Omaha daily bee., 1896-10-13
Size of McKinley's Majority in Iowa is
Uncertain to Degree.
DEMOCRATS sERENtLY CLAIM EVERYTHING
Make Figures to Back Tn Their As
scrtIons, hut show No Facts 90
support Their WONDER
full Calculations.

| as the end draws nearer Whatever doubt
| there has been at any time is being dissi-
! pated and 1t Is becoming plain that the
state will go republican by good ma
| jority.
! National Committeeman a. h. Cummins
| puts his lowest figure on the republican
majority at $4,000. Chairman II. c. McMil-
Ian puts his minimum at 10000; Treasurer
| Pray leaves the figure higher than this, and
! is confident Of 10000. Two months ago the
! republican managers admitted among them
! selves that the state was not In as good
| condition as they would have liked. The
/ extent of silver sentiment in the rural dis
| tricts was uncertain; 1t was reported to be
serious, and there is no doubt that it was
much worse than ii is now. There has
been a steady improvement in conditions
| until now the managers say the party is
| well in line Chairman Mcmillan declares
the detection Of republicans will be remark
| ably small, insignificant In most OF the coun-
! ties. But on the other hand, the eXpecta-
tion is that at least 10000 old line democrats
| will desert their party ticket. OF these it
! Is counted that $4,000 will vote for McKin-
| ley, and the rest for Palmer.
These are the estimates Of the republicans.
| They arc given in plain figures, and. the
committee asserts, are based ON polls of
| the counties. All but . very few counties
| have been poled many of them twice. The
second poll invariably indicates great
| improvement The men who In the first
| count we're labelled doubtful or liable to go
! democratic are found to be in line again.
The Improvement has been steady and
rapid.
on the other hand, the democratic COM
mittee is making blanket claims to every
thing in sight. 1t has not taken complete
poll of any county in the state and is not
prepared to name the specific counties in
which its party will make its gains. Its
members declare, however, that In all the
central part OF the state the party will make
great gains In the western part
OF the state they count on
gains in all the counties except
those that include cities. They claim
that their gains will continue as far east
as the second tier west of the Mississippi
river; east of this they admit that the situa-
ton is very uncertain. with chances that
they will suffer losses. They insist, how
ever, that their gains will far more than
overcome their losses The highest demo-
cratic estimate OF the sound money vote
of the party is 10000, of which half is ex-
peCted to be for Mckinley and half for
Palmer. Against this the committee places
its estimate of 5000 to $4,000 republicans
who will vote for Bryan and concludes that
the democrats will carry the state by 10000
or more. +.
COMMITTEES HARD AT WORK.
Both committees are working diligently
ing out campaign literature. The number
of pieces sent out weekly' is no; quite so
large as month ago. but the decrease is
small. On the other hand. the bureaus Of
speaking are handling more speakers The
demand for speaking is unparalleled There
has never been a year Of such large meet
ings. The committees are unable TO satisfy
half the demands for oratory A great
number OF orators from outside the state. OF
national reputation, have been sent into
hnt hp mi fap
| able to keep in sight OF the demands
In organization he republicans are far in
advance of the democrats. They have a
| splendid machine, from the state down to
| the precinct. In the office are now filed i'm
| mense lists of various classes OF voters who
are considered worthy of special attention
and they are cared for accordingly. The
Germans have received special consideration
and the results have been highly satisfactory
| The renOrts from German communities are
all OF the same tone. The Germans are for
Mckinley and the financial policy he repre-
sents. Moreover, they are generally gains
to the party. Few of them will vote fol.
Palmer. In Scott county, the great German
community OF the state, II is reported they
have agreed almost unanimously to support
Mckinley.
The railroad men have been organizn,
sound money clubs all over the state Every
railroad town Of any importance has one
Of them; in Des Moines they have about
less than 1876 such organizations in the
state. Railroad men under ordinary con
ditions are divided pretty equally between
the two parties. 1t is believed by the re-
publican committee that 80 per cent of then
will this year vote for Mckinley With ref
eronce to the railroad movement. the demo
cratic managers claim that the men arc
wearing Mckinley buttons and marching
in sound money parades. because they know
their employers want them to do So but tha
they will vote very largely for Bryan.
CONDITIONS AS TO CONGRESSMEN.
In the congressional situation the condl
tion is not much changed from a month ago.
The democrats assert that they will be
greatly surprised If they fail to elect four
congressman, from the Sixth, Eighth, Ninth
and Second districts; they also claim good
chances in the Eleventh. The republicans
concede that there is a hard fight in the
Sixth, but they say they will carry II by 500
to 1000 votes. The miners have been the
most uncertain element in the district, but
they are reported coming in line for Nc
klnley and Lacey, the congressional can
ddatc on the republican ticket There Il
in the district very strong element OF gold
democrats, and they have decided, after
long discussion, not to have candidate o.
their own for congress, as many OF them
wanted but TO vote for Lacey.
The Second district. the democratic strong
hold OF the state for many years., is claimed
TOT curtis, repuDllcan by Z,OOO TO 1000. II
is a German and sound money section Tho
other districts are generally believed to BIZ
safely republican, although the democrats
have arranged to swing Mr.. Bryan through
the Eighth and Ninth on October 81. with
series Of train platform speeches that Is
hoped to have an important influence on tn
result. rnE.
The gold democrats are well known I,
have a definite plan of their own. They
are waiting. If at the end OF the campaign
they feel that they will be needed by Nc
kinley, they will pass the word along the
line and vote for him pretty unanimously
Otherwise they will make an effort to secure
a good vote for Palmer in order to help then
in the future struggles for the control OF
their own party in the state The gold
democratic leaders feel that for them, in the
future, much depends on the Vote they poll
now. But the masses of sound money demo
cats place the result OF the election so faI
above the questions Of party policy and
control that they will generally vote for
Mckinley in spite OF the desires OF their
leaders.
Two Fatal Accidents.
OTTUMWA, Ia, Oct. 12.-(Special Tele-
gram,)-Fred Moss, farmer, 2l years OF
age, driving across the Burlington tracHs
at Dudley, was instantly killed ;.
freight train today.
Mrs. Myers. aged 72, OF Williamsburg, fell
into a cellar, completely scalping herself