The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-09-28

Become misunderstanding Ger
tain of 251 Electoral Votes.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 27.-rhe Star
says; n I. \. 81 M
One Of the peculiaritles of the pending
campaign Is the hopcfulness, even ex-
peotancy, with which the Democrats
astEtheir eyes upon states where, rea-
soning from the past, Democratic sue
cess would seem impossible. All figures
which would give Bryan q majority oe
the, electoral college must include states
Z which gave Mckinley Overwhelming
tnajorfties In 's6 and which in 'ss show
cd steady and seemingly secure Repub-
lican rnajorlties. Both parties are plac-
Ing In the doubtful column states whose
record gives no warrant for their being
regarded as doubtful, but those which
the Republicans claim to be doubtful,
are not needed by them II the states
which are ordinarily Republican remain
!, so. The Democratic doubtful column is,
however, made up of such states as
New York, Illinois, Michigan, Mlnnr-
sofa and Wisconsin, states which ara
naturally counted by Republicans az
Certain for Mckinley; and Indiana,
Maryland, Kentucky and West vir-
ginia, all of which pronounced emphat-
ically against Bryan in '96.
The Democratic Hope.
The Democratic hope, must, therefore,
be based upon the theory OF political
landslide, since any condition of affairs
which would give to them New York
and Illinois might as safely be counted
on to sweep Ohio and Iowa, or even
Pennsylvania, and any number. OF other
states no one now thinks Of putting In
the doubtful column. What the Demo-
Gratis seem to be calculating on is what
they do not know--by assuming that all
the political forces they know nothing
about. and which all their effort fall to
discover, are favorable to themselves,
they are able to figure out marvellous
possibilities. The three distinct things
upon which they are calculating are the
labor vote. an increase in their share of
the German and other foreign vote ana
the votes of the unusual proportion of
the population who are saying nothing
and showing no special interest in the
campaign. Contrary to general expert
! y, 1,n f- ott, Il
demonstrauve, the Democrats construs
silence and inactivity on the part OF
voter to signify tina; he has undergone
q change OF heart and that Bryan has
caught him. while the Republicans. more
logically, reason that inactivity Is due
to contentment with present conditions.
= Voters Phenomenal Reserve.
1t Is agreed on both sides that the
amount of reserve shown by voters all
over the country Is phenomenal. Can
vases are rendered unsatisfactory by
( the unwillingness Of many voters to
commit themselves. their cvasive an
'swers TO questions leaving the conclu-
sion as to their course largely to infer
ence. Another thing reported by cam
paigners Of both parties who have beer
on the stump is the absence Of large
crowds at political meetings. Bryan,
Roosevelt and Hanna can, OF course.
draw large crowds on account of ihai-
personality; but all the lesser lights
& find themselves Sighted 10 great cx.
tent. and even the small audiences the"
address show but little enthusiasm.
This Is construed In various ways By
various people. the Democrats, with
characteristic hopefulness. constituting
1t TO their own advantage. But the
most reasonable explanation OF It APP
Z pears to be that the campaign OF edu-
cation" which has been In progress for
n number of years, particularly since
the spring Of '96.has brought most OF the
voters up to a point where they can
think for themselves and feel that they
! do not need to drop their work and rs
ten to campaign orators In order 70
form their conclusions. Two classes OF
people make UP the large campaign
meetings-those who In unreasoning en-
thusiasm like to hear orators In fine
rhetoric say things which they tham-
selves thoroughly agree WITH and those
who are in doubt and want to learn
something. Long practice In reading