smaller small r number num er generally of surprising crudeness and lack of clev cleverness cleverne cleverness erness erne s are almost always taken over and made use of in addition to those which are professional r cartoon draughtsmen A comprehensible l cal col ol I I U 1 I 7 I I I IL 1 I i ij f j I r 14 1 k r 4 7 1 I AW f j I i J a f Jit i i WAITING TO SEE SEETHE THE CHAIRMAN m T t J lection of the rejected ones ones would form forma a museum of surpassing stupidity The poetry sent to the committee and it arrives at headquarters in rn wholesale quantities aily is generally In the form of songs son S It need hardly be stated that most of it is written by persons persons who have never learned learn d to scan their lines and have little idea of O who essayed to t write wiit songs soI gg for the Republican committee e in i 1896 tried tied to make bone rhyme with home and gate with take tak Most committees buy campaign songs pretty freely and it itis is agreed on all hands that thata a taking composition set to stirring mu music music music sic is a mighty good investment whether er erthe the poetry is very good or not In Indignant Indignant Indignant and sometimes abusive letters from geniuses whose art and poe poetry poetry poetry try have been turned down make up upa a very considerable portion of the committees mall mail from day to today day Nat Naturally Naturally Naturally this sort of mail grows as the campaign progresses and is generally pretty heavy by the end of the con contest contest contest test Press bureau plate department doc doe document document mill mm and the art artand and poetry di divisions divisions divisions visions are naturally in control of the committee secretary generally and on principle a much overworked man The committees statistician who is gen generally generally generally figuring and making tabulations of previous votes from morning to tonight tonight t night is also a subordinate of the sec see secretary secretary The Spellbinders ders Leaving out the chairman and possibly possibly bly the treasurer the functionary in charge of the speakers bureau sees more grief probably than any other committee official aI and his department Is one of the heaviest t committee ex expenses expenses expenses There are always alwaY hundreds of real and alleged orators in touch t tou u h with the committee The more effective speakers the genuine ones generally give tl services to the party from froma a sense of loyalty and because they know that political promotion lies that way but nearly all draw expense money and the majority pretty pr tty poor speakers as a rule rul draw drav salaries not large individually but sometimes al almost almost almost most treasury breaking bre king in the aggregate aggregate gate sa te teI I And though no disrespect to the pro professional professional campaign carn orator is intended ended I it must be b admitted that as a rule the committee spellbinders are a rather hard lotto lot to get along with One man who has had a good deal to do with them asserts that th they y are as notion notional al ai as a lot of star actors A b O 7 I 0 p S C 1 r Th ThIN IN TS THE RE SPEAKERS BUREAU 11 I Wafers on the map show where political addresses are scheduled sched led He Is probably mistaken mistake mi but it is a fact that the poorest speakers always want to get the best places and are everlastingly complaining of the treat treatment treatment treatment ment they receive On the other hand they sometimes have good cause for complaint one speaker sp ker who gave up ip spellbinding for one op of the committees in 96 because of his treatment was scheduled to speak at aL in the afternoon and at 8 in the even evening evening evening ing of the same day the towns in which he was to appear being seven hours apart by b rail All these departments employ type typewriters typewriters typewriters writers and stenographers and clerks and me messengers seng rs in numbers numb rs Many of the clerKs are employed because of ot po political political pull lut he stenographers and typewriters get g t their thell jobs job on their r mer meri i 1 its Women typewriters rJ are ar seldom S in 1 evidence at committee |