The Portland daily press., 1896-03-14
POLITICAL SPEECHES.
They Will Be Circulated by the Million.
The Campaign of Education to be Pur-
sued by Both Parties.

The government printing office will
have much more than usual to do with
the coming campaign. The country Is
respected to be literally papered with
documents, and in that great shop will
be done most of the printing. From year
to year, since the phrase "educationa
campaign" has been played upon the
amount of printing for political purposes
has steadily grown. !
Dnring the last campaign about S,00e,t
600 speeches were printed, put in wrap
pers and sent forth for the enlightenment
of an eager public. The result of all
this educational influence was not en-
ttlrely satisfactory to the Democrats, but
his will not discourage them nor
destroy their faith in printers ink.
The calculation is that this year several
million more copies of speeches will be
| circulated than there were last year. The
number is usually about equally divided
between the two principal parties, and
besides what is done by the govern
ment printing office there Is much print
| ing done by private contract later in the
campaign, when the rush is on.
There has been practically no let-up in
| the distribution of political tracts since
the last election. The enlisted missiona-
| ries of the silver faith and of the gold
! faith have been on paper basis all these
| months, and have so RAPIDLY increased
| the per capita circulation that 1t is esti-
mated that twO-thirds of the carpets of
the country are padded with those learned
| tracts at ratio of utter impartiality.
| But these tracts are formed in very
\ small part of congressional literature.
The congressional paper is just now be-
ginning the resumption of circulation.
The greatest faith is had in the efficacy of
documentary arguments. The sending
out of the printed speeches Of Congress-
men in great quantities does not usually
begin until the campaign has opened.
] But now, when the campaign committees
are just organizing, and will not begin
their work for many weeks, and while
| the nominations are yet all to BIZ made,
hundreds of thousands of speeches are be-
ing ordered. The silver men expect to
send out four OF FIVE millions of the
speech of Towne of Minnesota. A hun
dred thousand of these HAYS already been
printed, and against that there have been
printed 100, 900 of the speech of Turner of
Georgia, sustaining the gold side of the
controversy. Seventy-dvs Thousand of
Fowler's speech, and about the same
number of Tillman's have been ordered
These are unusual orders SO far in ad-
vance of the actual campaign.
When the campaign Is regularly on, It Is
expected that there will be lively con-
test to keep up the parity of circulation
between the speeches of Dingley and Tur-
ner, Republican and Democrat, on one
side of the money question, and Crisp
and Towne, likewise representing the two
parties, on the other side Of the question.
Dingley's speech will undou btedly be cir
oulated by the Republican campaign COM
mittee when the active work begins, and
it is likely that sound money committees
generally will avail themselves of this
very business-like statement of their side
of the case. Towne's speech is regarded
as the best of the session on the silver
side of the question, and it will undoubt-
eddy have the largest circulation. His
ley's and turner's. ~ s
The A. p. A. speeches will all have
immense circulation, If one may judge
| from the experience of last Congress- At
that time one Senator alone bought and
distributed a million copies of Linton's
speech.
Quite number of speeches on the Gu
ban, Venezuelan and Armenian affairs
are being sent out, but it seems to re-
| suit from little more than the pride of
authorship and popular interest in the
subject, without having any relation to
partisan politics. The subjects are not
thought to furnish the material for mar
tisan advancement. There is demand
for the best speeches OH all three subjects
without regard to the party to which the
author belongs.
Mr.. Frye's eloquent and unexpected out
burst of eloquenoe on the Armenian
question has attracted much attention
and made him the favorite on that sub
ject. On the Cuban question the greatest
demand is for the speeches of Vest and
Sherman. Vests speech that is most
sought is that which, like the speech py
Frye, was an impromptu outburst.