The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-11-01
with the bulletins as they are. re-


nome to vote. Mr.. Cleveland himself
once did. This year Mr.. Cleveland did
not even take the trouble to register.
In addition to the bulletin services
posted by the newspapers in front Of
their offices, and private bulletins re-
ceived over special wires from the
Two telegraph companies, there will
be bulletins posted outside the offices
or the telegraph companies. On election
night the Western Union and the
Postal become great news gathering
concerns They have facilities which
are impossible to any one else. In the
Old days, before telegraphy was known,
the news of the result Of elections trav-
eied by stage coach, and the results
were not known for months In these
days of rapid transit and communica-
tion 1t Is possible to spread the news
or the election over the country as fast
as 1t develops-that is, as fast as the
returns can be counted. and this Il
MADE easy by the action of the teIe-
graph companies in making neWsgath-
erefs or their agents. If the national
committees or the newspapers had to
set together this news, it would cost
an enormous amount Of money and
TIE service of necessity would be in
complete. Any newspaper which un-
uertook, Sfngle-handed to gather tho
news OF the election, would do so at
cost or $4,000 That is what it cost
IN Tue western Union Telegraph company
10 gamer the news Of the election of
TOUR years ago. AS it is. each news
paper receives full report from all
parts Oh the country at the earliest DOS
siDie moment at virtually no cost at ali.
OI course the telegraph does not do
TINS Tor nothing. 1t sells the bulletin
service tc the people, who receive spe-
cial returns.
For the purpose of collecting the news
=, ,ne western Union will keep about
lo'VOos or Its $4,000 offices open election
night. w. B. Somerville, the head Of
the press bureau, has sent out to the
managers or the company all over the
S ~ expnclt instructions what to
90 on election day The returns are RI
pe gathered by counties and trans
Iiltted by each Office to the nearest
ulstriputing point. The manager NAV
set the returns from local newspaper.
VI ne may send to the office of the
oUunly committee, where the returns
are received. AS fast as the news is
sent 10 the distributing point it will he
combined with other news from tha
same state and sent out to the country
Most OF this work of combining and
summarizing news is done by the two
Ple' associations at their offices. They
work with the telegraph comnanies
and exchange news with them
Inc neWSgathering in New York oi+1,
- more complicated than it is anv-
Wnere else. But the system is nonya
perfect and the results are obtained
more quickly than in any other mart
~ me country In all large cities the
e ~ tne press association offices. Here
as Wen as possible, so that the work
OF canvassing it will be almost done
W the Time the polls are to close. In
Solile instances, where the voting inst
neIofe the close Of the polls is light
Tue JUDGES are ready to announce the
IesuIts IN less than a minute. These
results are taken by the police to the
ponce stations, where the reporters of
me newspapers are waiting to receive
then and to make up tables showing
the results.
IN New York the work Of collecting
the general results will fall to the lot
or the two local news bureaus Of tha
press associations. These bureaus will
nave their reporters in all the voting
precincts, and there will be ten points
OF rendezvous where the telegraph
company Will have wires at their dis
posaL AS fast as the returns are
mace up they will be telegraphed in
judges of election keep up with the vote
Will be corps of experts, with tables
showing the vote Of 1894 and preceding
years in detail. These are used for
comparison. When the result at any
polling place is reported, the experts
Will compare 1T with the result of four
ago ana send 1T out in that form. RE
turns from so many voting places give
SO many votes for Bryan, so many for
mckinney. The same places in 1892
gave Cleveland so many, Harrison SO
many" This is the general form used.
As soon as the different wards in New
ork city are all in the vote for the
entire city will be given. Similarly
the vote in Brooklyn and all the other
parts of the Greater New York dis
tr1ct will be gathered. The Broklyn
Eagle will have charge of the Brook
1yn news and will have the use of the
telegraph companies wires for that
purpose.
OF course close watch will be kept
on every source of news. The news
paper bulletins, the national head
quarters, the big politicians. will all
be under surveillance 1t is always
possible that some agent will blunder.
and that the returns from an impOr-
tant place will be received in a private
telegram before they are sent in
through the regular channels
With all these precautions to prevent
the escape of any piece of important
information the greatest care must be
exercised t. prevent misinforfmation
getting on the wire and to guard
against partisanship.
Some years ago. said Mr.. Somer-
vile, zone of our agents in Virginia
town sent in a paragraph on election
cay about the Republican candidate for
governor, q man named Walker. to
the effect that he would take a trip
up Salt river before night 1t was
worded very cleverly, and looked more
like piece of sporting news than any
thing else. In fact, one of the best
known Republican newspapers in the
United States published it on the sport
ing page, and the editor wrote to me
afterward and wanted to know what
we meant by introducing such a para
graph in a good Republican journal.
Of course, we don't permit any such
news to go over our wires if we can
help it, and we especially instruct our
office managers that great care should
be taken that nothing contained in our
dispatches could in any way be con-
strued into partisanship on the part OF
the company. Our managers are in
structed to get estimated figures from
official sources, and estimates only from
state or county committees press asso-
Citations or prominent newspapers The
estimates are credited in every instance
to the source from which they ema-
nate
The managers of the telegraph Of
fees have been instructed that the
vote for the three principal presidential
candidates is to be given in detail. An
estimate of the vote for the other can
didates is all that will be necessary.
The returns will include also the vote
for state officers, complexion of state
legislatures Especial attention being
given to those states that will elect
United States senators in 1890, and