Evening star., 1896-10-23
NOTES FROM THE POLITICAL CAMPAIGN IN MANY STATES
LOOKS LIKE A LANDSLIDE
The Tide in Indiana Has Turned Strongly
McKinleyward.
A Situation That Encourages the Re-
publfcnns and Causes the Bryan
Men to Lose Energy.
Correspondence of The Evening Star.

| Correspondence of The Evening Star.
| INDIANAPOLIS, October 20. 1895.
| 1t looks like a political landslide today.
| The campaign in Indiana has had some
| queer features this year, and 1t has puz-
| zled the Oldest inhabitant. Prior to the
| st. Louis convention. and after Gen. Har-
| rison had announced his determination not
| to be a candidate. a wave of Mckinley
| enthusiasm swept over the state that car
| ried everything off its feet. In less than a
| week after he had been nominated the
| wave swept back, and everybody was say
| ing the convention had made great mis-
! take. and had not fitted it's man to the
platform. Just at that time. too. free sill
7erism burst out in every direction, and
| 1t locked as If Indiana had gone wild in
favor of the white metal. This continued
| to Increase in fervor until after the Chi
eago convention. 1t then stopped. and in
a teW days began to flow back, and the
Mckfnley fever was once more the con-
sumfng disease. This tide was in turn
checked, and began to slowly ebb but
suddenly, about week ago, it broke out
| again and burned more hercely than ever
and today 1t is sweeping everything before
1t.
One after another of the old democratic
wheel horses, who had remained silent af-
ter the Chicago convention, have come
out and reDudiated Bryan, and .all his
works., until now the BryaniteS can hard
ly count one of the old leaders in their
ranks. Col. Mclean of Terre Haute, 8. p.
Sheerin, late secretary of the democratic
| national committee: Frank H. Burke, U.
>. attorney for Indiana; Crawford Fair
banks member of the democratic executive
committee of the state; Sterling j. Holt
late chairman of the democratic state COM
mlttea. and several Others have within the
last few days announced that they can
not support Bryan, and some of them have
published strong appeals to their party
| friends to cut loose from the free silver
| combine and vote for sound money.
PopuIists Denounce the Fusion.
To make matters worse for the lryan
managers quite a number of the leading
populists OF the state have come out with
strong denunciations of the fusion ard de-
clared their intention Of not voting the
combined ticket. All these things have
bouyed up the republicans. but have
caused terror and diSn,ay in the democratic
camp. The leaders ro longer know where
to turn To add to all these miseries
| many of the free silver republicans they
bad counted on have also Slipped away
from them, and now they cannot count
in the whole state more than 4 dozen who
have been prominent in the republican
| ranks heretofore and who now support
Bryan. There is not one who has ever
exception Of 10. Cheadle who is the fusion
candidate for Congress in the hinth dis
trict.
An evidence of how the tide has turned
and is now sweeping NcKinleyward is
given in the present condition in Rush
county. This Is an agricultural county
and one OF the counties where the free sill
yer sentiment was at one time very strong
among the republicans, and where the
democrats have been counting on making
large gains. Tie republicans have just
| been making extraordinary efforts to dis
cover the actual situation, and they have
carefully canvassed each precinct, having
men talk with every republican in the
precincts who was not positively known
TO be actively and earnestly for Mckinley
With all their efforts they have been able
to find only ninety-seven IN the entire
county. and 1t is not known that all of
these will vote for Bryan The county
contains twenty-eignt precincts Accord
ing to this the number of free silver re-
publfcans in the county will average a lit
tie less than three and half to the pre-
cinct- In the same county the sound
money democrats have list of democrats
/ who will rot vote for Bryan much larger
| than this list of free silver republicans
| looked upon by the Bryanites as one of the
| banner free silver republican counties of
| the state. If the Rush county average
should hold good throughout the state
there would still be less than HOOD free
| silver republicans in Indiana, while in this
| county alone there are about half that
number of sound money democrats.
In the Third District.
| Things are even looking brighter for the
| republicans in the third congressional dis
| trict. In redistricting the state the re-
/ publicans dumped into the third all the
| democratic counties possible, but the re-
| publicans there now express hopes of
| carrying the district. Two years Ego in
| the landslide the district as now con-
| stituted gave a democratic plurality Of
about G00 but according to the votes Of
| former years the normal democratic pI,1-
| rality is about 1000. The populist vote two
| years ago was 1.U3i. The democrats have
| been hoping to get the pcpulists 10 unite
| on their candidate, but this they Will not
| do. and have a candidate of their own
The free silver sentiment is not yery
strong in the district, while In some of
| the counties. notably Floyd, Clark and
! Dubois, there is a very strong sound money
| feeling among the democrats. This has
| been much strengthened within the past
| few days by the letter of Bishop Chatard
| The republicans believe it TO be within
their power to carry Floyl and Clark
plurality In Dubois by at least 200.
l. The republicans are building great cx-
| pectations on Gen. Harrisons tour through
| the state. and the activity their campaign
will disclose during the last two weeks of
| the fight. They are certainly displaying
| remarkable vigor, and in energy the sound
| money democrats are but a little behind
| them. On the other han1, the Bryan men
have lost energy within the past two or
| three days. The open desertfon of so many
| leaders has tended to paralyze them II
| surface indications are worth anything at
all the landslide 20 the republicans will
equal that of two years ago. If 1t does
rot surpass 1t. r RI.
WATSON BLAMEs DEMOCRATS.
He Says PopuIi.t. VIII Not He Re-
aponsible for Bryan's Defeat.