Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1896-06-18
The Free Press Governor Canvass.

INC Free Press Governor Canvass
In previous governorship contests in this
as In other States 1t has been customary
for newspapers to accept the figures fur
nished them by their respective candidates
for governor as indicating the voting
strength of each previous to the conven-
ton, and the newspapers were forced to
bear the responsibility for any errors that
might be made This year the FREE
PRESS determined to make new depart
urc and as a stroke OF newspaper enter
prise to canvass the result of caucuses each
day so that the people might sec for them
selves just what progress each candidate
was making. We knew that this project
would entail large expense for COM
plete and prompt service covering every
county in the State, but we believed the
public would appreciate the service That
this was taken purely as a news project
| and not In the interest of any candidate Is
evident from the letter of instructions
sent out to correspondents regarding this
service. 1t read in part as follows:
| 1--WE desire to make a thorough canvass
| of the delegates to the State republican
convention from your county for the pur-
pose of ascertaining their preferences for
/ governor. We greatly desire to have the
results accurate without reference to the
effects which their publication may have
upon the chances OF either candidate.
Will you kindly communicate with the
chairman of the various town delegations
in your county Immediately after the eau
cuses are held, securing the preferences
of the delegates in all instances II such
a thing Is possible. Please send us by
wire all important caucuses to be printed
the following morning"
AS our readers know the returns were
printed in our columns daily, and the re-
suits were kept before the people to the
end in order that each town in the State
might be properly credited, and any err
rors clerical or otherwise corrected. To
the credit Of the FREE PRESS staff OF
efficient correspondents in all parts of the
State It must be said that surprisingly
small number Of corrections were neces-
sary when it Is remembered how difficult
it often is to induce n delegate to state
how he will actually vote in convention
The returns were given each day as re-
ceived at this office, but various contempt
raries which are unable to rise above parti
sanship even in their news columns, at
tempted to discredit our work. saying thai
we were juggling with figures, in the in
terest of the candidate we favored, al
though we did not hesitate to publish the
figures on several occasions when the to-
tails to date stood decidedly in favor Of
Mr. Stickney. Moreover, these con
temporaries placed before the public
what purportod to be a complete canvass
which varied so largely from our own that
it is not surprising the public was bewild-
cred
We knew, however, that our can.
vass was being made In a thoroughly re.
liable manner, and we believed sincerely
that the result would vindicate our work
How well and how complete the FREE
PRESS correspondents made our service
is shown by a comparison of our last
tabulated summary with the vote by
counties. Our last detailed report
covered every town In the State
except one in Bennington county
which had not been reported. and
the absence of which accounts partially
for our discrepancy in the Stickney tota
: for that county. Our total in Lamollc
county was one short becaus,
the delegates assigned TO the towr
OF Johnson by the committee was on'
short of the actual number TO which 4
was entitled. Our last totals by counties
published two mornings before the con
vention and the actual vote for governor
by counties were as follows:
THE FREE PRESS CANVASS.