Evening star., 1896-10-28
THE BORDER STATES
Their Votes May Control Next
Tuesdays Election.
CONFLICTING INFORMATION kTCHICAGO
Plan of Organization of the Two
Political Parties.
BOTH SIDES CONFIDENT
ipecial From a Staff Correspondent.

| Special From a Star Correspondent
| CHICAGO. ILL.,. October 2s.-The votes OF
West Virginia, Maryland and Kentucky
| may be the controlling factors in the cleo
! ton Tuesday. AS to the doubtful states OF
the middle west, as naturalized citizen OF
Chicago puts il. The least surprising thing
would be a surprise"
1t looks IL Mckinley would carry Ili-
nois The reports from Indiana Michigan,
| Minnesota and Iowa are conflicting and
confusing. The republicans are extremely
anxious about Michigan, and this is the
state the democrats are most confident of.
They place it for Bryan before Indiana in
| the order of probability. In this one case
the evident anxiety Of the republicans and
| the confidence Of the democrats cores
| pend.
The democrats are not claiming Mime
| sofa very strongly. Yet there is no mis-
| taking that the republicans have been
greatly troubled about the state of affairs
| there. They say now that they believe the
| state is all right, but this is said with some
reservation of emphasis, and il is con-
fessed that but short time ago things
| looked very serious Evidently the demo-
Gratis have not had the Information which
has made the republicans so anxious. They
| have not shown the hopefulness that such
| information would inspire. Apparently a
condition has arisen there and passed with
out their finding 1t out to profit by it, The
democrats will say, of course. that they ex-
pect to carry Minnesota, but they do not
| say 1t in such a way as to indicate that
they really mean 1t.
1t is apparent that the republicans feel
| that the recent rise in wheat and the object
lesson given the wheat men of that state
when they could not get money to buy the
grain because of the uncertainty of the
campaign, has saved the state to Mckinley.
Yet they are not entirely relieved from
anxiety.
Republicans Better Informed.
This illustrates the superior organization
and means of information possessed by the
republicans. The fact that they know bet
| ter than do their opponents of a danger
| that has threatened them would seem to
| give more force to their feeling of confi-
dence where such feeling exists.
They are quite confident of Illinois and
reasonably so of Indiana.
They are puzzled about the situation in
Ohio, but can't think for minute that
| that state is really in doubt.
They have not been particularly anxious
1
situation there that has suddenly attracted
| their attention, as il has that of the demo-
| Gratis. At no time before have the demo-
| Gratis seriously counted on much from Iowa,
| but within the past few days information
has come from there which surprises them.
| and they do not know what to think Of it
| Their local workers I'm the state insist that
| immense gains have been made, and claim
the state. They give reports by counties,
| showing where they claim gains.
The republicans evidently have some such
information, but do not regard 1t as ex-
| tremely serious. In fact, they are rather
| disposed to discredit II altogether The
democrats have never thought of claiming
| Wisconsin seriously. During the last few
days they have been getting from the state
committee there some extraordinary claims.
| They simply do not believe that the in
| formation is well grounded.
Both committees claim, with every air
of confidence. that their candidate will
carry Indiana. Both seem to be well equip-
| ped for procuring information from that
state and 1t is astonishing how much this
| information is at variance. That both are
Keeping close watch is indicated by the
! fact that they agree as to certain doubtful
features of the canvass
| The extravagant claims that are nut ont
are not believed i'm by the men who mako
| them They simply chance IL on states that
are not certainly against them.
Different Methods of Organization.
Ihe plans of campaign of the two parties
are as much opposed the principles and
| policies of the parties themselves The
democrats are depending very largely upon
| the work Of individual partisans. Every
voter who is thoroughly in sympathy with
them is expected TO do such missionary
work as he can among his neighbors and
he is left to do ii I'm his own way. They
have volunteer army, each man equipped
with whatever he may have at hand
without discipline rations and having
no compact organization. The national
committee gives advice and such assistance
as 1t can, but no imperative orders
The republican organization is compact
and well equipped Every man is I'm his
place. Everything is arranged with perfect
system and orders come from headquar-
ters For instance in Chicago there is a
man to every half block in the city whose
| duty Ii is to find out just how the voters in
| that half block stand. 1t is the same in
every city in the contested territory. and
| in the country there is one man or more 10
every voting precinct. The men in charge
| of adjoining territory meet at stated inter-
walls and consult and ascertain the number
and report to a captain, who makes his
report to headquarters 1t is as perfect as
the system I'm the life-saving service of
patrolling the beach. 1t is discipline op-
posed to enthusiasm, yet the reports Of
some of these veterans are very compli-
mentary to the efficiency of the und!scip-
| lined volunteer enthusiasts with whom they
come in contact One Of the republican
managers said to me today that II was as
| tonishing how some of these ragged, wild
eyed fellows on the other side worked,
without guidance or encouragement.
Belief of Two Sincere Men.
I talked today with two prominent men,
one on each side of the contest who have
been all over the section of country where
interest centers. Each spoke to me conf
dentially. They were both my friends and
neither desired to deceive me. The republi-
can said that he was confident that McKin-
| ley would be elected. He said that he rec
| ognized that the situation was a peculiar
L