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Show TARIFF LEAGUE ! DOES GOOD WORK Systematic Distributing: of Political Literaturo Bears Fruit in Successful Suc-cessful Campaigns. Special to Tho Tribune. U T EW. YORK, April 9. The moat cf- Helen t organization for tho colli col-li lection of political information and the distribution of political literature in the whole world, bar none, is the American Protective Tariff Jeague, with headquarters at 339 Broadway, In the city oC New York. This year the league is paying- special (attention to "first voters" and collesc students. By "first voters" in this instance is meant that army of young men (and young women, too, since woman's suffrage suf-frage prevails In. some of the "Western States), about 2,000,000 strong every Presidential year, who will reach their majority on or before tho 8th day of November next, and so will cast their ttirst Presidential vote on that day. Down to date, slnco the first of the year, the leaguo has got in touch with about 250,000 "first voters." The scheme was originated and is being worked out by "Wilbur F. Wake-man, Wake-man, the league's general secretary since 1S90. His mothod in going about it, like all effective methods, is simple sim-ple in the extreme. Tho Republican party has suffered only one national defeat at the hands of the voters since the league was organized; or-ganized; that was in 1802, when Cleve- i land defeated Harrison. j Circulating- Good Literature. Tho dissemination of correct eco- Inomic political literature is oniy one of the many important functions of the American Protective Tariff league. Its effclency in gathering accurate political po-litical statistics and what may bo called inside political news, Is little less .than marvelous. The "Defenders of American Labor and Industry." some 2000 strong, and located in every part of the United States, aro n noteworthy factor in this part of the league's Avork. They bear the same relation to the league that the various correspondents of a newspaper news-paper bear to it. They are always ready to assist in making up the league's mailing lists, and they report from time to time whatever information, informa-tion, 1 gathered in their immediate neighborhoods, is likely to be of A-alue , to the management of the league If ' there is a propaganda of low tariff doctrines doc-trines begun In any sections, news thereof and of the effect it is producing t Is immediately sent to the league's headquarters. If there seems to be a I special chanea of winning over any number of A'oters to the cause of pro-' pro-' taction, this Is also sent to headquar-I headquar-I ters, together Avlth a list of names of 1 voters to whom protectionist docu-' docu-' mertts should be sent, 1 The "Economist" Popular. It has been the league's custom for years to send the Economist regularly to the Republican members of both houses of Congress. One of the best-3 best-3 known low tariff Congressmen in the j country, who had been in the habit of borrowing the Economist weekly from a a Republican colleague, told the lat-' lat-' ter, some time in the '90s, that while 1 he despised the arguments published in t the paper he had never been able to find an error In its statistics. This be- Ing reported to General Secretary J "Wakeman, the latter at once put the j distinguished Democrat's name upon S his mailing list, and has been sending 3 It to him regularly ever since. The league maintains very cordial I relations with the. smaller newspapers , of the country which use "plates" and t "patent insldes," or "ready prints," in P the preparation of their regular Issues. i For them it prepares columns oC mat-A mat-A ter weekly, furnishing the copy free to the plate and ready print supply houses. 5 In this way from 4000 to COOO newspa- pers Avlth a Aveekly and dally circulate circula-te tion of C.000,000 are reached by the l league. 1 Classification is of prime importance in making up the league's mailing lists (as a matter of course, since a docu-j docu-j ment that would appeal most strongly to a strictly farming community must T, be much less efficient in a mining or B imanufacturing community, and vice J versa. There are a few documents, jj however, that appeal with practically I equal force in all Boris of localities. t TheHe Include No. 75, "Prosperity Is I the Issue:" No. 52, "American Tariffs Ti from Plymouth Rock to McKlnley'and s Dlngley:" speeches delivered in the q United States Senate by Mr. Galllnger d of New Hampshire, and No. 65, "Shall I the Republic Do Its Own "Work?" a speech delivered in the United States Senate by Mr. Jones of Nevada. $ Why There Is Prosperity, a The league is supported by subscription sub-scription and contributions. Its mem-t mem-t bership subscriptions form tho largest t factor In its Income. There are from o S0O to 900 members of the league; each b of these pay $100 a year, the aggre-t aggre-t gate Income from this source being j! from JSO.,000 to 590,000. a Here is an Instance of the casual n contributions. One of tho league's most i important documents is Mr, Gallinger's p speech, "Prosperity as an Issue." In It Mr. Galllnger gives a very complete p and, Avhat is better, a most interesting c exposition of the theory of protection p and its results. A copy of this docu-t docu-t ment fell Into the hands of the head of a ivoll-known seamship line. Not knowing tho source from which It t( came, this man Avroto to Senator Gal-d Gal-d (linger, saying; "We have been enjoy-y enjoy-y lng a remarkable and unprecedented b season of prosperity. You have told M us why. I should be glad to have your gj speech circulated very widely." The g; (Senator sent this letter to the league, and tho result was that the steamshlr D man provided the money to circulate ci 30,000 copies of the speech where It K Avould do the most good. o; From all this it can be easily seen t, that the league's general secretary has 8 his fingers more directly upon the port po-rt litlcal pulse of the entire country than oj any other man in the United Slates. w This is being recognized more completely com-pletely every year by the managers of w the party, and while the league had tl much to do with tho practical work-In work-In fR8 of the campaign committees of 1896 and 1900, it is likely to be still pi more intimately associated with the committee this year than ever before. |