Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-13

port of the democratic ticket. He would
not find the Issue acute because the silver
democrats have shown an accommodating
spirit in meeting Candidate McLean's Is
sues that this question be kept in the back
ground.
This is what bothers the republicans as
much as anything else this year. They
did good deal of laundering on silver in
common with the party in other states, but
having got on solid ground they are disap-
pointed that they must fight an enemy in
the trenches. In the old days of the soft
money movement 1t was not this way. The
lines were very clearly drawn, and Ruther-
he defeated William Allen in state con-
test in which the money issue was the chief
one. General Thomas Ewing and Stuart l..
Woodford had debated 1t ever the state
and everybody was then interested in hard
soft money.
Some persons at the time thought that
IL Carl Schurz had not been born in Ger
many he would have been nominated by
the republicans for President, because his
hard-money speeches were the most i'm
por,ant factor in the republican campaign.
But being disqualified by the Constitution
he accepted SEQ for each of his speeches,
and subsequently became a member of
President Hayes cabinet. / have heard
good deal of these and similar reminis-
cences lately from republican politicians.
who regret that the financial issue is so
Elusive this year. They will hold an ele-
ment of business men and sound money
democrats bat if they could vitalize free
coinage as 1t was vi:al!zod in 1895 they
would be much surer of the size of their
majority.
Scare Among Republicans.
Another feature of the campaign is the
scare of this year compared with the
scares in previous years. 1t is really of
much Importance and may have great
influence as the fractional trouble. 1t
would be useless to deny that the Ohio
republicans are in that frame of mind
known as having the scare on. The rea-
sons for this are not of consequence now.
The interesting question is whether the
scare has come too late or just at the
right time. Good political managers always
know the benefit of a scare. In the begin
ming of a campaign it is their aim to fright
en- their own people into activity, lest the
enemy stealthily creep up on the camp and
seze the baggage, that is to say, the Of
fees. When the party seems Indifferent and
is hard to arouse. the campaign managers
themselves start the scare.
In the last presidential campaign there
was some Indifference out in Illinois among
the republicans. DR.. Jameson the ma
tional committeeman, began giving out in
terviews in which he frankly admitted the
strength of the silver sentiment deplored
the lack of activity on the part of the
republicans and limited at the probability
of Bryan carrying the state. Some of his
party associates demonstrated. but he knew
what he was about The Illinois republi-
cans really got scared in time for actual
work and began to wake up. Their ma
Jority for Mckinley, as l recall it. was
somewhere in the ncighborhoOd of two
hundred thousand. 1 do not mean to say
that the situation in Ohio is the same or
that the republican scare has been started
by the campaign managers The canvass
Is too far advanced for that. While the
shrewd politicians are usually willing to risk
soaring their party in the beginning of a
campaign they hesitate about doing it to-
ward the end, for fear that their own fol-
low Il
my encouraged. The great point for two or
three weeks before an election is to scare
the opposition into the belief that it is al
ready beaten and to encourage their own
party to press on to the victory which is
in sight.
McLean's Purpose Doubtful. 4
I do not know whether it is the purpose
of Mr.. Mclean to begin claiming Ohio a
week or ten days before election or not
He may think that the wiser plan is to
make no claims, but to keep up what is
known as the gum shoe canvass. The
only danger of that kind of a canvass is
that the roads may become bad before No
venber and some of the people who are
travelling around in gum shoes NAV get
stuck in the mud.
Concerning the republicans 1T is to be
said that their scare being genuine and
not worked up by the campaign commit
tees, there is the probability of the party
becoming aroused and insuring a full vote
ard normal majority. 1t is part of the
political history of the state that the years
in which they have lost either the governor
or the legislature have been those in which
they were not scared.
AS far back as 1873 Governor Noyes, who
had record as a gallant soldier which
was thought to insure his reelection in it
self. was beaten by William Allen because
no one was thinking of such a thing. 1t
was the beginning Of the reaction from the
second election OF General Grant to the